Once Upon A Time, A Thousand Tears Ago #Wattys2017

Chapter 41: Halloween Begins

Dressed up in all black, putting up some smeared black liner and mascara on my eyes and dipping my lips in oxblood color lipstick, I'm all ready for celebrating Halloween. Seriously, who am I fooling here? it's just as if I am trying to look like I'm going to participate in the event when in actual, I am going to sit on my bed for the next few hours, dressed like that, click some pictures to send to Kashaf and then sleep.

All my bandmates are celebrating their Halloween with their families and I feel like I'm a wanderer in this country. No one who would come to me, take me to places, make me feel like home. I sigh at my thought and then continue pacing in my isolated room. A sudden knock surprises me and I rush towards the door to reveal the person behind the knock.

"Who is it? Zayn ........ That's you right." Dressed up like the joker in the batman series with face all plastered in white and a wicked smile outlined with red color and black liner around eyes, Zayn manages to look extremely handsome in this attire, too.

"Hello Zar. Happy Halloween." He hands me a bouquet of red flowers while he enters in the room. The flowers smell beautiful; may be because it's a gift from him. Don't get distracted, Zara.

"What are you doing here? Weren't you supposed to be at your own place? You have a family reunion today, if I am not wrong."

Zayn faces me and with a coy smile  speaks, "I......." Scratching the back of his neck, he continues, "I had a fight with Victoria and so Waliyha and I, we both left the place."

"What?" I am beyond shocked.

"Where's Waliyha then?"

"Ummm. She is at a friend's house. So I thought I can come at your place. I hope you won't mind celebrating Halloween with me." Zayn shyly shrugs.

"You are more than welcome. But seriously, I am not doing anything here. So I guess you have made a wrong decision to come to this haunted house." I look at my room which actually gives the vibes of a haunted house tonight.

"And who said that we are staying here for the Halloween? I'm gonna show you around how people celebrate here because today no one can recognize me." He points towards his face painting and I realize how happy he is to walk freely on the streets of London with the feeling that he won't get mobbed.

Without hesitating for a moment, I agree to the plan and the next thing we were doing was climbing into his Range Rover. After driving for half an hour and looking at the city celebrating the festival with all glitters and lights, we wanted to go to some place to enjoy ourselves.

"Where do you want to go Zara?"

"Where do you suggest?" I ask

"Honestly, I've been to every single club here. I am thinking of trying something new."

"New! Like what?"

"Like!......" He takes some time to think. "Like going to any small club somewhere on the outskirts of the city?" He questions me if I agree to the idea or not.

"Sounds cool. Only if you can remember the path that you are taking. I don't want to get stuck in the middle of anything."

"Of course, I would."

After a drive of one more hour, we decide to halt by a club named 'trampa de muerte'.

"What's the name?" I try to read and understand it.

"I think this is Spanish. It means 'Death trap'." Zayn boasts proudly of his language skills.

"Were you good in Spanish?"

"Outstanding" He winks and then we both head towards the club. The club was built in a lonely place and by no means looked like a luxurious place to be in. But Zayn insisted that he has been to so many lavish places all this time that now these kind of tacky spaces attract him so much. I agree to his theory.

Entering in, a sudden smell touches my nostrils and I pinch the bridge of my nose in response. Zayn, too, checks the place out and I feel like he isn't satisfied with the place either.

"Do you think we should stay here?" I inquire him. After a pause of some seconds, he replies, "I think we are so used to being at those grand pubs, maybe that's the reason we find this club a little out of place." I register that he wants to stay a little more here. I consider supporting him.

The place is not much crowded but there are some couples that are dancing to the songs and a bar which is occupied with some drunkards. We head towards the bar where some rusty stools are waiting for us. Sitting next to each other, Zayn orders two soft drinks and tries to balance himself on the stool.

"The rust has gotten into its hinges, it's gonna fall soon." Zayn investigates the rusty stool piece.

"I hope it falls while you sit on it." I cackle.

"Yours can fall too. Beware."

The bartender brings our soft drinks and we take them off the tray.

"You.... Couple?" the bartender asks us and for the first time I realize that the bartender is looking with some greedy eyes at the two of us.

Zayn looks at me to see if I want to answer this question as a yes or a no. I, on the other hand, scared of the looks that the bartender was giving to me, nod in return saying that yes we are a couple.

The bartender claps his hand and shouts, "We got our 6th participant."

I look in confusion sharing the expressions with Zayn.

"Hey! What are you saying?" Zayn inquires.

"Respected sir! We have a competition over here that will commence as soon as we get our 6th participant couple. The five couples are all ready to play and we were waiting for a 6th couple. Would you like to play a game?" The bartender cocks an eyebrow, now making no eye contact with me.

Zayn looks at me and asks what I think about it. As we don't have any further plans for the Halloween, my mind quickly says a 'yes' to the idea. So, I slowly nod my head and Zayn speaks out loud and clear "okay! What's the game?"

"Sir! It's a competition between different couple participants. It involves different games. But before starting the game, we get this paper signed by the participants." He gives us a document.

"No objection certificate. Why?" Zayn asks again.

"Oh sir! We don't want to make it look like we pressurize anyone into anything. So signing it will state that you chose to play the game by yourself and you were under no pressure and you are responsible for everything that happens in the game. It's a regular document. Every club keeps it these days."

Zayn looks at me and slowly whispers in my ears, "That's the disadvantage of not going to clubs. You don't know the trends going on."

He then straightens up and asks for the pen. "We'll sign it."

And we both sign the certificate clarifying that we are responsible for whatever happens next. What will be the max? I will fall or get my knee hurt. Of course, I can take that much responsibility. I hope we enjoy ourselves. Halloween is going to be super amazing now.