Saturday night. I’d barricaded myself against his impending attack in the toilets of Copper White.
Just then, the maniac laugh came. He was here. And ready.
“You cunt, you don’t know what’s coming to yous! We ain’t fucking leaving until you’ve fucking pulled!
And with that, the oh-so-familiar red mass burst through the doors, taking down most of the wall with it.
Shit. This was it.
Did I stand a chance? Well, not really.
But damn, I wasn’t about to give up without a fight.
At least I hoped. Fuck.
Earlier that night…
The three of us were sat in the Old Barrel, waiting for JP to arrive so we could start the night properly. As he walked through the door, we noticed something was off about him.
Very off.
For starters, his attire had completely changed. Gone was the UCLA t-shirt, black jeans and trainers, replaced by a navy polo shirt, golfing trousers and brown loafers. And then there was her; the blonde that he’d been banging on about for god knows how long, from some random pub lock in event. She was dressed in a floral blouse and trouser combo, mixed in with some rose-tinted round sunglasses to complete the indie attire. She clung closely to JP as they approached our table in the smokers area.
“What’s cracking fuckers?” JP yelled halfway across the pub, to the disapproval of the douchebag college hipsters scattered along the length of the bar. “Haven’t seen you three in forever, how yous been?”
After we got the formalities out of the way, we started our usual chat and pub crawl. But something was still off about JP. Every other sentence was about either clubbing or how he could finally “make a life” with his girl.
“Make a life?” The guy’s 20. And what was with the sudden change in attitude? JP hated clubbing.
Just then, JP’s phone rang. God’s Plan blared out across the pub to more disapproval.
“Yes youth, where are you lad?” JP enquired. “Sound lad, see you in 10.”
“Who was that?” I questioned.
“AJ”.
The move to Copper White
The two words any true lad dreaded.
“Yesssssssss fellaaaaaa”, AJ beckoned as he strolled into the Old Barrel, hand in hand with Random Girl #69420. In the other he clasped a full pitcher of Strawberry Mojito.
“Fuck me, we ain’t seen each other since the game, how you wankstains been?” AJ burst into laughter at his own insult, as JP and his bird followed.
The next hour dragged on. In that time, AJ had downed three whole pitchers in the time it had took JP’s bird to drink half of her J20. The guy was a fucking machine.
It was times like this I longed for my old life back. If only I hadn’t headed over to that booth that night, I’d still be free. Saying that, there did seem to be something off about the others tonight. At least I retained my free will; I was just scared shitless of the consequences if I didn’t turn up. But them? They seemed to genuinely be enjoying themselves. Something was off.
“We moving to Copper then?” AJ asked. Gleefully, the group left the table and followed AJ up the road to Copper White; otherwise known as the shithole of the town. The place wasn’t even good for UFC Fight Nights; I mean, fuck, it didn’t even hold a candle to any of the shitty dive bars. At least they had tapas and superior crispy wings.
We hadn’t even been in there five minutes before I received a text from JP. I looked around. He’d left, the fucking bastard.
“Sorry lad, but the missus has a free house, so we’re going home for a bang”.
Thanks, you utter arsewipe.
Meanwhile, across the bar, AJ snorted a sachet he’d procured from…
HIM.
Holy shit. The guy with the hood from before. Shit was about to go down.
On some sort of illegal high, AJ shoved the DJ away from his gear and grabbed the mic.
“LET’S GET THIS FUCKING PARTY STARTED CUNTS”.
I knew what was about to come but couldn’t escape.
It was too late though. He’d spotted me by the doors and got the wrong idea.
“Where the FUCK do you think you’re fucking going? You ain’t leaving till we’ve got you two birds.”
He began a cold sprint towards me. Trapped, I ran for the men’s and prepared for the onslaught.
Back in the present…
It was too late for most of the partyers. The hooded figure had already started to bloat and transform into a familiar red mass. One gaze and they were hypnotised, compelled to begin the process of slowly decaying, before melting altogether and becoming one with whatever it was. AJ grinned as his eyes glowed red, indulging on his own self-satisfaction.
It was just me left now.
I lunged at AJ, having fashioned half of a vodka bottle into a jagged weapon, but it was no use. He had almost omnipotent strength and tossed me to the other side of the room with little to no effort.
“You make it so fucking hard for me not to just end you, you know that? One click and you’re part of it, with them.” He laughed to himself before continuing on.
“But you know what? I like you. No seriously, I do. You might prove useful to me just yet.”
With that, AJ finished his monologuing and went to leave.
“Now, what did I say lad? Club?”
I staggered to my feet but apparently that wasn’t fast enough for him.
“10 seconds or you’re fucking dead”…..
The next weekend…
I felt so sorry for JP. He’d never wanted any part in this, but AJ had authority over him now too. Even more so than me. It was like he lacked any sort of free will. I had to get to the bottom of this, once and for all.
We jumped in the taxi.
“WYET FUCKING WHYSTLE!!!!!! DRIVE ON YOUTH”