Funny Story

A night of fun.

Or that's what he thought.

Loud music burst through the speakers and boomed throughout the crowded club. Numerous coloured disco lights did very little to light up the whole area. A raised platform in the middle of the large room, the floor of which was also lit in colours of red and blue, served as the dance floor.

On one side stood a dark wooden counter that almost stretched the whole width of the wall behind it. The wall was littered with a number of equally dark wooden shelves on which were stationed bottles of different shapes and sizes, that seemed to contain liquids of different shades of red, brown and gold. A number of shiny metal high stools in black stood right in front of the counter, some occupied by patrons of the club who were there for a drink or two, others remained abandoned.

The remaining three sides of the large, crowded room were set up with pairs of soft, comfortable looking black velvety couches with tables in between. The crimson walls gave the club a raunchy and sultry vibe, setting the mood for its patrons to forget their stress and let loose, as though silently urging them to give into their dark desires.

A regular of the said club, dark hair lightly interspersed with grey, dishevelled due to the owner running his hands through them time and time again, dressed in an expensive charcoal grey suit that showed off his status, the top two buttons of his once crisp white shirt undone and his navy blue silk tie hanging loose, the French cuffs of his shirt adorned in platinum cufflinks while an equally expensive watch sat on his left wrist, lazed on one of the high bar stools of the bar. His left hand lightly swirled the glass placed in front of him as he gazed into the swirling brown liquid in his glass while his right hand sat idly on the counter.

Being one of the Managers in the Advertising Department of a MNC, he had had to deal with a lot of clients that day and was stressed about the pending report he would have to submit the next day detailing the deal he had to finalise with a particular hard-to-please client. To say that he was itching to let out some of that stress was an understatement.

His tired eyes left the brown poison to once again wander through the crowd, in search of a ‘stress reliever’. His wife being out of the city with their kids was a perfect opportunity to let go of his ‘perfect family man’ persona and do something wild he had not had the chance to do in a while now.

‘A little bit of fun never hurt anybody.’

‘It would not hurt them if they didn’t find out.’

With such thoughts running through his mind, he continued to scan the crowd, his eyes finally landing on a petite slumped figure at the other end of the bar.

Even with the number of people loitering around, he had a clear and perfect view of the said figure. The black shimmery dress that rested on a mouth watering body, ended a little above the knees and gave only a peek of honey coloured thick juicy thighs, the dark brown hair with golden highlights that seemed to reflect the disco lights making them look more enticing, the curves highlighted by that body-hugging sin of a dress.

All of those stirred something within the 40-something man.

‘A little bit of fun would not hurt.’ His mind supplied.

With a smirk that showed his pride of having found a prey for the night, he left the stool he was occupying and made his way towards the one that had caught his interest.

‘May I buy you a drink?’ He asked in his deep voice as he placed himself in the stool next to the petite brunette, eyeing her figure in what could only be described as hunger, her face still covered by the thick brown and golden curtain that was her hair.

‘Hmm?’ Was all he got in response, the slumped figure slightly tilting her head, her face remaining hidden behind the brown locks.

He signalled the bar-tender for a drink, confident that it would be accepted without much protest. How much of a fight could an already out-of-it petite woman put up anyway?

A new glass, half-filled with a golden liquid, was placed in front of him, which he slid towards the figure next to him, his eyes catching sight of the red that painted the long nails of the one he wanted to devour that night.

‘Here.’ He said, in his velvety smooth voice, a voice that hid any malintention that lurked in the dark alleys of the mind of the owner.

The brunette finally moved enough to reveal her porcelain face and her eyelids fluttered open to reveal a pair of eyes that were darker than any other he had seen in all of his life. Images of what sight would grace him when he wrecked that pair of plump lips painted in blood red caused a shiver to run down his spine.

He gulped, trying to calm himself down. All in good time, he thought to himself. 

‘What is a beauty like you doing here all alone?’ He asked, his eyes glued to the obsidian orbs that clearly looked disoriented. And even more enchanting.

‘F-fun-ny sto-storrrryyyy.’ She gave a smile, her voice like an angel, her speech slurry, her eyes unfocused.

‘You can tell me. We have all night.’ His smirk only grew wider and creepier.

Merely half an hour later, a male figure was seen entering the lift of a hotel, supporting a hammered petite figure who was unable to even lift her head.

As he deposited the drunk woman on the white sheet-covered soft mattress of the bed and went to lock the door, not forgetting to hang the ‘Do Not Disturb’ tag on the knob outside the door, the woman’s eyes flickered open, dark pools taking in the interior of the hotel room.

‘W-w-wherrrrre aaaare wwe?’ She finally slurred out.

‘Can’t have the security or anyone else at the residential complex who might witness me bringing someone home and gossip, can we?’ He said as he returned to the bedside and peeled his expensive suit jacket off his body. His silk tie following next.

Unbuttoning the rest of the buttons of his shirt, he lowered himself on the woman.

‘N-No. St-stop.’ She protested weakly.

‘Why? We haven’t even started yet.’ He said huskily as his lips left wet kisses on her exposed neck, his hands busy unbuckling his belt.

‘I-I do-n’t… St-o-op.’

Alas, her pleas fell on deaf ears.

