Chapter 2.
All these hands moved around her, grabbing her arms, pulling this way and that, even touching her places other than her arms, everywhere really. Just tons of hands, pulling, pushing, making her move this way and that, up, down. . . Wait no, not up and down, that was something else. . . But what? What was it? What was this feeling she had? Like every moment she was remembering things, and yet, she had no idea what she was remembering, but yet these memories were what led her, and were leading her down this mental path she wasn't sure she wanted to go down. Like if she did years of therapy would be flushed right down the toilet.
Faces gradually became blurred, and even those without masks on seemed to have twisted and ugly features, they were all laughing, they were all laughing at her it seemed. Like she looked ridiculous, which she probably did, which was why she never went to these sorts of places. –Ever-. Why was she even there? For a moment she closed her eyes, trying to remember why she had agreed to come to this place, she couldn't remember. She tried to remember anything, anything that happened earlier that day, as they went there in the evening, surely –something- had happened earlier. She couldn't remember, there was nothing there, no knowledge of what happened earlier that day. . . She opened her eyes, they were wider than before, and stared directly at the man that was singing, it was towards the end of the song it seemed, but it didn't matter. She couldn't remember. She couldn't remember anything that happened earlier that day, or the day before, or last week. Nothing. There was nothing there, her mind was filled with this eerie nothingness. There were bits and pieces she knew, she knew she was in college, she knew she was in drama, majoring in it, right? She had a roommate, Penny, and they met. . . Wait, how did she meet Penny? How did she become roommates with Penny? Who the hell is Penny? The man's eyes glimmered and his smile simply grew, like he knew what she was realizing, like he could hear what she was thinking. She couldn't look away, everything, everything was gone, yet not gone, it was there but it made no sense, she couldn't remember why she was there, why she had agreed to come there. . . "Who are you!?" She screamed, nobody heard her, everyone around her simply continued dancing and moving and touching and pulling and pushing. . .
The song the man had been singing ended, and the dj or whatever simply began to play a new song, a song that still sounded like the 'King's' voice, but recorded, or at least, surely it was, as he wasn't singing anymore and had placed the microphone back onto the stand. He moved around it, as if in answer to her question, that nobody heard, not even herself, though she knew she had screamed, she had felt it exit her mouth. He moved towards her, hopping off the stage with an odd grace, the crowd seeming to part for him, just enough for him to weave through it towards her. The hands went away, they stopped touching her, grabbing her, good, as it had hurt, it was incredibly uncomfortable. The only hand was his, a gloved hand, a familiar, gloved hand, reaching out to her for her to take. She reached out and took it, like it was something that would bring her back down, an anchor, an answer, something that would make the world stop turning and blurring around her. Like blurred lines on a page, the blurring of a line between one reality and another. . . It was beginning to make her feel incredibly dizzy and confused. . . And of course that was one of the largest understatements she had ever thought in such a situation. . .Not that this happened often top her. . .
When she took his hand he grasped hers and pulled her towards him, in a smooth fashion that didn't hurt her in any way. His right and opposite arm went around her waist, his hand on her back really becoming the anchor, somehow, the pressure there was some sort of comfort, and even though the world continued to spin, she wasn't so afraid, but she was still confused, "What's happening?" She asked the man quietly, as it didn't even seem to matter how loud she spoke, he could hear her, she just knew it.
"Everything, all at once." He answered, in a vague and yet oddly direct way, "It's been a very long time Sarah, but you cannot forget forever." His voice broke through the loud music, it was smooth, gentle, yet there was a harshness, but it was simply the harshness of reality, like he was just informing her of the truth.
Sarah's eyebrows furrowed together slightly, yet somehow she understood, "But this isn't fair! What if I don't want to remember?" She had a feeling that remembering might be even more frightening than everything else, and everything else was already freaking her out. This person, she knew him and yet she didn't know why, or how, was she one of the things she would have to remember? Why did she forget him in the first place?
He spun her around before pulling her back to him, they weren't exactly dancing to music, but yet, the music was beginning to get blurred like everything else, it was something, smoother, softer, something she didn't understand. It was some sort of declaration of love, some smooth song about love, something she had heard before, but never really listened to. Even now, "You think it is fair that I must remember while you live in ignorance of the past? You think it is fair that those you have forgotten remember, and you go on with this life that is all simply a lie? Nothing is fair Sarah, nothing is ever truly fair, and you must remember, or else you will simply forget, and you don't want that." He leaned closer to her, "You must remember everything, the things you don't want to along with those you do want to remember, which you do Sarah, you do want to remember, that is why you are here."
