667: Issue #2 "Activation"

Adam Baudin

“This is quite possibly the craziest party I have ever done music at,” I spoke to Nate as he helped me finish getting my equipment set up. People were lining up outside the gates, waiting to get inside.

“I know, right? A fucking cemetery! I heard the place isn’t even on the map and you saw what the drive was like out here. Seriously crazy.” Nate hooked up my final speaker as I connected everything with the lighting rig that had been provided for me.

“And what is this party for, exactly?” I didn’t even know what I was doing music for exactly.

“This dude owns like twenty gentlemen’s’ clubs in the Southeast area. It’s his girlfriend’s birthday or something.” Nate waved his hand in the air.

“Today?” I wondered. Mine was tomorrow, the 6th.

“I don’t know. I think he mentioned something about a special thing he wants to do at midnight for her 30th.” Nate looked like he wanted to get over to the bar that stood near a huge mausoleum.

“Same as me.” I muttered. What were the odds?

“Oh, yeah. Your birthday is the sixth.” Nate had forgotten, as usual. “Gotta get to the bar; they’re going to let the ghouls in!” Nate wiggled his fingers in the air as he backed over to his station.

Whoever was controlling the lighting at this party flipped a switch and little pricks of shimmering light started flitting about like tiny ghostly spectres. Small fires erupted in urns lining the trails and lit the dirt pathway with an orange glow. The gates opened and I could hear people filing into the cemetery as I started my first track.

Most of the woman I saw pass by my booth were in shiny vinyl dresses with hair twice as big as their heads.

Strippers. They were all strippers.

Not to say that they weren’t attractive, but the strippers down here had a reputation for getting themselves into drug troubles and drama. Regardless of the company, the check was too good to pass up.

Woman after woman stopped by my booth and danced for a minute, drink in hand, before winking at me and wandering off to be with friends. A couple girls even slinked by in furry boots and fuzzy eared hats with glow sticks around their necks and wrists.

Stripper rave…that sounds like there won’t be any trouble at all.

Then the men started coming in: a lot of college guys and quite a few business types. This made the atmosphere change. Groups of women started flocking to one or two men, usually the ones that I pegged as being wealthy, while a few of the more innocent looking girls walked around arm and arm with the college guys.

It went on this way for some time.

Eventually, a crowd had formed in front of my booth as I laid track after track of popular remixed songs and a few of my own.

Nate came over about an hour in and brought me a drink. I told him that I was going to need more than that; I felt anxious for some reason and knew the alcohol would soothe the worry.

I was starting to heat up. That wasn’t helping the anxiety either. My hands felt hotter than usual and I worried that I might melt through the flame proof gloves and destroy my expensive sound equipment.

I beckoned for Nate to get me two more shots of vodka and a glass of ice. Make that three glasses of ice. No— a whole pitcher.

Nate wasn’t aware of my condition, so I played it off with a lie about the combination of the Southern heat and the lights I was standing under. He was pretty much drunk already; the lie worked better than I had expected.

I started a new track, one that I knew didn’t have to be messed with for a while, and took the pitcher out of sight. I tore my gloves off and plunged one scalding hand after the other into the ice.

The movement was so quick, yet when I pulled my hands from the pitcher, they were steaming from the cold; the ice now nothing but water.

That quelled the heat a little, but the fire still crept through the rest of my body.

I pulled my jacket off and tossed it over the chair next to me. I had a few layers on so I could afford to lose one or two. My hair had been down with my hood up, but now that there was no jacket and I physically felt like I had been dropped in a volcano, I pulled it back from my face and tied it all off with a bandana. Naked would have been the best option at this point, but highly inappropriate given the company.

I was just going back to mix my track when a hand fell upon my shoulder. My first reaction was to swing, but the voice that accompanied it made me rethink my actions.

“I’m very disappointed in you.”

“Henri—what the hell are you doing here?” I let the track play as is and turned to my very disgruntled brother.

“I tracked you down. Called the bar and they told me that Nate was out with you at a cemetery party. This is sacred ground, Adam, and you are participating in its desecration.” Henri’s eyes shone red amidst the dancing lights.

“I’m just working a job, Henri. Nothing is being destroyed. This cemetery hasn’t even been kept up in years.” I pointed out the crumbling tombs and mausoleums that were scattered about. It hadn’t been vandalized or anything, but it was ancient.

“That doesn’t matter! You all are just adding insult to injury. You were raised better than this, Adam.” Henri’s nose was scrunched up in frustration.

I did know better. The dead were sacred. I was taught our ancestors were something that we revered; we respected them. They came before us and paved our way. They were part of our ancestry, of our blood…

But I hadn’t known it was going to be at a cemetery; they didn’t tell us till we had already driven to the first stop point to get the address to here.

“I didn’t know we were going to a party at a cemetery. It was one of those invitation-only, scavenger hunt sort of deals. Exclusive isolated location full of debauchery and drunkenness.” I tried to defend myself.

“But you’re still here, Adam. You could have declined when you found out. These people have no respect for the dead! Look at them: half naked, having sex on the crypts and leaving their empty cups and used condoms littered about. This is just bad energy for all of us.” Henri was a lot angrier than I thought.

I had really fucked up.

“What do you want me to do? I can’t just leave right now; it would be unprofessional and I won’t get paid.” I was being selfish, but I didn’t want to live in Henri’s upstairs apartment for the rest of my life.

“Then this is on you. You deal with the consequences. I’m not going to stick around here for the aftermath.” Henri was really, really disappointed in me, but what did he think was going to happen?

“What’s going on, Henri?” I had completely forgotten about my set and just let it loop to the next song on the playlist.

“Something isn’t right. The whole day has been off; wild energy all about. Jackie told you he felt it, I feel it—do you not?” Henri wasn’t sure why I wasn’t picking up on the weird vibes that had been floating around all day. It’s not like we had the same DNA; I didn’t have the gifts that he did. Though I did feel weird—physically. I was sweltering now, sweat dripping down my face. I had to have a fever or at least I was getting close to it. These hands weren’t normal either—but that had been going on for weeks now.

“I do feel it. You think this has anything to do with it?” I held my gloved hands up for him to see that they were practically steaming.

“I don’t know. I thought it was a curse, but after today—after what happened with your friend Violet—I did some divination. I pulled the Devil card, Adam.” Henri came closer to me to speak. I glanced out at the crowd in the cemetery; it was much bigger than before. At least people looked like they were plenty satisfied with the music I had picked.

“Go on.” I urged him. I knew a little about tarot, but nothing that pertained to what he was divining for.

“Some negative outside influence is bearing down on us; it’s been a long time coming. I didn’t want to get you involved, but others have felt it too: seen it in the bones, read it in the cards, divined it in the stars. And it’s been stronger today than any other day; we’ve seen the signs. Something bad is going to happen—and tonight.” Henri looked almost scared and he was never that.

“It’ll be fine, Henri. If anything is going to happen it won’t be right now. The sky is clear, the weather is nice; nothing bad out here tonight.” I assured him, turning back to my computer.

That’s when I saw her.

Amidst the gyrating strippers and flashing rainbow lights, she was standing still next to a disintegrating statue.

She stood out from the crowd, dressed completely different from all the other women. Henri may have been feeling the negative energy, but the mere presence of this girl struck a positive chord deep within me.

I turned back to see if Henri was still waiting around for me to change my mind, but he was gone. And when I looked back into the dancing crowd, the woman that had captured my attention was gone too.