Chapter 2: Break on Through
The lucid lights of the Whiskey A-Go-Go showed off a deep red, reflecting the outside walls of the building. It stood on the corner of the street like a Roman god towering over the people of Los Angeles with young aspirations and creative breakthroughs. The Whiskey A-Go-Go was the epitome of LA and what it stood for: a land of new beginnings.
The front wall was covered in a collage of flyers, whipping in the air. The only thing connecting them to oblivion and existence was a small tack.
Nancy's soft hands hadn't let go of Margot's as she dragged her from the college dorms of UCLA to the front entrance of the Whiskey A-Go-Go. Margot didn't know what to expect but the confidence of the building and Margot's lack of experience in clubs made her fear the future. She knew this would change her. For better or for worse, she didn't know.
At the entrance, Nancy was quickly spotted by drunk middle-aged men and was greeted with a flurry of hands and a cloud of eyes clamoring to meet her. To this, she only responded with giggles. Nancy whispered to Margot, her hot breath tickling Margot's ear.
"Go sneak in. I'll hold them off." Nancy winked, initiating the plan.
Margot's small frame let her sneak into large groups of men and women who were quickly let into the Whiskey A-Go-Go for their familiarity and patronage at the club since its opening.
The main dance floor of the club was crowded with young girls ranging from sixteen to about twenty-five. There was a ledge separating the dance floor to that of the men and women sitting in booths, too old to dance or too self-respecting to let themselves go like the young women.
The group of men and women Margot had snuck in with had pushed her into the crowd of young girls by accident. It was easy to push Margot over with her 100-pound body and 5'3 stance.
Margot fell into a young woman about the same age as herself. She was skinny and tall with a freckled nose bridge and doe eyes, likened to that of Twiggy. She glared over her shoulder at Margot and rolled her eyes, continuing to talk to her friend about how badly she wanted to sleep with the lead singer. The band wasn't on yet and the young girls stood in anticipation either wanting to get in bed with the band's frontman or be teased by their friends' comment to come along and meet this beast of a man.
Margot felt a hand grab her shoulder, and she quickly turned to see Nancy who still maintained her mischievous smile. Nancy wore a cropped white blouse that was almost sheer and a long multicolored skirt that ended at her ankles. Any person high on hallucinogens would stare at her skirt for hours to just understand one of the many patterns it possessed.
"Wow, you already have a grasp of the general concept of a club," Nancy replied and pulled Margot out of the dancefloor. She carried Margot to the bar and planted herself on a barstool. She leaned over the counter, pushing her breasts together to make her cleavage more pronounced.
"Two shots of vodka, please," Nancy smirked at the bartender and tapped her fingers on the bar. Margot stood behind Nancy and let her mind be overloaded with multiple different senses. Information overload was something Margot wasn't used to.
"Once they get on, we're going back to the dance floor."
Nancy crooked her head back and swung the clear liquid into her mouth and Margot copied. Her throat stung. The vodka on her tongue tasted like how nail polish remover smelled in her poorly ventilated apartment. Her mind started to slow and the movement of girls jumping was slowed in her vision, making the girls seem like they were flying. Nancy grabbed Margot's hand and threw her onto the dancefloor, making Margot's life flash before her eyes. She felt her lips turn into a smile. This was the first time in awhile Margot smiled. The rush of being alive and in the moment was almost orgasmic.
Then the deep hum of an organ shook the Whiskey A-Go-Go and, as the curtains opened, young girls squealed. The lead singer had curly, long dark brown hair that touched the collar of his white button-down shirt. His low brow bone shadowed his eyes, making him seem so intimidating and powerful that any woman would succumb. He wore tight leather pants that outlined his crotch. The lead singer resembled a statue of Alexander the Great, specifically that of the statue from the Pella museum. Margot had a great interest in Alexander the Great and his assertiveness and position in art in the Hellenistic Age. The lead singer was the spitting image of Alexander, not only for his looks but also for his overwhelming amount of confidence.
"What's his name?" Margot inquired to Nancy and in response, she shrugged.
"Jim Morrison, dumbass." A girl responded from the crowd of groupies so obsessed with Jim that he has their whole world in the palm of his hand. Margot sensed he liked that kind of power. Just like Alexander the Great.
The music was fluid like the smoke of a Marlboro cigarette on a dead morning on the Sunset Strip, sketching the sunrise and contemplating the purpose of the human race. But it was also, an awakening of the mind and senses to a reality beyond what humans could think was obtainable.
The music reminded Margot of when she reached a coming of age in her young teens when she read the Book of Revelations. The Book of Revelations was the last book of the Bible and entailed the end of the world. Margot's mother had forced Margot into reading the Bible, possessing the idea that Margot wouldn't regard the Book of Revelations as high as she eventually would. The following nights after finishing the Bible, Margot would have violent dreams about warfare and found herself pondering the ideas of death and mortality. The ideas and dreams scared her, but for the most part, made her whole body tingle with curiosity and excitement.
Jim was the angel of death drifting Margot into the spirit realm while feeding her the delights of mortality. Margot wanted so badly to touch him. To grasp him in her hands and let him guide her into the unknown
Nancy glanced over at Margot, only now realizing Margot's admiration for the lead singer. Margot's eyes never glanced over to Nancy's, too distracted with the Greek hero standing on stage. Nancy grabbed Margot's hand and pushed her to the front of the stage, making Margot look like a pinball in a pinball machine as she was pushed and thrust into the front of the stage, almost being knocked out by hitting her head against one of the small floor speakers on stage.
Margot put her hand on the part of her head that was banged against the speaker and looked up. The music was a lot more pronounced up so close and when he turned to her side of the stage, Margot felt herself become small. She was so little compared to his towering body on stage, but he excited her. The first feeling of powerful sexual excitement she had had. Margot felt her chest get tighter as he maintained his gaze with hers. Margot's mouth was slightly open beginning to be kissed by this angel of death.
Jim kneeled and kept his eye contact as he sang the lines:
Arms that chain us, Eyes that lied
His eyes were intense and dark in the warm yellow lighting of the stage. He stared her up and down with a smirk across his lips. Margot wanted so badly to be touched by him. That excitement she wanted to find and that ability to question everything was in this one man. This one god of a man. Margot wanted Jim to pull her away and kiss her passionately backstage while they spoke about the purpose of her creation and his.
Margot felt a hand from behind her firmly grasp her shoulder and pull her to the floor. Her head crash-landed on the black, smooth flooring of the dancefloor, and she felt what seemed like a boulder hit the bridge of her nose. The room around her was getting tighter and tighter until the hand from above the crowd reached out to Margot and pulled her out of her hell.
Nancy held Margot close to her as she felt her body becoming slower and heavier with pain. The blood from her nose dripped onto the floor and became a puddle. Nancy pulled Margot onto the ledge that divides the booths and bar from the dancefloor.
"Your nose isn't broken but you got one hell of a nosebleed from that bitch's…" Margot drowned out Nancy's voice and turned to see Jim looking at her, smirking. Margot didn't know how to react and drifted off into his dark eyes that were covered by the shadow of his brow bone. She realized the blood dripping from her nose and quickly wiped it away. Nancy pulled her along while Margot dragged out Jim's glance until she was pulled out of the club.
