Pulse of Heroes

by A. Jacob Sweeny

  “I can use my brother’s car tonight!” she screeched in excitement. “He will stop by soon and give me the keys, that way we can go to many places. We need to get dressed,” she said, taking off her t-shirt and kicking her flats across the living room floor to the front foyer. As Michelle was led towards the bedroom she noticed how beautiful the place was. It had an interesting multi-colored wood floor, and high ceilings with beautiful crown mouldings. There were crystal chandeliers hanging from above, but the decor felt modern, not stuffy. The living room couches and ottomans were made of alternating black and white leather that accentuated the room’s classic ambiance. There were also several standing lamps in corners, and an array of beautiful black and white framed photographs. Michelle wondered if Vilna and her brother came from a rich family to have such a nice place, but she was told that Vilna’s brother was an investor and that he did pretty well on the international market.

  They passed by the open-style kitchen but Michelle didn’t see a dining table anywhere. They must eat over at the bar, she mused, looking at two black leather bar stools. Vilna must have read Michelle’s mind and commented that she didn’t know how to cook and mostly ate out when she was in town, and that her brother was hardly ever home.

  “It’s not like he cooks anyway,” she said with a smirk, “and even if he did I don’t think I would trust to eat it.” Michelle laughed and thought about Toby and how she could probably live with him and that they’d get along just fine. Marika lightly elbowed her and in broken English told her that Vilna’s brother didn’t need to cook because all his girlfriends cooked for him. Vilna, still in her padded pink bra, returned from the kitchen with a bottle of red wine and two glasses. She handed them the glasses and poured the wine, laughing and shaking her head.

  “Marika is just jealous because Haden pretends she doesn’t exist. He doesn’t even breathe in her direction.” Michelle looked at her glass of wine with hesitation and both girls laughed at her. “It is legal here. You are not breaking the law like in America. You can buy wine at eighteen and drink even earlier,” Vilna said, taking a large gulp from the bottle and proceeding to wipe her mouth with the back of her hand. “Besides, if my brother finds out I opened his wine and didn’t finish it he will be very angry because he doesn’t like wasting it.”

  “What about driving? That can be dangerous,” Michelle asked after taking a few sips and feeling the warmth slowly descend down her throat.

  “I will only have one glass before we go, I promise,” Vilna said rolling her eyes. On the way to Vilna’s room Michelle noticed a small stairway leading up to a door. “That’s my brother’s room. Don’t ever go there, he will get very angry. He is very nice but can be a jerk,” Vilna said, opening the door to her bedroom.

  Although Vilna’s room was also beautifully decorated with a crystal chandelier and a princess type white iron bed frame with a tulle canopy, it was definitely a mess. There were a bunch of clothes strewn over the bed and piled on the floor. Marika grabbed a few of them and disappeared down the hallway towards the bathroom. Vilna scanned Michelle over, and Michelle felt a little exposed just standing there quietly. “You don’t have bra under the shirt, right?” Vilna asked. Michelle shook her head; it was a halter-top after all. She watched Vilna walk over to her closet and ruffle back and forth through the hangers.

  “Can’t I stay in this outfit? I don’t think any of your clothes will fit me. I am much bigger than you, and I have boobs,” Michelle asked, looking at the back of Vilna’s minuscule frame. Vilna didn’t answer, and pulled out a couple of outfits still wrapped in plastic.

  “Here, you try these and see which one fits. They are larger because I lost a lot of weight but they also stretch.” Michelle took the clothes off Vilna’s arms but asked again if she was sure that her outfit wouldn’t do? “Not where we’re going,” Vilna answered, lightly shoving Michelle in the direction of the hallway bathroom. Just then, Marika stepped out of the bathroom wearing an eye-popping low cut tight red dress that hugged her every curve as if it was painted on.

  “Wow!” Michelle exclaimed. Marika smiled and freed her hair from her top ponytail, then twirled in front of Michelle.

