Party Til You Drop -- Dead

Party Til You Drop -- Dead Ch. 5

Paige slid the key card through the slot above the doorknob. It flashed from red to green with a slight beeping sound. and she turned the doorknob and walked in. She immediately noticed how utterly morbid the room was. The walls were all blood-red. The carpets black. AFI and Disturbed posters everywhere. Two beds next to each other with covers the shade of the walls. And sitting on the bed on the left was a girl with red hair, pale skin, wearing a black Disturbed tee-shirt, a black mini-skirt with black fishnets underneath, black Converse, black eyeliner, black lipstick, and her fingernails painted black.

The girl on the bed looked up at Paige without moving her head, and pulled out her earphones. She had been listening to an iPod -- black, of course.

"What took you so long?" The girl asked, clearly unhappy and annoyed.

"Well I had to get my Deaduca--" The girl held up her hand, silencing Paige.

"It was a rhetorical question. Now beat it or be quiet."

"But Lauralee said you would teach me everything I needed to know."

The girl looked up at Paige, her expression a little softer.

"Fine."

Paige was surprised at how easily the girl changed her mind when Lauralee was mentioned. Lauralee must've been important in all of their lives -- or deaths.

The girl stood up, walked toward Paige, and extended her hand, her facial expression blank.

"I'm Maxinne." Paige shook her hand. "You can call me Max."

"Okay... Max." Paige nodded, processing everything and imprinting Max's name into her mind.

Max stood with her arms crossed, glaring at Paige, obviously waiting for something. Paige stared back for a long moment before asking, "What?" Max rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"Well, what's your name, dipwhit?" She asked, Paige unoffended.

"Oh. Right. Sorry." Paige uttered. "It's Paige. Paige Henderson."

Max rolled her eyes once more, turned around slowly and lazily, then walked over and sat on her bed. She pointed to the bed on the right. "That bed's yours. And only that bed." She informed her, as if she didn't already know, before plugging her earphones in and pressing play on her iPod.

"You still didn't teach me how to levitate." She yelled to Maxinne. Max looked up and glared.

"I can hear you, moron."

What a bully, Paige thought.

"I heard that." Max said.

"I.. didn't say anything..." Paige defended herself.

"You thought it though." Max said, amazing Paige. How could she read minds?

"You can read people's thoughts?" Paige asked in awe. Max looked up with a smug grin. She didn't answer. "How?" Paige asked.

"It's in your book."

"You didn't teach me anything!" Paige exclaimed, a little louder than she intended to. "I'm... sorry." Paige apologized. "I didn't mean to yell."

Max examined Paige's face before speaking. "Yes you did. You know you did." She unplugged her earbuds. "Okay, smart one. Let's go at it, shall we?" She stood up and approached Paige. Paige was a little intimidated, but decided not to show it.

"Okay." Her voice squeaked.

"Close your eyes and concentrate." Paige closed her eyes.

"Concentrate on what?" She asked.

"I'm getting there." Max rolled her eyes, even though Paige didn't see it. "Imagine you're flying. Not on a plane, or in a hot air balloon, but flying. Like an eagle. Soaring through the sky, the wind blowing through your hair."

Paige concentrated hard and imagined just that. She was soaring through the clouds, her arms outstretched, tilting this way and that, flying. Suddenly she felt a gust of wind, chilling her skin and giving her goosebumps, blowing her hair back. It startled her. She opened her eyes, She was levitating!

"I'm doing it!" She gasped. With her excitement, she lost her concentration and fell, hitting the floor with a thud. She groaned. Max groaned as well, in boredom and frustration.

"You can't lose your concentration. Try it again."

Paige closed her eyes and imagined flying again. The ground left her feet and when she opened her eyes, she was floating upward again. She felt proud but tried not to get too excited. She felt off-balance and wobbled. She had always been afraid of heights, since she was a child. She started to fall but closed her eyes again and felt the wind.

Paige concentrated as hard as she could, without opening her eyes. 

"Okay." She said. "How do I get down, now? Without falling."

Max chuckled, then sighed. Paige opened one eye to see Max was sitting on her bed listening to music.

"Max!" Paige exclaimed. She felt herself wobble and immediately closed her eyes and concentrated.

"Max..." She whined. Max heaved a sigh and out came her earbuds.

"Fine." She stood up in front of Paige. "Just imagine yourself flying, and then gliding and landing. It's simple, really."

"So I just imagine I'm landing and I'll land fine?"

"Yeah." Max answered. There was a small pause before she added, "Just don't imagine yourself crashing."

Paige gulped. In her head, she was flying, soaring, and then as she straightened, vertically, she began to descend slowly. As her feet touched the ground in her mind, so did they in real life.

Paige opened her eyes and upon seeing she safely and smoothly alighted, she sighed of relief. As she processed what just happened, her body lustered with excitement. I just levitated! She thought to herself. This can't be real life...   Paige was truly amazed.

"Sure it isn't." Max interrupted her thoughts. "It's real death."

At this remark, Paige saddened. She placed her book on the nightstand, lay on her bed, curled up, and silently cried herself to sleep.