A press of bodies surrounds me, i can feel the bass pumping through my body as the drummer gamers on his set like a man possessed. Next to me is a man i’ve never met screaming along to lyrics that i can barely make out. Why i’m here i have no idea. i look around for a way out and seeing none start pushing my way through the swarm of people all trying to force their way as close as they can get to the stage. So many faces flash by me, some blank, swaying to the rhythm of the music, others contorted by rage that seems out of place. A man near me yells MOSH, and suddenly everyone begins to bounce together, pushing together until it seems to me there is hardly enough air to breathe. I continue on, towards what i think is the exit, keeping my head down and trying not to make eye contact, mumbling excuse though i’m sure no one hears me anyway. The song ends and the crowd grows slightly calmer, at least the ones where i’m at. Looking back i can see the crowd closest to the stage still seething with energy, waiting for the next song to let them release it. A single bass note reverberates throughout the floor, the crowd stops, the drums join in, slowly at first but steadily growing until all i can hear is the beat of the drums blaring through the towers of speakers, the crowd resumes it’s bouncing, reducing my view down to the chest of the people directly in front of me as i continue my journey to the back door. A hand grabs my shoulder and spins me around to face a woman wearing a black t-shirt who is obviously trying to tell me something, but i can’t hear a word she’s saying over the music. She pulls me closer and i lean down to hear her,” …are you going, it just started?”
We trade places her ear now by my face, “I don’t even know how i got here.”
“What are you talking about Jim? You’re the one who drove us here, what do mean you don’t know how you got here?”
“I mean i don’t know who you are, i don’t know where i am, i don’t know whats going on, just that i’m in here and i don’t want to be.”
She looks confused, as if i’m behaving strangely, which i might be, but not without good reason, “Okay let’s go outside and talk this over.”
I turn and continue pushing my way throughout the crowd, wracking my brain trying to remember who this woman is. The beat slows down and the crowd stops bouncing and i can see the door only a few people away, and with few more steps i reach it, and throw it open and breath in the cold night air, grateful for the respite from the heavy air from inside. The woman follows me out and as the door closes the sound sharply drops out, i can feel my head still pounding with the beat, I close my eyes and rub my temples, already able to feel a headache growing between my temples. I open my eyes and see her leaing against the cinderblock wall, and looks at me trying to figure out if i’m joking.
“Jim, are you feeling okay?”
“Not entirely no,” I run my fingers through my hair,” how do you know my name?”
“Ummm because you and i have known each other for about three years, because we work a the same crap-hole restaurant every week day, and come here to blow off steam just about every saturday together, don’t tell me you don’t remember me,” she looked genuinely worried now, her her face pleading with me for this to be a joke.
“I wish i could say something else, but i honestly have no idea who you are, or where this is, or what restaurant you’re talking about.”
“Okay, that’s it, I’m getting you to a hospital, right now, give me your keys.”
After feeling around in my pockets i pull out my keys and hand them to her. She walks out into the parking lot, and i realize i don’t even know which car is mine. She stops at a red toyota and knocks the doors. I open the passenger door and sit, waiting for some spark of recognition. As she pulls out of the parking lot i realize that i am in a car with a person i know nothing about, who is driving me somewhere, but i ask myself if i can trust her. whatever happens, she knows more than i do, so i hope for the best.
