06-02-2018, 07:58 PM
***
The months pass, and Jacket is still awake.
Luci is breathing nervously behind a stained red curtain; she is always nervous before she dances.
The lights of the strip club dim to near total darkness as Luci walks onto the stage. A hush falls over the crowd. Eerie synth music starts to play.
Luci is wrapped in a translucent white cloth glowing with a soft neon light. The music begins to speed up, and Luci lets her shawl fall to the ground.
The multicolored bioluminescence of her nude body bathes the club in a warm rainbow glow.
There are gasps from the newcomers, whistles from the regulars.
Luci leaps forward and latches onto the top of the pole with her thighs, leaning backwards and letting her body start to spin, her long sparkly hair nearly reaching the floor.
The club becomes a blur as Luci spins faster and faster.
***
Backstage, surrounded by beautiful nude women, Luci is again wrapped in her shawl and sniffing some kind of strange dream-drug that feels a LOT like cocaine. She is not the only one.
Her coworkers giggle and tease and use their drugs loudly. The raucous strippers give a wide berth to the prismatic young woman in their midst; they know to leave Luci alone when she’s in one of her moods.
Luci glances into the big round mirror in front of her, and catches a savage looking blonde glaring coldly from behind her shoulder. She has half her head shaved, the other half in dreadlocks.
Nadezhda has not liked Luci since day one; she has liked her even less since Luci started fucking Nadezdha’s drug dealing boyfriend.
Luci calmly stows her drugs in her purse and starts to dress. She has only put her spaghetti strap shirt on before Nadezdha is across the room, breathing down Luci’s neck. Luci catches the blonde’s eyes in her mirror, her strange eyes wide with fear while the blonde sneers back.
“Is good dogs?” Nadezdha asks in an icy whisper. She speaks with a thick, syrupy russian accent, but Luci knows she is asking about the drugs.
Slowly, her gaze still locked with the russian woman in the mirror, Luci nods.
Nadezdha’s hand latches onto Luci’s shoulder, her bony fingers digging into the rainbow girl’s flesh.
“And how is Viktor?” the blonde asks, her face screwing up in rage.
Luci jumps from her seat, but Nadezdha is too fast, and she buries a fist into the girl’s gut.
Nadezdha trembles with rage as Luci doubles over, gasping for breath. The strippers around them laugh and back away from the fight.
Nadezdha grabs Luci’s hair and jerks her forward roughly.
“Coke whore!” Nadezdha screams as she drags Luci into the bathroom.
***
Luci is walking home, her hands in her pockets and her eyes downcast, her hoodie pulled up to cover her bruised eye and bleeding lip. She leaves a trail of rainbow blood droplets all the way from the strip club.
Luci walks past Ivan’s Car Repair. She thinks she hears screaming, but she continues.
As always, she stops before reaching her home to gaze wistfully at the greyscale apartment complex next to her own.
She turns away from Jacket’s apartment and back to hers, walking up the steps to her door, and freezing when she sees the package on her front step.
A beautiful white lion mask, and lying on top of it, a tape recorder, with a little sticky note that says ‘play me’.
Luci steps over the package and puts her key into her door.
The door stays locked.
Luci stands still in front of her door for a moment. Slowly, with trembling hands, she turns around picks up the tape recorder and presses Play. A familiar voice comes out of the machine.
“Hey bitch, don’t think I can’t see you.”
Luci’s blood runs cold.
“I see you. Everyone sees you. All the demons in hell and all the nightmares in this universe see you. None of them hate you as much as I do.”
Luci says nothing. The voice is right.
“I’m giving you one option, you coward,” the voice continues. “Play the Game. Get Jacket’s Key. Get the fuck out of my boyfriend's head. Failure is not an option.”
***
The months pass, and Jacket is still awake.
Luci is breathing nervously behind a stained red curtain; she is always nervous before she dances.
The lights of the strip club dim to near total darkness as Luci walks onto the stage. A hush falls over the crowd. Eerie synth music starts to play.
Luci is wrapped in a translucent white cloth glowing with a soft neon light. The music begins to speed up, and Luci lets her shawl fall to the ground.
The multicolored bioluminescence of her nude body bathes the club in a warm rainbow glow.
There are gasps from the newcomers, whistles from the regulars.
Luci leaps forward and latches onto the top of the pole with her thighs, leaning backwards and letting her body start to spin, her long sparkly hair nearly reaching the floor.
The club becomes a blur as Luci spins faster and faster.
***
Backstage, surrounded by beautiful nude women, Luci is again wrapped in her shawl and sniffing some kind of strange dream-drug that feels a LOT like cocaine. She is not the only one.
Her coworkers giggle and tease and use their drugs loudly. The raucous strippers give a wide berth to the prismatic young woman in their midst; they know to leave Luci alone when she’s in one of her moods.
Luci glances into the big round mirror in front of her, and catches a savage looking blonde glaring coldly from behind her shoulder. She has half her head shaved, the other half in dreadlocks.
Nadezhda has not liked Luci since day one; she has liked her even less since Luci started fucking Nadezdha’s drug dealing boyfriend.
Luci calmly stows her drugs in her purse and starts to dress. She has only put her spaghetti strap shirt on before Nadezdha is across the room, breathing down Luci’s neck. Luci catches the blonde’s eyes in her mirror, her strange eyes wide with fear while the blonde sneers back.
“Is good dogs?” Nadezdha asks in an icy whisper. She speaks with a thick, syrupy russian accent, but Luci knows she is asking about the drugs.
Slowly, her gaze still locked with the russian woman in the mirror, Luci nods.
Nadezdha’s hand latches onto Luci’s shoulder, her bony fingers digging into the rainbow girl’s flesh.
“And how is Viktor?” the blonde asks, her face screwing up in rage.
Luci jumps from her seat, but Nadezdha is too fast, and she buries a fist into the girl’s gut.
Nadezdha trembles with rage as Luci doubles over, gasping for breath. The strippers around them laugh and back away from the fight.
Nadezdha grabs Luci’s hair and jerks her forward roughly.
“Coke whore!” Nadezdha screams as she drags Luci into the bathroom.
***
Luci is walking home, her hands in her pockets and her eyes downcast, her hoodie pulled up to cover her bruised eye and bleeding lip. She leaves a trail of rainbow blood droplets all the way from the strip club.
Luci walks past Ivan’s Car Repair. She thinks she hears screaming, but she continues.
As always, she stops before reaching her home to gaze wistfully at the greyscale apartment complex next to her own.
She turns away from Jacket’s apartment and back to hers, walking up the steps to her door, and freezing when she sees the package on her front step.
A beautiful white lion mask, and lying on top of it, a tape recorder, with a little sticky note that says ‘play me’.
Luci steps over the package and puts her key into her door.
The door stays locked.
Luci stands still in front of her door for a moment. Slowly, with trembling hands, she turns around picks up the tape recorder and presses Play. A familiar voice comes out of the machine.
“Hey bitch, don’t think I can’t see you.”
Luci’s blood runs cold.
“I see you. Everyone sees you. All the demons in hell and all the nightmares in this universe see you. None of them hate you as much as I do.”
Luci says nothing. The voice is right.
“I’m giving you one option, you coward,” the voice continues. “Play the Game. Get Jacket’s Key. Get the fuck out of my boyfriend's head. Failure is not an option.”
***
![[Image: V4Dvvfy.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/V4Dvvfy.gif)