Techno Show
Green lasers slice my arms clean off my body. Seconds later, they’re purple, cutting off my neck. Orange rods strike through my heart before I can move. The strobe lights bounce off every beam of the warehouse and cast a crude spotlight on the DJ playing an obnoxious techno song. The gold glitter sprinkled across her skin catches the light, turning her into a celestial beacon among a congregation of sin.
“Are you having a good time?” She shouts.
I nod, but I’m sure it’s indecipherable amongst the rise and fall of the wave jumping in time to the song. I don’t tell her that I’d rather be anywhere but this techno show- sorry, rave. I don’t complain about the suffocating lack of space or the way I choke on the stale weed in the air. I don’t mention how I’m uncomfortable in neon or without a proper shirt. I don’t bring up the fifty alternate date plans I had for tonight.
It’s Valentine’s Day, and instead of a nice dinner under the moonlight or sharing heart-shaped cookies by the fire, we will be sweaty and tired and anxious, or at least I will be. But she asked me to be her Valentine, and how could I say no to that? She even dyed her hair pink for me, my favorite color and a hue of this very season. She came out this morning, the top half of her newly pink hair in these twin space buns, and yelled “Happy Valentine’s Day!” I wish I had my own metaphorical pink hair dye for her.
Her laugh radiates through my chest as she pulls me close. Another glimmer of light, a deep blue shade, washes over us. Her hair is an ethereal lilac. She kisses my neck, and my skin lights on fire where her lips touch. When she pulls away, she laughs again, grabbing my hands and throwing us into the song. My feet are less tired when I see her dance. The sight alone almost makes it worth being here.
An hour passes. All the songs have sounded the same to me, a blur of high-pitched voices washed out under scratchy electronica. The bass pounds the same in every one- and pounds and pounds and pounds until I am beaten to death. The room has risen ten degrees warmer than the average body temperature and increases a degree with every passing second. A girl in a black bodysuit and cat ears has offered me a pill three separate times. On occasion, I take in the entirety of the neon mosh pit around me. It looks like the concept of chaos come to life. I have to admit the smoke machines are fun and the glow stick jewelry reminds me of childhood, but it’s all too much. Every time, my gaze circles back to her. The smoke has cast an iridescent glow around her shoulders, and she wears a seraphic smile that makes me think of the first time we kissed.
The song comes to a close and bleeds into the next. I can’t hear the difference so much as I can feel the energy in the room shift. I was wrong before. This is chaos, unadulterated, unhinged, pure chaos. The room rotates in all different directions, shaking us around like we’re in a cheap snowglobe from the souvenir section of a museum. I keep up with her for the first half of the song. We jump around in our own little bubble. It feels okay, but only because my hands are in hers. We dance and dance and dance-
The ground is cold, unforgiving cement. Blood bubbles on my lip and a sharp sting screams on my forehead, just below my hairline. I feel a pair of sneakers on my ankle, another on my forearm. She’s next to me in less time than it takes for my heart to stop, pulling me up and drawing me close. She’s yelling, but I can’t hear over the ringing in my ears. I tell her I’m okay, or I think I do. She holds me to her for another second, stroking my hair, before leading me out.
Back in the car, I wipe her tears and tell her I’m really okay. She brushes the bump on my lip and promises to stop to get some heart-shaped cookies on the way home. She starts the car, pauses with her hand on the wheel, stops the car.
“Thank you for coming tonight.” Her eyes are glassy again. “I know you didn’t want to. I wish there was something I could do… go to my own metaphorical techno show for you.” She gives me a crooked smile and starts the car again.
