Father Nature - Chapter One

The club’s lights were flooding the dance floor in a dazzling array of hypnotic colors. Young, slim bodies danced frantically to the rhythm of a particularly loud and bass-filled song. In the corner opposite the entrance, a DJ was playing the latest musical marvels on his turntable. Inches from two giant speakers, a bar refilled the drinks from a tap which flowed as strong and constant as a waterfall. In the center of this dance floor, a man in rather expensive clothing was grinding against two platinum blondes who appeared lulled into a trance of perpetual contentment. The man’s white suit glowed neon pink from the club’s light show. His curly brown hair hung in ringlets that framed his face. An oversized pair of brown sunglasses hid his eyes from view, but two dazzling green eyes were trapped behind their tinted prison. Muscular and thin, his body gracefully moved with every step and slide he took in his mating ritual of sorts.

Then, the song changed to a slower ballad, and one of the blondes faded into the mass of club-goers to secure three spiked lemonades. Her tight dress accentuated her curves as she walked away from the neon dance floor. Wrapping his arms around the stunningly gorgeous girl that remained, the man began to carry her around the floor in a delicate waltz. As the lights above them faded into a solitary spotlight, they locked lips in a flirtatious kiss. The heat of the moment proved to have ensnared the man for he pulled back slowly and urged the kissing bombshell to slow things down. Intrigued by his genuine concern, she pursued his lips more eagerly. They soon were the talk of the club as they danced and passionately made out. The remaining girl, balancing three glasses of sloshing liquor in her hands, found the duo locked in a tango of tongues.

At the sight of her man prey being snatched up by her blonde counterpart, she rushed to her foe and grabbed a flowing lock of platinum curls and spat out, “You slut! how dare you try to take my man? We came here tonight and swore we wouldn’t hook up if we found a cute guy! You totally broke our promise! You’re the worse roommate ever!”

A few globules of sweat poured from the temples the man in the white suit as he tried to break up the oncoming fight. He put his arms out quickly between them and intercepted the verbal onslaught by saying, “Girls, girls, lets not say things we don’t mean. I just want to have fun tonight, and I surely don’t want you two fighting over me.” His seemingly perfect smile was being overused desperately to lighten the situation, but the girls seemed to ignore him completely.

The girl closer to the man bit her enemy’s hand and yelled obnoxiously, “You can’t possibly be referring to Damien! If you didn’t notice, the second you left, we began making out. You were dead weight and we were happy when you left! Now, run along little girl! You obviously can’t handle any competition. I might give you some lessons when we get back to the dorms.”

“I’ll give you some lessons!” the girl screeched as she sent an unexpected and particularly loud slap to her foe's cheek. The slapped woman felt a flush of shame and rage as her cheeks reddened with pain and hate.

Damien inched away as the two girls fell onto the floor in a barbaric show of strength. Fake platinum blonde hair flew as the fight heated, and luckily, the man got out of the club without the two noticing.

Hailing a cab, Damien urged his cab driver to take him to downtown Chicago. The terrible chill which lingered into the cab melted with each passing minute in the backseat of the car. The cab driver was a friendly guy about forty years old. He said little, but kept the radio on to diminish the silence. When we passed the stop sign that announced I was a mere three blocks from my house, the driver changed the station quite abruptly. A chilling woman's voice sinewed out of the aged cab speakers.

"Come seek the starry skies of mine; leave the mortal world behind. Give the trees a second glance, feel the heart of flower's dance." The woman's voice was divine and eery. It was as if a ghost of a ghost had sung into the heart of the listener, leaving the man or woman utterly relaxed yet anxious for more at the same time. The song left goosebumps riddled across Damien's skin. The fare was paid with a spare few bills in his pocket, and he then made his way to a large building with ornate ivory-colored pillars erected on both sides of a large cherry door.

Once entering the front door, Damien fled to his medicine cabinet, popped a few sleeping pills, and crashed onto his bed. Within seconds, the lights of downtown Chicago, which glistened through his bedroom window, vanished as he fell into a dream-riddled sleep.

The sensation of falling overcame Damien as sleep rushed through his mind. He fell for hours it seemed until he then found himself landing delicately into a black box made entirely out of space. All four sides surrounding the man were vast expanses of nothingness, and the scene above was like a night sky deprived of glistening stars and a luminous moon. Yet, this nothingness was eerie, for the air was thick as if the atmosphere was jelly, hard to breathe and difficult to swallow. Soon a few colors materialized in Damien’s view. Looking to the source of the light, he found himself looking at a colorful pane of colored glass. Beveled to the touch, the pane portrayed a giant tree with a single eye atop. Glass green leaves covered the scene and spindly brown roots spelled out the phrase “Love the Earth” underneath the foliage. Perplexed by its meaning, the man dismissed the phrase as he continued to study his current situation. Damien believed the stained glass window had to be illuminated from an outside source because the pane appeared to be hit by some sort of light. Unfortunately, upon investigation, no light source was found.

Frustrated by the darkened prison, he banged his fists against the wall in sheer annoyance. The walls then vibrated a bit before all four sides of the black room disintegrated into a black cloud of dust which lingered into the air like glittering clouds of black velvet. In their place, a blinding white light was enveloping Damien from all sides. In the corner of his eye, the colors of the stained glass window were becoming overpowered by the sheer power of the blinding light. Then, like an annoying hum in his ear, a sudden sound permeated the wake of the white light. Then as suddenly as the woman's song had entered Damien's world in the cab, the song had appeared from the white light. The melody was pitch perfect and angelic; each note hung in the air beautifully and unchallenged. Then, without warning, the unknown woman's song emitted a hellish note. The note pierced his ears like a dagger to the heart, and pain followed the agonizing octave. Cupping his ears with the palms of his hands, he clenched his teeth. Then, he opened his eyes and realized he was simply dreaming; the humming noise was his alarm clock. Squinting from the bright light, he realized the blinding source was the bright morning sky.

It was all a dream, he thought as he sat up in his bed. Sweat drenched every inch of his body, and he swore to himself to never take sleeping pills after a late night of partying again. He slowly moved to the medicine cabinet and emptied the small brown container; the contents vanished into the sink. Little did he know that his pills had nothing to do with his dream-like premonition; he was chosen.