The atmosphere suddenly seemed to change, the temperature of the room dropping.

Unaware of his surroundings, the male continued with his ministrations.

He was brought to his senses when he felt the body under him turn cold. Unusually cold.

‘Wha-’ He started as he lifted his head, his teeth finally letting go of the skin covering her collar bone. Only to be interrupted by a sudden yelp that escaped his lips when he was suddenly flipped on the bed, now lying on his back.

He had closed his eyes, taken by surprise by the sudden movement.

But the second his eyes opened, they widened in horror at the sight in front of him.

There, in that chilly hotel room, on the unnaturally cold bed, laid his shocked and terrified figure, with a petite brunette sitting on top of him, her legs on either side of his body.

Any other day, the position would have fueled his excitement of what was to come. But that night, at that moment, he only felt terror wash over him.

The brunette looked nothing like the one he had brought with him.

He continued to watch with wide eyes and mouth as the petite brunette’s appearance changed slowly yet dramatically, morphing into something he could not comprehend.

The white of her eyes slowly turned red even as the obsidian of her irises looked lifeless like the darkest pit of the universe, her blood red painted lips oozed blood from what looked like tiny cuts that appeared at the corner of her lips, her brown hair were dishevelled and dirty as if they were grabbed and pulled multiple times, her once porcelain face now sported multiple bruises in the shape of handprints, one of the eyes swollen shut. Her neck seemed to be bent in an unnatural angle, also sporting purple and blue handprints, her arms and legs were littered with similar purple and blue bruises with occasional cuts here and there, some of them bleeding, others giving a sickening peek of the pink flesh underneath. Her once black shimmery dress was torn in places revealing more of the bruised and beaten pale skin while the fabric was wet in places with what must be blood. A few trails of red liquid trickled down her thighs. Her previously long nails, now broken as if giving up after some kind of struggle, some of them leaking blood from where the skin of the fingertips were ripped off with the broken nails.

The gruesome image only managed to bring more and more horror to the rapidly beating heart of the male.

‘I-I to-ld y-you t-t-to sto-stop. Bu-but y-you didn’t… you didn’t.’ The bruised and broken figure kept muttering.

‘Wh-who are you?’ The petrified male managed to ask. His whole body was now shaking, but he couldn’t say if it was caused by the constantly dropping temperature or the sight in front of him.

‘Fu-funny sto-story. I re-remember being inv-vited to a cl-club by a fr-friend. I-I remem-member be-ing in the clu-ub a-and hi-m of-fering me a dri-drink. I re-mem-ber ch-chatting wi-ith him an-and then-then fe-eling li-like I wa-was go-ing to fa-faint. Th-then a ho-tel ro-om, there was-there we-re me-men. I-I tol-told the-em to st-stop. I to-ld the-them I di-didn’t wa-want to. B-but the-ey did-idn’t li-li-s-lis-ten. I-I don-don’t rem-remem-ber an-any-thing af-after th-that.’ Her whole body grew paler by the second even as she continued to stutter and stammer. Her face displayed no emotions. Her deathly gaze never leaving his wide eyes.

It seemed like her lifeless eyes were piercing into his own frightened pair and sucking his soul out of his body. His mouth opened but no sound escaped. Slowly, painfully slowly, he fell into the arms of darkness.

The next morning, the man in his early 40s, woke up startled, sweating profusely, gasping for air as breathing through nose felt impossible, heartbeats unnaturally fast and eyes wide open as he stared at the ceiling, feeling disoriented. His hands shook as he brought them to his face, his fingers felt cold to the touch against his hot cheeks.

What was that? A nightmare? It sure felt like one!

‘What…?’ He breathed, finally realising that the ceiling didn’t look anything like the one in his bedroom.

Shakily, he sat up on the bed, taking in his surroundings.

He was in a hotel room. But he couldn’t recall checking into one.

Lowering his head, he stared blankly at his hands, as he tried to remember the incidents from the previous night.

He clearly remembered going to the club and looking for someone to spend the night with. Everything else remained blurred.

What the hell happened?

His eyes then fell on his unbuttoned shirt and his undone belt. A frown slowly crept its way onto his thick brows. Lifting his head, he found his charcoal grey suit jacket along with his navy blue tie, discarded on one of the chairs.

His eyes widened once again. All of these felt like a deja vu.

A few seconds passed in silence, during which he felt himself breakout in a cold sweat. A chill ran down his spine. It was almost as if, even though his mind didn’t remember anything, his body did.

B-but that was not possible!

‘N-no! That’s n-not possible. I-it-it's definitely not possible.’ He muttered under his breath. He forced out a little laugh. His words sounded forced to his own ears. As if he was forcing himself to believe something.

He hurriedly tried to get off the bed, almost losing his balance and falling over, scurried towards the chair on which lay his jacket and tie and gathered them with trembling hands. Not even bothering to button up his shirt or buckle his belt, he staggered his way out the room. All the while muttering ‘not possible’ over and over again.

In his haste, what he failed to take note of were a pair of hollow obsidian eyes embedded into a pale face, watching his every move from the mirror stationed against one of the walls of the hotel room. Thick red liquid escaped the obsidian pair and trickled down the pale cheeks.