See this previous post for a communication to any who would join me in writing.  For a thought on David Lynch, see this article.  And see this article to read the story from the beginning.  Meanwhile…

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The ecstasy must have been spiked with LSD.  It would explain the bad trip, but also the change.  As Josefina descended beneath the nightclub, the world was receding.  Del Taco, Walmart, Dos Equis, Snuggle Fabric Softener – they were all falling away, as if they had never been.

But Noise was still there, the Del Taco logo on her shirt more meaningless by the second.  She had to speed-walk to keep up with the frenzied drug girl.  “Josie!  Calm down, please!”

Josefina spun to face her, hair sliding around bare shoulders, over her breasts.  Noise was momentarily hushed by the little moment of beauty, more than by Josie’s anger.  The Latina said, “How are you, of all people, going to ask me to be calm?  You’re always pushing me to go crazy.”

“I know.  But you can’t go proper loco if you’re all scared ‘n’ shit.  You came here to have fun, right?  Fun Josie?  Remember her?”  Noise easily caved to addiction when frustrated, and moved the cigarette from behind the ear to her lips in one deft move.  The lighter was sparking before Josefina could inhale to speak again.

“You’re right, but sometimes it’s a good idea to be scared.  To stop having fun.”

“Never.”  The blonde shook her head solemnly.

“If we don’t find Peace down here I’m gonna teach you to be scared.”  Josie scowled and resumed her search.

The sub-basement was too long.  It must have extended below more than one building on the same block.  Or maybe Razzmatazz was disappearing along with their employers, families, and obligations.  Cool fluorescent lights buzzed at the frequency of insect wings now, a more organic sound than before.  The light itself did not reach far beyond the fixtures, like the bioluminescence in deep sea footage.  An empty can fell off a shelf along the side of the hall and rolled sideways across the floor, revealing subtle flaws in the leveling.  A rat hopped down from the shelf where the can had been, regarded the women, and shuffled along its way unperturbed.

“Niiice,” said Noise.  “What a fun new place you’ve turned up.’

“Peace said he found it, just took me along.”  She didn’t bother turning to face Noise as they walked, letting her trail behind.  She could hear other rats squeaking in the corners.  The bass from the club was distant thunder at best, a lone heartbeat in quieter moments.

The hall came to corner where they only way forward was to the right.  Turning, they came upon another open room, where a band of strange characters were making merry around a trash fire.  Somehow, the roof wasn’t going up in flames yet.

An Asian guy with spiky black hair and a pink eye patch blinked at the women.  “Well hello there.  Welcome to the party.”  His friends were a guy in a white rubber horse mask with a bunny ear headband, and a white boy in his late teens with shaggy hair and crossed band-aids on his forehead.

The teen said, “We’re roasting weenies.  When we’re done with dinner, we’re gonna roast marshmallows.”  His smile was just the wrong side of salacious, but quietly so.

“I’m just looking for my friend.  Big Native guy, long hair?”

“You’re on molly, aren’t you?,” asked eye patch.  “I can see it in your eyes.”

The teen said, “I bet roast weenies taste amaaazing on molly.”

Noise said, “Food makes her puke when she’s on E.  But I could go for a weenie.”

“Leave that kid alone,” Josefina said.

“Shit, Josie,” the cigarette bounced around her thin lips, “Age ain’t nothin’ but a number.”

The boy made a bashful expression, but seemed immune to blush in the firelight.

The horse bunny withdrew his weenie from the fire – an entire kielbasa sausage skewered on a ski pole.  The basket had melted, leaving strings of blue plastic drizzled over the meat.  He waved it in front of his horse mask in a pantomime of eating, then waved it in front of eye patch’s mouth until he took a bite, then the boy.

Noise came up beside Josefina and rested a hand on her ass.  “Hey if V shapes ain’t your thing right now, these guys look like they know how to have a good time.”  Horse bunny reached through the flames to offer the weenie to them.  Noise held her cig daintily so she could take a disgusting chomp, grease running down the chin.  Has she eaten some of the plastic?

“Where is Peace?,” Josefina demanded.

Eye patch said, “Baby girl, Peace ain’t the only thing you’re missing.”  He was loading Vienna sausages onto an unraveled coat hanger like a cowboy putting bullets in his gun.

“I’d love to see you eat a weenie,” Noise told the teen.

“Is that a euphemism?,” he gulped.

“A euphe-what-now?”

Horse bunny whipped out another kielbasa, luridly wobbling it in the air before sliding it onto the ski pole.

Josefina kicked the can, and the trash fire dangerously flared, spilling sparks on horse bunny.  His rubber mask drooped.  Then she grabbed eye patch’s coathanger and wound it around his throat like a garotte, smashing little sausages against his skin.  Soft chunks rolled down his sweater.  “Where is Peace, you fucking freaks?”

Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at her accusingly.  Noise said, “You used to love freaks, Josefina.  What’s the matter with you?”

The teen said, “Don’t be a fascist, Josefina.”

Horse bunny just held his meat in silence.

Josefina leaned next to eye patch’s ear.  “Please!  I just need to know.”

“Went through the walk-in freezer.  There’s another club on the other side.”

Josie dropped the wire and walked to the freezer without a word.

“you used to love freaks,” Noise mumbled.

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