by Leela Ash
“I wonder who he is,” Chantel mused. “He’s certainly very confident. And this house isn’t bad either.”
She looked up and around at the modern kitchen, decked out in black granite counter tops and what appeared to be expensive marble flooring. Growing up in a wealthy family meant that Chantel knew something expensive when she saw it, and this guy had splashed some serious cash in setting up his rather decadent and classy bachelor pad.
“He’s some sort of market trader apparently,” a random girl leaned over Chantel’s shoulder and whispered.
“Really?” Another girl heard her and butted in. “Someone told me he was some kind of scientific genius. Made his money by selling an idea for a very advanced machine. Something to do with space travel.”
Chantel felt her mouth curl into amusement but she tried to hide it. Why would a scientific, millionaire genius throw a house party for college girls? She looked across the room at their dashing and very sexy host. His shaggy, brown hair fell perfectly around his chiseled jaw and his deep brown eyes glistened under the light. His skin was smooth and perfect and Chantel couldn’t help but think that he was young to have had so much success. He couldn’t have been any more than thirty-five, but he looked like he had a lot of experience in being the perfect host with the way he entertained. He moved fluidly throughout the rooms of the house, stopping to speak to both men and women who seemed enchanted by him. Chantel was one of them, and she found her eyes fixed on him with every move he took.
“Hey Sister,” Sarah jabbed her in the ribs. “I called first, find your own man.” She laughed afterwards to make it sound as if she was making a joke, but Chantel knew she was serious.
“He seems so… different…” Chantel said dreamily, but she was snapped back to reality by Sarah jabbing her in the arm.
“Hey!” Sarah crunched her lips up to her nose. “I said he’s mine.”
Chantel held her hands up in surrender and rolled her eyes.
“Okay Boss,” she said with jest before she looked back around the room and realized their sexy host had disappeared.
“Well whoever he is, he certainly knows how to throw a party,” Chantel said. “And work the room.”
“He does, doesn’t he?” Sarah beamed.
The girls mingled within the crowd and sipped their vodka and limes. The house was so crowded, rammed and full of people they recognized from both college and around town. She even saw one of the old waitresses from Carlo’s and stopped to chat to her for a few moments on her way to the bathroom.
Sarah was on a mad mission, she was determined that she would find the host on one of the levels of the house and tempt him away from whatever conversation he was having and into a bedroom with her.
“You’re crazy,” Chantel told her. “You don’t even know the guy, and you’ve only said hello to him, he may have a shitty personality.”
“He won’t,” Sarah said, as defiant as a child. “I can tell just by looking at him and we would be good together.”
Chantel found it hard to argue with her, as she certainly knew that feeling. She had lusted after Ben for weeks now and even though she tried to turn off her feelings and ignore them, she still found herself being drawn to him as if there was a magnet between them.
“I need another drink,” Sarah said as she drained the rest of her glass. “Shall I get one for you too?”
Chantel looked ahead at the queue in front of her to use the restroom and knew that there was no way she could risk losing her place in line.
“Please,” she said. “I’d come with you but… this queue…” she held her hand out.
“It’s cool, I’ll get us some! I’ll be right back,” Sarah kissed her on the cheek and made her way off down the stairs.
Chantel leant against the wall and sighed. There was still at least four people in front of her waiting to use the restroom. She looked down at her watch. It was eleven thirty and she had been waiting for around fifteen minutes. The party was going strong and the hallways seemed much busier than they had been when she arrived and more and more people filtering through the rooms were familiar to her. She could have sworn that most of the town were there and certainly a lot of girls from campus.
She was second in line and just about to reach the head of the queue when Sarah returned and slipped a drink into her hand.
“It’s crazy down there,” Sarah laughed. “The rumors about these parties are true. I can’t believe we’ve never been to one until now.”
“Well at least we know now for next time,” Chantel winked.
The door to the restroom opened up ahead of her and a small raven haired girl walked out with a bottle of wine swinging from her hand.
“Finally,” Chantel sighed to Sarah and made her way inside and closed the door.
After she had peed, washed her hands and reapplied her make-up, she looked in the mirror and flicked her hair. The curls she had so carefully crafted were still soft and bouncy around her face and Sarah had been right, she did look like a 50’s starlet. She rubbed a tiny streak of red lipstick off her front tooth, smiled at her reflection once more and then turned and opened the door. As she stepped out of the bathroom and took up her place next to Sarah on the landing she was happy and ready to enjoy the rest of her night. But Sarah’s hand rushed out quickly and circled her wrist.
“Let’s go downstairs,” she said.
“Huh?” Chantel asked her confused. “What’s the rush?”
But before Sarah had chance to pull her away, or explain what the matter was, Chantel saw it…
On the opposite side of the hall were a couple locked up in each other’s arms. They were entwined together and exploring each other like they were ravenous. The guy dipped the girl back and kissed her so powerfully and passionately it was like something out of the movies. The heat they were radiating was impossible to ignore and they were so into each other and so obviously linked by more than a quick hook-up that it made it all the more hard to look away.
