Admiring the beauty, I did not notice how we parked at one of the most popular nightclubs in the city. Few people knew that this nightclub hosted the opening party of the new semester at Harvard. Freshmen, and especially students from other universities (like Jackson), were not allowed – but not today. We easily got inside and dove into the world of student madness in the nightclub called Royal.

"My goodness!" Rosy gasped.

I tactfully remained silent, and Jackson pulled me closer. He was clearly not a fan of such places. And this time, I completely agreed with him.

The atmosphere of debauchery, intoxication and rampant fun reigned in the club. The place amazed by its size from the outside, but inside there was neither free space nor fresh air. The dance floor was crowded with drunken students rubbing against each other and jumping in some frantic and chaotic rhythm.

We barely made our way to the bar and ordered a cocktail, Jackson refused to drink. After another cocktail, my head began to pound, and the whole event began to seem not so terrible. We spent the next couple of hours on the dance floor, only occasionally stopping for drinks, which Mickey's fake license helped us to buy.

"We have two reasons for celebration today!" Mickey screamed in my ear.

"What is the second one?" I asked her.

Mickey nodded at Rosy, who was spinning about her axis.

"Our friend finally did THIS last weekend! Whoo!" Mickey started screaming. Apparently, she meant that Rosy and her boyfriend, with whom they had been flirting for a few months and then dating for a year, were close enough to make Rosy become a woman. Despite her lifestyle, Rosy was still a virgin at 18. She was afraid of intimacy, even though we told her there was nothing to worry about.

"Is it the floor or my head spinning?" I asked my friends.

Obviously, they were as drunk as I was, leaning on some guys, completely unaware of their actions and consequences they may lead to.

"Damn it!" Jackson muttered.

"What happened?" I barely uttered.

"The alarm went off. Will you be ok without me for a few minutes?" one could see the anxiety in his eyes, but it was not clear whether for me or for the car.

"Sure! I will be fine," I waved.

Jackson disappeared in the crowd. Without his support, I suddenly doubted my words. My stomach twisted, and I had to rush outside not to throw up at my feet. It was not that easy to push away the raging crowd. They seemed to make fun of me, deliberately pushing back. I was getting worse, and I was ready to crawl between the legs just to get out of the stuffy place.

I saw the desired exit ahead of me, and it was just within a step away. My feet carried me to the door. It was the emergency exit. I got out just into the narrow deserted street, along which garbage bins and black bags stood. At least there was no crowd. The air was cold, soaked with garbage stench. And even that was better than staying inside.

I threw up between the garbage bins and finally felt the relief.

"I will never drink that much again."

My legs became weak and did not obey. I decided to take a break for a few minutes. Leaning on the garbage bin, I felt drowsy. I made a bad choice.

Suddenly, a man appeared in front of me. He hit the metal dumpster, apparently, to frighten me, in which he undoubtedly succeeded.

"I have nothing! Please don't hurt me!" I automatically begged in a whisper.

Fear paralyzed me. The man was only a couple of inches away, and I could see every detail of his face. He froze for a long few moments in an unnatural position, which was extremely uncomfortable for his height. It seemed that his height was no less than three meters. His hands were covered in some ooze resembling the oil, his face was ash-grey with every vein swollen under the skin. It was incredible, but I got the feeling that his veins were filled not with blood but with the same liquid as on his hands. He literally and figuratively smelled death – as if the smell was familiar to me. But his eyes were the most frightening part of his appearance. They were not of this world, this very man was not of this world. If it was Halloween today, I would think that he chose a perfect makeup for such an occasion.

"I don't want anything from you! On the contrary, I want to give you something!" the man said. His voice sounded as if he was in some catacomb. At that moment, I was ready to believe that he was not a human at all.

"I don't need anything from you! Just let me go!" my common sense had gone somewhere, and instead of pitching the madman a line, I behaved like a frightened girl whom I actually was.

The man laughed and opened his black mouth. He placed his hands around my head and clenched them in an iron grip. I could not move and even make a sound as if being hypnotized. The black smoke erupted from the monster's mouth and slipped into mine. The cold, fear and darkness filled me from the inside. I could feel this loathsome thing with my every tendon, vein, and cell. Everything was changing – my feelings, thoughts, and desires, as if I was turning into the same dark creature as the man in front of me.

He breathed out the last drops and left, leaving me paralyzed like it'd never happened. Billions of feelings and thoughts went through my body. Countless faces appeared in my head, each expressing the death torment. I could hear the prayers, though I was all by myself at the place. Even the pain of these people did not escape me. Tones of hellish water were squeezing my chest. These waters compelled me, instilling the desire to drown. Their color was unusual – the black waters were glittering with silver due to the souls inside them. I felt their pain, anger, and terror, witnessed their suffering. I wanted to ease their pain more than anything in the world, but they now became the part of that eternal flow as a sign of punishment.

Stretching out my hand, I felt the warmth and the scorching cold of the flow at the same time. The river absorbed me in the twinkling of an eye. I dissolved in its black waters.

My consciousness was disturbed by some bright light. The morning sun rays lit up a small room.

I blinked a few times. Was it our apartment? How was that possible? I was definitely confused. Alcohol had evaporated, and I was left with tons of questions and a headache. All the past memories were nothing but delirium under intoxication, and this realization made me feel somehow better.

I was still wearing yesterday's clothes. I was lying on the mattress, carefully covered with a blanket. My head was throbbing, my body ached, and my throat smarted with thirst. Jackson had thoughtfully put a glass of water and some pills on a plate near the mattress. As soon as I greedily swallowed the pills and gulped the water, Jackson entered the room.

He did not look angry but tired and worried. He sat down next to me.

"How are you?" he asked.

"Terrible! I feel ashamed. Don't ever let me drink so much!"

"Deal!" he smiled and patted me on the cheek.

"How did you find me?"

"That was some adventure. I went almost crazy when I didn't find you in the company of your friends. They reached that condition when they saw no difference between me and the bartender. I spent an hour wandering around the dance floor until I heard two security guards talking. They wanted to call an ambulance for the girl in the backyard. And it turned out that that girl was you. I didn't let them, but, apparently, I should have…" he shook his head.

"Why?"

"You were barely breathing. All night you were shuddering and screaming as if someone was strangling you in your dream."