Luxuria's Darkness

Chapter 1. Prologue.

Behind the pristine curtains of Luxuria laid hidden, tears and broken dreams.

For some, the night life might be beautiful. Dancing and partying every time, some might even find it as a solution to escape the every day problems. For Sophia, it was energy draining. She hated crowds, she hated loud music, but most of all, she hated the thick smell of burned cigarettes and cheap alcohol. She was in her mid twenties and she had never smoked or drank alcohol.

By the time she was fifteen, she noticed she was different. She was always quiet, always following the rules, and never did anything out of the ordinary. Even in kindergarten she was always watching other children play together, yet she never felt the need to join them. She thrived in her loneliness, even if sometimes her peers made fun of her. She didn't care, everyone had the right to believe whatever they wanted. Who was her to judge them, for judging her?

In a world that everyone wanted to be a copy of something, someone, she struggled finding her own voice. They rejected her because she wasn't conforming with the majority, she only wanted to be herself, to find the road she was supposed to walk. It was hard for her to swallow the hatred that was thrown her way. Ultimately, she did, she found her voice, she found her road. She couldn't say that she had confidence in herself, or her looks, but she had confidence in her own mind. She knew that if she worked hard and take it step by step, she will get to where she wanted. She always had to fight for her dreams, maybe more or less than others, but that didn't mean that she was slow or useless, she just went on her own pace and for her that was enough.

Sophia felt like she was born with a big error sign on her forehead, saying lone time seeker. She felt better being surrounded by books rather than people. She left socializing on her sister's hands. Jasmine was funny, smart, carefree and beautiful, she didn't resent her for that. She loved her sister, and that was the reason she had to push her boundaries, doing exactly what she hated just to find more answers to what had happened.

It has been a little over a month since her sister vanished without a trace. The police officers weren't helpful at all, at least that's what she thought. Though, they did explain to her that they had no lead or witnesses, and whatever small information they had was going nowhere. She remembered a conversation she had with the lead case officer, and more or less he implied that they had other important cases instead of looking for a nightclub dancer. Thing that bothered her beyond reason. She couldn't understand what her profession had to do with the fact that she disappeared, or them not putting more efforts to find her. Even though he explained to her that Jasmine more likely went with one of her customers, or just ran away since there was no evidence supporting otherwise, Sophia refused to believe that. Her sister was not like that. She couldn't stop wondering how many women who worked in a similar environment had disappeared and nobody cared enough about them to find out what had truly happened, while their families were just waiting to get any type of information, or just to have some closure.

Jasmine had her. She won't rest until she would find a trail, or something that could shed some clarity regarding the whereabouts of her sister. From all the books and movies she saw, she knew that the longest she stayed gone, the smaller the possibility of finding her alive were. Sophia refused to think her sister was dead. She had to stay positive that she was alive and she will find her somehow. It didn't matter what she had to do, she will do it. She could even walk through fire and she wouldn't care. Sophia couldn't stop felling guilty. If only she wouldn't have taken college loans, her sister would probably have a normal job.

The only thing hat she could think about, was to trace her steps. That meant taking a job at the nightclub Jasmine worked. That was the only place she could think to start from. The prospect of working as a dancer, or even as a waitress shook her to the core. She had to face her biggest fear, which was crowds. Being surrounded by a lot of people, loud music and alcohol, was not something she looked forward to. The problem being that Sophia was an introvert and she was socially awkward, working in that environment meant to socialize and she could hardly do that, plus she was very scared on what she would uncover.