Chantel felt her stomach drop and the tears well up behind her eyes.
The guy in the loving embrace with another girl was Ben.
4.
She wriggled free from Sarah’s grip and headed straight for the stairs. As she pushed her way through the crowd and down onto the first floor of the house her heart was pounding loudly in her ears and her hands were shaking.
She had never been involved with Ben, but her feelings had grown so much over the past few weeks that it felt like she had been kicked in the stomach. Seeing him entwined with another girl had been just as bad, if not worse, than seeing her high school boyfriend and first love cheating on her at prom.
Sarah was somewhere behind her in the house, trying to follow her and calling her name, but Chantel ignored her and weaved in and out of people, trying to disappear into the crowd. She didn’t want to speak to anyone, she just needed to get out of there.
As she found her way back into the kitchen and became trapped in a line of people dancing and mingling she managed to catch sight of a door which looked as if it led outside. She pushed her way past a few more people and in her panic quickly turned the key and opened the door into the backyard.
The cold night air hit her and she sighed with relief as she wrapped her arms around herself and took solace in the silence.
Fucking Ben, she thought. How could he be so involved with someone? He can’t have just met her. This must have been going on for a long time.
She looked around. The yard was fully paved and lit by Victorian looking streetlamps. It was as if she had stepped into another world and she made her way over to a small wrought iron bench and sat down with her back facing the house so that hopefully no one would notice her.
She felt bad for running out on Sarah, but she needed the space. She needed the time to herself. Seeing Ben loved up like that had been a massive wake-up call for her. He didn’t want Chantel. If he did, he would have made a play for her by now. She was just someone he liked to flirt with to pass th
e time.
The truth hurt. She hadn’t been in a relationship for some time and although she didn’t feel like she needed one to feel happy in her life, she knew that it would have been nice to have her feelings reciprocated.
She sighed and a line of foggy breath twirled out in front of her. It was much colder than she realized, but she didn’t understand how. It hadn’t been anything like freezing temperatures earlier in the day.
She looked up to the sky again and noticed a lot more stars were twinkling above her. They lit up the night like a trillion fairy lights and the feeling was so calming, in an instant she felt as if she didn’t care anymore. Although her hands were cold and stiff, she felt warm and relaxed, the heat was rolling through her and unfurling her entire body. She leant back against the bench and smiled as she looked up at the stars. The sky had a greenish tint to it which looked otherworldly and then with a jolt of recognition she remembered about the meteors.
As if she had conjured or manifested them, suddenly the night sky broke out in a dashing race of shooting stars. Bright white and green meteors streaked across the blackness of the night as Chantel sat with her mouth and eyes wide, watching them in awe.
“So beautiful,” she whispered as her breath was taken away. “I can’t believe it…”
She had never seen anything like it before, and just when she didn’t think the scene above her could get any more incredible, all of a sudden the shooting stars began to turn in circles and Chantel found herself blinking and rubbing her eyes, as if her vision was blurred and she was seeing things.
But what she was seeing was real. The stars above her head began to spin in a circle, hundreds of them, forming a tight conical spiral which seemed to be reaching down towards her. Chantel gripped onto the bench, her heart pounding… what was happening?
In a flash of light and the sensation that she had just been pulled up from the bottom of the ocean, weightless and free, the stars flew past her and she was suddenly in orbit. She could see the house disappearing below her and as her heart thudded louder in her chest it became the only thing she could hear apart from the deafening ring of silence.
She was being taken. Taken far away from Earth and from everything she knew.
5.
The light was so bright she couldn’t open her eyes without feeling as if she was being slapped in the face. She tried to lift her hand to shield them, but she realized that her arms were secured down by her side. She was lying flat on a hard surface and all she could hear was a dull buzz running all around her.
She geared herself up and finally opened her eyes ever so slightly. Bit by bit, white light pierced her vision and as she let her eyes become accustomed to it, she realized that the room she was in was completely empty apart from her. She was raised up, on what could only be a flat, white, hard bed. The rest of the room was white and empty. It was eerie in a way but she felt nothing but calm. She felt as if she belonged there.
She smiled and looked up at the ceiling. Spotlights shone down on her and as she looked down at her own body she realized that her red dress had gone and she was now wearing a pair of tight white leggings and a white smock. She closed her eyes again and tried to remember what had happened.
She had been at the party of a man they didn’t know and had been drinking vodka and lime with Sarah. They had gone to use the restroom. Sarah had been intent on making the host hers. Chantel had gone in to use the restroom and then she had left and spotted Ben. Ben with another woman. Ben entwined with someone else. The disappointment as she relived it thumped through her and she felt the tears well up behind her eyes again, but she couldn’t cry. It was as if whatever force was in the room with her wouldn’t let her be sad. She was being carried along on a wave of happiness. After she had seen Ben she had gone out into the garden, she had watched the stars. And then… That’s when it all went blank.
