The last rays of sun streaked through the purple clouds at a sharp angle as I cut behind the old warehouse. I jammed my hands in the pockets of my worn denim jacket and skirted the thin line of trees headed toward the Ordox.
The Ordox was nothing really; just a clearing beside the tracks behind mostly abandoned factories. Sheltered from view by the old buildings, the hard packed dirt and cracked concrete looked like a moonscape. It was another world; our world.
In the fading light, I could make out a handful bodies huddled around the flickering of a small fire. Orange light dancing across the faces. I had a fifth of cheap 40-proof vodka shoved into my jacket. I’d stolen it from a convenience store and the bottle pressed uncomfortably into …show more content…
My head was pounding and the light hurt my eyes. I was in my own bed fully dressed. My shoes were still on my feet, but I could not remember how I got home or when. The alarm clock read 1:30. I sat up and immediately saw that my thigh was covered with a football-size stain of brown dried blood. A wave of panic washed across me and my heart felt like it would jump out of my chest. I stripped off my clothes and took a hot shower. I did not have a scratch on me anywhere. The panic had become a dull foreboding fear that throbbed in synch with my hangover.
Cautiously, I made my way downstairs to gauge my parent’s reaction. I got the same cool reception from my father that I always did. I was still a screw-up, but I sensed nothing out of the ordinary. I made a sandwich and quickly went back up to my room. I began to call my friends, subtly prodding them for information about the prior evening but not wanting to let on that I remembered absolutely nothing. By five o’clock I had reached everyone I could think of but still I did not know where the blood came from or how I got home.
My head felt a little better. The fear shrank to a small tight ball of ice in the pit of my stomach. There would be another fire at the Ordox tonight. I can only hold my breath for so
The Ordox was nothing really; just a clearing beside the tracks behind mostly abandoned factories. Sheltered from view by the old buildings, the hard packed dirt and cracked concrete looked like a moonscape. It was another world; our world.
In the fading light, I could make out a handful bodies huddled around the flickering of a small fire. Orange light dancing across the faces. I had a fifth of cheap 40-proof vodka shoved into my jacket. I’d stolen it from a convenience store and the bottle pressed uncomfortably into …show more content…
My head was pounding and the light hurt my eyes. I was in my own bed fully dressed. My shoes were still on my feet, but I could not remember how I got home or when. The alarm clock read 1:30. I sat up and immediately saw that my thigh was covered with a football-size stain of brown dried blood. A wave of panic washed across me and my heart felt like it would jump out of my chest. I stripped off my clothes and took a hot shower. I did not have a scratch on me anywhere. The panic had become a dull foreboding fear that throbbed in synch with my hangover.
Cautiously, I made my way downstairs to gauge my parent’s reaction. I got the same cool reception from my father that I always did. I was still a screw-up, but I sensed nothing out of the ordinary. I made a sandwich and quickly went back up to my room. I began to call my friends, subtly prodding them for information about the prior evening but not wanting to let on that I remembered absolutely nothing. By five o’clock I had reached everyone I could think of but still I did not know where the blood came from or how I got home.
My head felt a little better. The fear shrank to a small tight ball of ice in the pit of my stomach. There would be another fire at the Ordox tonight. I can only hold my breath for so