She raised her left hand to rest on his shoulder, and stared at it for moment, he felt solid, real, it all had felt solid and real at one point, but now she wasn't so sure. She could feel the leather under her fingers, she could feel the tiny metal spikes when she poked them on his jacket, she could feel the heat coming off his body and melding with the heat coming off her own. He felt real, but, she felt shocked by that, like somehow this person wasn't supposed to be real. He wasn't, she knew that, he wasn't –supposed- to be real. Yet here he was, and he felt real, he spoke with a real voice, she could feel his breath when he spoke, and hear his words as they rang in her ears. If anything he was more real than everything else in her life, which at this point wasn't really a surprise, given that everything else felt so, not real, like everything else had been a grand figment of her imagination, and yet this, this right here, this person she didn't even know the name of, he was real.
"Why did I forget you?" She couldn't help but ask, it felt like the real question, like that was somehow the question that she herself needed to answer and suddenly everything else would make sense. This person, he was the reason she had forgotten everything wasn't he? To forget him she had to forget everything else. . . Right? But why? He was, beautiful, graceful, and held her in such a nice way, he looked at her like, like, he truly loved her. Why would she want to forget that?
He stopped moving, just for a moment, as if a tiny bit surprised by the question and yet, not, like he had been expecting it, just perhaps not so soon. "You always were a smart girl Sarah. . ." He spoke like he knew her so well, because he did, perhaps better than most, perhaps better than absolutely everyone, but how? "You wanted me to have no power over you.~" With this he simply melted away, disappeared, and the solidarity that was once before her was gone, replaced by the crowd, which suddenly appeared to be entirely normal, just like any other crowd, of normal people. She managed to move out of it even, and people let her, moving out of the way for her even, not trapping her there. Once out she stood just outside the dance floor for a moment, turning around to look back, first at the crowd, scanning it for him, for the key to what was going on, he was nowhere. She looked at the stage, it looked normal, almost untouched.
She turned away then and thus looked at the bar, the hand above it, it was his hand obviously. . . Gloved, always gloved, but why? Hardly anyone wears gloves like that anymore, certainly not indoors. Oh well, it probably didn't matter, not so much as everything else, which, maybe none of that mattered either, really, perhaps she was just having a panic attack or something, she had those sometimes. Generally it always went the same, like everything wasn't real, wondering what was real, . She'd feel like something was missing, gone, like she wasn't who she was and she couldn't remember who she was. So really it probably was just that, she probably imagined things, let her paranoia get the best of her. She shrugged a little, like she was trying to get rid of it all, get rid of the feeling, the eerie reality that seemed to be staring her down from all directions. She was surrounded by eyes, staring at her, knowing the truth and yet she didn't, it wasn't fair, but that couldn't be real. Certainly not, it was just a panic attack or something akin to that, if she went to a doctor she was sure it could easily be diagnosed, perhaps she was just dehydrated or something. . .
She moved back towards the bar and the two she had come with that were still there flirting with the bartender. Penny noticed her and pouted a little, "You totally ditched us for a while there! Where'd you go?" Not like she actually cared, really she just seemed to be pretending to care, like she actually wanted to hang out with Sarah, which she didn't, they both were perfectly aware of the fact that they had nothing in common, which was why they never spent time together. They shared the rent, nothing else. "I was dancing, um, I think I was only gone for a couple songs though. . . I got tired."
Rae twirled around in her chair with this flair that Sarah was a tiny bit surprised by, as she didn't know this person, but already Rae seemed more like the type she'd hang out with, she was more theatrical. "Are you joking? You've been gone for a whole six drinks~ Which according to my math means you've been gone for nearly two hours Sarah. You naughty little minx~" She winked, clearly implying that Sarah had been off doing something –else- that would make her all sweaty and tired.
Penny laughed a little too loudly at that, "Oh heeeeell no, Sarah doesn't have fun~ she probably was off hiding in the bathroom reading a book she snuck in or something right Sarah~?" The bartender simply smirked and began to clean the area behind the counter, gloved hands. . . What was up with the gloved hands? She hadn't noticed that part of the bartenders costume before, before it just looked to be a very large twisted mask, black poets shirt with a hood covering the guys head and going into the mask, shirt opened slightly at the top, probably to look sexier, tight pants, and boots. The guy kinda looked like a glammed-up pirate, with a mask like some strange mythological creature. . .
Sarah wasn't sure why what her roommate said upset her, but it did, and she crossed her arms in a defensive manner, "I wasn't doing anything like what either of you think actually, I was really just dancing, with the club owner actually~! After he had finished singing. . . Of course." They both rolled their eyes in a 'suuure you did' sort of fashion before turning back to the bartender, why they thought they'd get any action there Sarah wasn't sure, it sure didn't seem like it. The guy was barely responding and frankly didn't seem interested. Yet they were both practically jumping over the counter to get his attention, like they wouldn't be satisfied until one of them at least got his number. . . She rolled her eyes, sat down, and ordered a peach martini, and a tall glass of water. . .