Ultra Frankenstein

Chapter Two - Reed

As they quickly squeezed in through the small gap they’d created, they could feel the warm air emanating out into the open. Abi went first, then Viv & finally B. It was bigger than last weeks, with what looked like hundreds of people convulsing to the heavy waves of electronic music, some of them eyes closed. The scent of sweat, spliff and alcohol hung in the air, making it seem thick, hot on their skin. Abi narrowed her eyes, looking at the dark space with strobe lights and green lasers flickering over the dim, metal walls. It was a warehouse party. The underage population of Bristol had been having them ever since Abi could remember, when her older brother Rowan had been in collage she remembered him telling her the crazy stories of people getting busted, OD’s, unstable warehouses collapsing and injuring people. Bad stuff didn’t happen too often though, it was pretty much kept under wraps to avoid getting shut down. 

“Last one out there’s a pussy!” yelled Abi, almost inaudible over the rise and fall of the music, she grabbed B’s hand and led her over to 20 or so paint tins that sat littered by the wall near the door. The tins were rimmed with neon paint, glowing vibrantly in the dark of the warehouse. B dipped three fingers into the highlight green paint can drawing swirls and flowers all over her arms. Feeling the mixture of vodka, spliff and E starting to drown her conciousness, Abi chuckled dipping fingers into the pink, green, yellow, orange pots and drawing long, chaotic stripes down her arms and legs. Viv rolled her eyes and followed them, drawing concise yellow army stripes on her cheeks. B took Abi’s hand and swirled her into the crowd as they tilted and whirled to the trance music, sweat beaded their faces causing the paint to drip and form weird shapes on their skin. They spun around, eyes closed, the rush enveloping them as they giggled and stumbled around sometimes loosing sight of each other as the dance floor became more and more packed with moving bodies splattered with glowing paint, but gravitating back towards one another. 

“Alright?” Abi swirled around to see a boy behind her, dimly lit but with orange paint stripes down his arms. She could just make out a cocky smile playing on his lips. His hair was brown, damp with sweat, cropped short at the sides and long at the top, falling onto his forehead. He was short, not much taller than her 5 foot 6 inches, but she could see the sleeves of his shirt were tight around his arms which were thick with muscle. He was stocky, but strong from what she could make out from the flickering strobe that was precariously hung on the corrugated iron wall of the warehouse that was closest to them. “I was,” she retorted, her smile reflecting his as she swirled away from him to face B again, which was no mean feat considering the pressure of the bodies backing them in. She could feel the warmth of the skin of his arm pressed against her back.

She just heard his voice, a thick midland accent. “You’re Abi, yeah? Abi Preslon?” She turned to face him again, her chest almost pressed against his. “Depends on who’s asking?” B continued to dance, her body bumping against Abigail’s back as the vodka and E made her fade into a high-induced trance. “I’m Jack, Jack Reed from Ridgely. I thought Viv would’ve told you about me,” He laughed, as B fell into Abi from behind pushing her into him. Abi caught herself as he grabbed her arms. She stepped back as much as she could, escaping his touch. She had heard of him. Viv tended to be a bit of a slag when she was wasted, which often ended up with her going off with randoms after whatever party or rave they were at died down. Ridgely was a collage at the edge of Eastville that was renowned for producing deviants, dealers and drug fiends and all sorts of dodgy types. Reed, (as most people called him) was well known at Riverview which was the collage that Abi, B & Vivian attended (when they could be arsed) and was a well known dealer of smack who was also a legend in Bristol for having set 12 of Ridgley’s lockers on fire and then gotten away with it on the defence that he’d had a total blackout during the whole incident and couldn’t be held accountable. Viv had hooked up with him a few months before at a house party in Clifton when she’d been high off smack that she’d bought off him. Abi shrugged, looking at him expectantly, unimpressed. “And?” He laughed again, shaking his head. Leaning in, he crooked his head close to her ear, yelling to be heard over the music. “I hear your the girl to talk to about gettin’ E!” Abi narrowed her eyes as the effect of the pills reached a new height, the bass of the music ricocheting through her. She shrugged again, “Maybe I am, maybe I’m not,” she tilted her head to the music, rocking side to side rythmically. Reed watched her, then grabbed her arm, dragging her out of the throng of dancing, writhing people to the edge of the makeshift dancefloor. 

She swung out of his grip. “Get your fucking hands off me,” she exclaimed with much less indignance then she actually felt, the drugs numbing her ability to really feel. Jack locked her gaze, clicking his fingers in front of her face. “I’m not playing about here, I was told you’ve got E, purest fucking E in Bristol, now I heard correct din’t I?” he looked at her expectantly, and she just smiled, that half smile with one side of her mouth pulled up. The smile that didn’t really touch her eyes which stayed cold and calculating, dim in the dark of the warehouse but occasionally illuminated by the strobe and lasers that flickered over the mass of people. “So you want the E. What’s in it for me?” she asked, twisting a lock of her hair around her finger. Reed’s mouth made a strange shape and he laughed in disbelief at how cunning this girl was. “Alright then,” he grinned mischievously, and pulled a tiny sealed baggy out of his trouser pocket. Abi could see smallish, dull crystals suspended in the plastic, and her eyes lit up. 

Even through her hazy drug and alcohol induced state, she knew what it was. “Crystal?” she asked, biting her lip through a smile. He nodded and laughed at her reaction, and flipped the bag in front of her face, not really worried about the crowds of people surrounding them who were all already engaging in illegal activities of varying degrees anyway. “What do you want it for anyway?” she asked, suddenly curious about this boy. He wore an oxford polo with all 3 buttons done up, trousers and lace ups. His style was preppy meets bad boy, but he was definitely all bad boy. He sighed with impatience, “We got a deal or what?” She grinned again, “Sure, on one condition.” He moved his face closer to hers, “Oh yeah? And what might that be, Princess?” She took the bag of crystal out of his hand, and he made a sudden movement as if to grab it back. “Chill out!” she said, unclipping the top of the bag. “We have to take it together.” 

His eyes locked onto hers and an unspoken understanding passed between them. They were both the same. Both these perplexing, misunderstood shadows passing through life just looking for an escape for a while. “No problem at all,” he led her over to a quieter, dark corner where the strobe didn’t hit. He wetted the tip of his index finger on his lips and stuck it into the bag where shards of crystals stuck to it, drawing it towards his mouth. Abigaile grabbed his wrist before it could reach his mouth. “Uh!” she tutted. Jack looked at her expectantly. “Table manners!” she chastised him with an angelic smile. Chuckling, he offered his finger to her and she sucked the crystals off his finger, feeling them tingle and dissolve in her mouth leaving a sour, chemical taste. She clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth, ignoring the horrid flavour and wetting her own index finger she returned the favour, offering the crystal meth coated finger to Jack. He sucked off the drugs, never breaking eye contact with her and shooting a devilish smile at her as he swallowed. 

The air was electric, and not just because of the cocktail of drugs pulsing through her veins. They made their way back to the pack of charged figures with their hands raised to the ceiling, flailing desperately towards the sky. Spinning and twisting they danced together in a trance, giggling, stumbling, completely and utterly tripping in every sense of the word. Closing their eyes they entwined their arms around each other until they were one giggling, stumbling, tripping mess.