  “You really like?” Michelle did like the dress, but what she liked even more was that Marika had no problem accentuating her curvy body. It was like she celebrated it. She wished she could feel that way about hers. “This dress good for you too because we have the same in body,” she said. “Sexy!” Marika stepped into the bedroom, waving Michelle on and shutting the door behind her. Michelle’s dad would freak out if he saw her wearing that dress.

  In the bathroom, Michelle tried putting on a bejeweled white dress with a corset-like top, but no matter how much she tightened the laces her breasts still looked way too big in her honest opinion. When Michelle stepped back to look at herself in the floor length mirror, she was horrified. While looking at her backside, she thought that there was no way the dress would have even made it past her thighs if the fabric wasn’t so stretchy. Truth was that the dress fit fine, but it just wasn’t her. Walking back into the bedroom, she felt very uncomfortable and gave Vilna a look of desperation. Vilna dug into her chest of drawers and returned with a disco metallic halter-top.

  “Here, put this on with your skirt. You look miserable in that dress. We will have to accessorize to make do.”

  All that was left was her makeup, Vilna said as she clipped Michelle’s hair back from her face. Michelle sat on the bed while the girls debated what look she should wear for the night. They applied thick liquid eyeliner and silver eye shadow to match her top, then they lined her lips with a dark purple shade and filled in the middle with a strange colored lipstick that Michelle couldn’t really describe. It was purplish with iridescence of pink, silver and green all combined to make an urban mishmash. While Michelle sipped her glass of wine, the girls teamed up on her hair, refusing to let her look in the mirror until they were completely done.

  “Do you have boyfriend at home?” Vilna asked her. Of course Michelle knew that a question like that was coming sooner or later.

  “No, I don’t,” Michelle said with a sigh.

  “Ah, you miss someone?” Vilna asked more gently.

  “Yes. But we are not together. Not anymore.”

  “Why?” Marika asked sadly.

  “It’s a very long story.” Michelle took another sip from her glass and Vilna poured her some more before gulping down the last drop straight from the bottle.

  “Do you have one?” Michelle asked, and Vilna shook her head.

  “I am free now,” she said, giving her an obvious fake smile. Michelle understood that Vilna too had her own sad story about some guy in her life.

  Someone knocked on the bedroom door, breaking the brief silence of heartache that the girls shared in solidarity. Vilna called out something in Hungarian and Marika nudged Michelle to pay attention.

  The door opened and in walked the most gorgeous guy that Michelle had seen, since… Elliot. He stopped partway into the room and threw his car keys over Michelle’s head to Vilna who caught them in her small hands without any faltering. If he looked in Michelle’s direction, she couldn’t tell because he turned to leave just as quickly as he came. But Marika said something to him in Hungarian that obviously amounted to some sort of teasing because he spun back around with a menacing smirk and said something back to her in that same strange language. Michelle was actually grateful that she got another chance to look at him, because she had hardly had any time to completely check him out.

  Haden was tall and statuesque with thick dark brown hair that was gathered into a tight braid, and he had a wide and curious face with dark blue eyes. Michelle could tell that they were the same shade as Vilna’s, only his eyes were larger and not as slanted as hers. Marika was probably right when she said that all his ‘girlfriends’ cooked for him. Haden was breathtakingly handsome, and from the way he stood and looked down at all of them, he obviously knew it. What ever he replied back to Marika obvious
ly didn’t impress her, because the next thing that happened was that she gave him the middle finger. At first it seemed like he was going to ignore her and walk back out the door, but when he heard her laughing he changed his mind, marching back into the room with large steps and pulling Marika from her waist close to him; a little too close, Michelle thought, getting a bit nervous, and maybe a bit jealous too. Marika looked at Haden straight in the eyes, pretending that she wasn’t scared, almost like she was daring him, but everyone knew otherwise, including her. Vilna said something to Haden but he ignored her. He just stood there, looking fiercely into Marika’s eyes with their lips almost touching. Marika’s smile was waning quickly, and just when Michelle thought that he was going to kiss her, he laughed and pushed her backwards onto Vilna’s bed, which was easy to do considering the high heels she was wearing.