Something happened to me out in that yard, she thought. Did I pass out? Were Sarah and I drugged?
She cast her mind back to several news reports she had read only months before about girls all over the country being slipped roofies and waking up in compromising positions. Whilst this certainly wasn’t a usual thing to happen to Chantel, and even though she was waking up in a strange, brightly lit room in different clothes, she couldn’t help but feel as if everything was fine. She wasn’t afraid and she didn’t feel violated. She knew that whoever had brought her there wasn’t going to harm her.
She let the warm sensation rising up from the bed below her fill her entire body and she closed her eyes and smiled. She was so relaxed and content, she never wanted to move. She was just about to drift off into a welcomed sleep when she heard a noise at what had to be a door. It sounded as if a key was turning and slowly a black crack began to appear down the center of the stark white wall ahead of her. She raised her head and shoulders up as much as she could so she could get a clear view and watched as a man walked into the room with her. She could tell immediately that he was familiar and with a jolt of recognition it dawned on her that he was the host from the party.
“Hello?” she asked. “What’s happening?”
The man turned and looked at her and smiled. He really was very handsome, but there was something different about him there in that room. She couldn’t put her finger on what it was, but she could tell that he wasn’t the same person.
“Hello Chantel,” he said softly. “Welcome.”
She smiled back and wriggled her wrists.
“Would you be able to untie me please?” she asked with a giggle. She didn’t know how to act, the whole situation was so bizarre, but oddly, she was really enjoying it. It felt exciting and also very right. She was more than comfortable there and the fact that she was in the company of a man she didn’t know wasn’t bothering her at all.
“Of course,” he smiled as he approached the edge of the bed and with what felt like nothing, seemed to remove the restraints so they evaporated into thin air.
Chantel sat upright and swung her legs over the side of the bed. The man stood in front of her and they stared at each other. There was something about him that was making her want to reach out and touch him, but she didn’t dare, for some reason she knew she had to hold back.
“During your stay with us, this will be your room,” he told her. “Make yourself at home, relax, and get your rest. We’re very excited to have you here.”
Chantel wanted to ask him what he meant, but instead she just nodded and smiled obligingly. At the back of her mind she knew it was wrong, but on the surface it all felt okay and she didn’t want to upset the happy rhythm and the calm feeling she had washing all over her.
“One of my colleagues will be with you shortly to start the process,” he said. “In the meantime, it would be best if you just relaxed and enjoyed your time here.”
Chantel nodded and watched him leave the room.
The black crack of the door sealed up behind him and the line of the entrance completely disappeared. It was as if it had never even been there. She was in so much white light that she felt the beginnings of a headache, and now that the man had gone, she felt a sense of dread creeping up on her.
None of this makes any sense, she thought. He was just like the man from the party, and yet I know that it wasn’t him. He says I have to stay here? But where am I? And what did he mean by process?
She thought on his words and although she knew deep down that she should have more questions and be determined to get the answers, she also wanted to do exactly what he had told her and to lie down and get some sleep.
She kicked her feet back up and lay down on the hard, solid bed. Even though there was no comfort in it, she had never felt more at home and she felt as if it had been made just for her. She closed her eyes and somehow managed to block out the blinding glare of the lights beaming down on her. Within moments she was asleep.
6.
The light was still blaring but this time it wasn’t silent and calm, there was commotion all around her. Chantel
opened her eyes and sat bolt upright, her palms sweating and her heart pounding.
She could see the black crack had appeared again on the wall and a doorway was open. Somewhere, out in the hall, there was banging and crashing and the sounds of a struggle. She climbed off the bed slowly and although she didn’t even know where she was, she knew she had to look.
As she approached the doorway and went to push it open she was stopped by a hand appearing around the frame and pushing her back inside. She screamed as she tumbled backwards but a man came heaving through the door ahead of her and closed it behind him, the line of the doorway completely disappearing again as if it had never even been there.
He panted and tried to regain his breath as he bent down and put a big hand on Chantel’s shoulder.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
Chantel was trembling, and she hadn’t even dared look at him, but as her eyes travelled up his rippling rock hard torso, she was instantly aware that he wasn’t the man from the party or the one who could have been his twin that had visited her earlier. This man in front of her now was tall and blonde with ice blue eyes that were so intense they made her gasp. He was so handsome, like nothing she had ever seen before. When they had walked into the party earlier that night she had thought that the host was other-worldly and attractive, but this man now was so much more. He was like another entity altogether and she couldn’t stop herself from staring at him. She was completely lost for words.
“Are you okay?” he asked again as he took hold of her other shoulder and shook her slightly.
“Yes,” she gasped. “But I don’t know what is happening.”
He smiled with a warm, open look and then sighed.
“Well, it just so happens it’s your lucky day.”