The Abandoned Building.

 Something from a creative writing assignment, where we were given a premise at random, and wrote about it. Mine had something to do with a curious girl, her neurotic mom, and a nightclub. Wtf?

 03/10/2007

     The soft twilight sky became awash with innocuous shades of static grey. Thick clouds blotted out the moonlight, and Sal looked up with an unenthusiastic sigh. She watched as her young daughter Anya followed closely, they could feel the chill of fall winds as the temperature decreased. They’d missed the night bus after watching a horror flick at an out of town cinema, now they walked and scouted patiently for an available Taxi. 
   “Oh great” uttered Sal, with an underlying tone of disappointment, “now it looks like it’s going to rain!” Anya gave her mother a displeased look, it was bad enough that they’d missed the bus, but now they’d be competing with rain. 
  “Mommy, are we there yet?” inquired Anya. 
    “It really doesn’t matter, stop whining” snapped Sal, as she gave her daughter an annoyed look. Anya acknowledged the rude remark with a look of disappointment, her mother only saw the negative side of things, and she took it out on her with an endless reel of cynicism and sarcasm. Sal didn’t enjoy the fact that her daughter was so curious and whinny, she felt like she had to drag her around everywhere. 
  “If only life wasn’t so cruel to me” whined Sal. Anya would have been inclined to call her a hypocrite had she known the definition of the word; her mom seemed to whine more than some of the kids she knew from school.

Things became quiet, and the pair continued onward through the unfamiliar darkness. They began to wonder where the next gas station was, or why all of the stores were either closed or abandoned. They peered into old shop windows and boarded up houses, there wasn’t a soul to be seen. Gusts of wind began to develop as the trees rattled together in a clamour of dying leaves and old branches. “Mommy, I’m scared!” cried Anya “it’s so cold....” Her mother shot her an angry look once more, but said nothing. Up ahead they saw the outline of an unusually shaped building, it appeared to jut out amid the inconspicuous shops. It was abandoned, but signs of activity could be observed from under the dim orange glow of streetlights. Anya was intrigued by the building, but her mother was worried at first, then Anya began to hesitate as they approached. “Maybe we shouldn’t go in Mom, it looks really dark inside.” 

   “Oh, stop it.” Said Sal bitterly, “it’s just an old building, maybe there’s a phone inside.”

They entered through a rusted doorway with a loud creak, inside was nothing but the gleaming presence of orange artificial lighting from outside, Anya moved in to investigate as her mother peered around. Anya spotted a dull glow near the center of the entryway, and she moved towards it to pick it up. 

  “Look, I found a key!” she said, her surprised voice echoed against the spacious room. 

   “Oh how wonderful” sneered Sal, “an unsanitary piece of metal for you to play with, very hygienic.” Anya smiled and put the key in her pocket, unwary of her mother’s concern. Particles of dust amassed into clouds in the air under their feet and became visible from the faint light, Anya sneezed. “See!” her mother said knowingly, “getting sick already.”

   After about the six hallways of aimless wondering, it became clear that they were lost. Sal tried to hide this fact, and pretended to know exactly where to go, despite her anxiety. “Are we lost or something?” pleaded Anya. Sal rolled her eyes, 

   “Of course not, but if you want to be, keep asking dumb questions!” In her mind, Anya went over the series of nasty remarks she secretly wanted to blurt out in frustration at her mother, she began to wonder if being lost would be better than being with her. Soon after, they began to hear the muffled droning of bass sounds, as if a party was going on somewhere. The monotonous beat reverberated through the ground as they neared in on the sound, but everything was still dark and indiscriminate.      “What is that?”  asked Anya. Her mother didn’t respond, she was transfixed on identifying the source of the sound, and her stride quickened as Anya struggled to keep up. Anya noticed that her mother began to breathe faster, and small beads of sweat formed across her brow, she looked very nervous. “What’s wrong mommy, are we almost there?” Sal glanced back at her daughter, and attempted to explain, but all that came out was unintelligible stuttering.

        They rushed forward, and as the sound grew louder and louder, so did Sal’s feelings of dread. What her daughter didn’t know was that she was deathly afraid of rave music, and upon hearing it she entered a state of anxiety and confusion. Artwork in the form of graffiti was plastered all over the walls beside a lavishly designed doorway; the music was coming from behind the door. Sal withdrew to the corner of the room, muttering incoherently. Anya, however, dashed through the doors without a second thought, feeling free and liberated. She entered the nightclub and gasped at the scene before her. There were people everywhere, and they were dancing. She was immediately enticed by all the adults she could spy on, which was one of her favourite activities, and the thought of her resentful mother faded away in the intoxicating atmosphere.