  Michelle breathed a bit easier as the tension dissipated. As Haden turned back towards the door, he noticed the wine bottle and picked it up from the bedside table. He examined the label, and when he saw that the bottle was empty, his eyes settled on the glass of wine that Michelle was still holding. He smiled at her and gently lifted the glass away from her tiny fingers. He took a few sips and savored them, while Michelle just sat there mesmerized. Vilna looked at her brother with amusement, while Marika sat up on the bed and watched, obviously jealous. That was the last thing Michelle wanted; she liked Marika and didn’t want to start any stupid girl fights already. But Haden did have a beautiful smile, Michelle thought, still holding her breath.

  “Good wine, isn’t it?” he asked in perfect English. “You enjoy the rest of it, ok?” he said in a velvety voice, placing the glass back in her hand and folding her fingers around the stem. A stunned Michelle didn’t say anything back, and by the time she returned to her senses Haden was already out the door. He shouted something to Vilna as he disappeared down the hallway.

  “I told you about Marika, now you see for yourself,” Vilna said, obviously annoyed at her girlfriend.

  “He is the one that started it,” Marika huffed and puffed while folding her arms.

  “My brother is an ass,” Vilna said, returning to Michelle’s hair. “But he can be good too. Very good.”

  Chapter 14

  Club Tropic was sort of a downer. The girls had thought that there was going to be a live band playing, but it turned out to be a DJ night instead. They told Michelle that there were plenty of DJ clubs in Budapest, but to find a decent live band of any genre was bit more complicated. Club Tropic was exactly what its title conveyed, almost. It was a tropical, plastic paradise. When the clubbers entered they received Hawaiian leis, so there were plenty of plastic hibiscus flowers to go around. Michelle felt silly wearing hers so Vilna laced a couple of the white flowers into Michelle’s silver shoelaces, which were in fact Vilna’s bikini straps which she had wrapped all the way up to Michelle’s knees, gladiator style.

  Inside, shiny tinsel coconut trees hung upside down from the ceilings and the walls were painted with ocean beach scenes. Even the servers all wore Hawaiian shirts. Problem was that there were no windows in the underground World War II bunker, and despite seeing a few large fans trying desperately to move the air around, Michelle’s throat burned from the amount of cigarette smoke that had nowhere to escape. Everyone was smoking, or if they weren’t they were about to. People carried their packs of cigarettes in their pockets, purses, and when there wasn’t anywhere else to store them they were tucked into the backs of tight skirts and pants, even in-between ample cleavages.

  The girls sipped on tropical drinks served in Tiki mugs and people-watched for a while. There were plenty of people dancing and everybody looked very dressed up; it felt like a fashion show. There were definitely good looking guys everywhere and a few of them came up and tried to start conversation, but it was hard for Michelle to talk to any of them. Not only because of the language barrier, but because she couldn’t hear them over the deafening beat. Most of them spoke some form of broken English but the whole situation just required too much effort. Things wouldn’t have been as bad if Michelle could actually breath, but there was nowhere to escape. When the girls finally gave up and Michelle coughed all the way up the stairway, Vilna felt bad for her and gave her some sort of throat lozenge that tasted like real strong honey and lemon.

  “Sorry for all the smoke. It’s normal for us.” Michelle felt embarrassed for being such a wimp.

  “I’m sure I’ll get used to it,” she said, thanking Vilna.

  The girls piled back into the sleek black Audi S5 and Marika told Michelle that she would like where they were taking her next because it was outdoors.

  “So why are you not with your boyfriend anymore? Did he cheat on you?” Vilna asked out of nowhere. A startled Michelle had to come up with a believable reason quickly, and told her that Elliot had needed to move away for school.

  “Elliot is a nice name,” Vilna replied. Michelle told her what it meant, and added that the godly name matched his looks.

  “What do you mean he looks like God? Nobody looks like God.” Velna laughed and accused Michelle of still being blindly in love. But Marika came to Michelle’s defense, revealing that Vilna was also mourning a boy that she loved very much.

