We slid silently through the rain in our sleek vehicle. Darkness pervaded the car, and clear rainshadows slid with the moonlight across our bodies. We sat in cool air; the car's air conditioning whispered through the vents. We began to speak casually, a deep silence underlying our words. Pale hands turned the wheel, the car; I crossed my legs beneath me and enjoyed the scene.

Yellow lights melted in and out of the car when we entered the city. The general mood of the passengers lifted with the advent of the somber glow; the driver tapped the wheel in concealed anticipation. I sat serenely next to him, the murmur in the back of the car growing louder. Occasionally, I turned, spoke, laughed. The driver turned his head slightly to watch me, and I smiled at him. I took his hand in mine, and he laughed.

The rain fell harder, blurring the city to our eyes, but not dampening the slight electricity in the car. The driver paused at a smear of red stoplight, adjusting the setting of the wipers. As they groaned across the windshield, rain continued to stream around them. I studied him out of the corner of my eye, a tiny smile lingering on my lips. My thumb stroked his slowly, unobtrusively. His hand was warm against my cool flesh, and dry.

The car rolled to a stop in front of a building. I let go of his hand and ducked out of the car; the driver locked the doors and pocketed his keys. We four walked toward the entrance, an endless moment in a quiet night that I was not quite sure would meld into the next. The driver casually came up behind me and cupped my elbow, gently guiding me inside.

The walls within the building enclosed a shocking contrast to the outside world. We had opened the doors from serene night on a room full of noise and heat. A stage commanded the room; bodies twisted and gyrated with waves of sound that polluted the area around it. My companion pulled me to him, and our company drifted away into the sea of people. We meshed into the crowd, his hand nestled in the fold of my arm. As he stopped and spoke to someone, I looked around. My eyes settled on red lights, suspended at either side of the stage and casting the room in an ominous shade. I shook my head slowly to clear it and turned back to my companion. He and his friend shook hands, and my companion's hand lingered briefly. He stuffed something small into his pocket. I saw this clearly, and it unnerved me as well as thrilled me. A golden thread of excitement snaked through my body, warming me. We slipped through the crowd and settled ourselves near the band. He stood beside me, his arm encircling my waist and his hip next to mine.

The band played song after song, endless notes pounded out by young, calloused hands. The sound was taxing on the ears, but we danced. Everywhere he touched me was an electric shock. Between songs, we would stop, and eventually he reached into his pocket. He retrieved something small and offered it to me, a pill. I plucked it from his hand and cupped it in mine, imagining a small heat radiating from it. He took one for himself; I watched his Adam's apple bounce once, sliding across his throat as he swallowed. He smiled at me expectantly, and I did the same. He enflamed my body by pulling me close, though my mind cooled in the midst of hot chaos. The next song blared across the crowd, and the world spun suddenly on its bearings. The men in the band melted before my eyes, becoming a Salvador Dali rendition of the scene before me, and I closed my eyes momentarily. My face betrayed my disorientation, and he laughed gently.

We danced into the night.

Colors and lights blurred around me at irregular intervals. My companion's face changed endlessly, from human to horror. I could see every pore on his face, but I could not distinguish his features. A follow spot swung carelessly over the crowd, and suddenly it seemed it was the only light in the place. Smoke filtered carelessly through its immaculate, pristine beam. The air around us held a pungent aroma. We danced.

The follow spot lighted on his face for an instant, and I saw he had grown pale. I blamed the glare of the light, and we danced. The hands in mine grew clammy and cool. I blamed it on sweat, and we danced. We slowed gradually, and it seemed as through the crowd was closing in on us where we had eons of space before. We danced. Waves of sickness began to wash over me, and the world tilted and spun like a merry go round. My companion opened his mouth and closed it repeatedly as if trying to speak, but no words carried across the void in which we stood. The scene grew fuzzy, blackened, and tried to focus. I blinked my eyes, and felt my companion's hands slip out of mine. I heard a rustle as the music ended, a sliding, a thud. When I could see, I found him next to me, lying on the floor. I stood over him, gazing into his glassy eyes, crushed in a swarming sea of writhing people who did not see us.