  “What happened?” Michelle asked, hoping to be freed from Elliot’s image. Vilna became very quiet and took a moment to collect her thoughts. Adi was not a bad person, she said, but he wasn’t allowed to come near her anymore. Then Marika added how Adi and Vilna had gotten into a huge fight.

  “We were drinking too much and Adi was upset that I got accepted to Fashion Design School. I’m moving to London in a few months.” She then explained that Adi had refused to move with her because he had a good job in Budapest, which was not easy to come by.

  “I was hurt and I called him many names, and after I threw the glass at him he got upset. He didn’t mean to hurt me but he threw his bottle and it hit the wall and broke in many sharp pieces. One piece stuck in my neck very deep and I had to go to the hospital.” Michelle wondered if she was hearing the whole story, or if Vilna was trying to protect an abusive boyfriend.

  “But it was an accident, right?” she asked Vilna, who nodded. “And you’re ok. Did the police come?” Michelle asked, confused.

  “No,” Vilna said, and got quiet again. Marika lowered her voice, as if Vilna didn’t know the rest, and told Michelle that Haden beat Adi up pretty good, and told him that he would kill him if he came near his sister again.

  “But he couldn’t have meant that. He must have been angry at the time…” Michelle contended. “He was just upset and protecting you and…” Vilna seemed visibly upset and cut Michelle off, telling her that whether Haden had meant it or not didn’t matter because after that Adi refused to even look at her. Even in the dark Michelle saw the sparkle of small tears escaping Vilna’s blue eyes. She grabbed Vilna’s hand in both of hers and squeezed it hard, telling her that she understood. Vilna didn’t say anything for the rest of the drive, and they all remained silent until she pulled up into a dirt road.

  “It’s going to be a little bumpy, but we’re almost there,” she said as she downshifted into a lower gear without slowing down the car. The engine made a loud churning sound as it tried to catch up with Vilna’s driving. She smiled at Michelle, and Michelle understood that that was her way of getting back at her brother.

  The dirt road was dark and desolate and Michelle wondered if they were lost. There were no streetlights or signs, let alone any evidence of life at all. She began feeling nervous, but just then she saw one road sign; a simple bright blue arrow pointing forward. Then there was more light up ahead, colored lights of orange and red.

  Out in the middle of nowhere, there were two large stages and the DJ’s were spinning psychedelic trance beats that would build into suspenseful notes and then ebb back into the background. There were at least five hundred people there, and the energy was good. Michelle liked the ambiance of the place and felt her body begin to sway to the music even bef
ore they entered the actual event. Vilna paid Michelle’s way because she didn’t have any euros on her so Michelle bought them all glow-in-the-dark drinks with her ATM card. She didn’t taste any alcohol in the drinks, but Marika warned her that there was in fact plenty so she should drink carefully. The girls made their way under the canopy of the main dance area and stared at the amazing light show above them. Michelle had never seen anything like it in her life. It was some sort of interstellar visuals that put the San Francisco Lazerium to shame. Michelle was drawn in by the beat, and just like everyone else she found herself letting go of all her worries and dancing with elation and freedom. That was the power of music. She smiled and thought she could see Vilna smiling too. Michelle took a sip from her bright green drink and watched dry ice fog escaping from her mouth. Things weren’t just good; they were great!

  There was no telling how long the girls danced because the beat always stayed the same no matter how many songs the DJs went through. Michelle liked to look up while spinning, enjoying the dizzying sensation while the music raised into a crescendo one more time; then a wave of falling stars rained on top of the dancers and everyone let out a sigh of amazement. Vilna told the girls that she was going to get another drink and disappeared into the crowd.

  “How is she going to find us?” Michelle yelled at Marika who was having a lot of fun dancing with a very handsome dark skinned boy. But Marika waved away her worries and kept on dancing. About twenty minutes later when Vilna had not yet returned, Michelle decided that she should go find her and take the chance to use the toilet.

  “I need to go to the bathroom. I have to pee,” Michelle said to Marika, pointing to her abdomen. But just then Vilna returned and said that she’d take Michelle to the restrooms. There was a long line to use the porta-potties and the smell emanating from them was very uninviting, to say the least.