Issue Three

“Caitlyn. What about yours?”
“Kevin. I think.” Idiot! He felt like
banging his head against the
windshield.
“You don’t know?” And she smiled.
“It’s a long story. How old are you,
anyway?”
“Old enough to know how to drive, but
young enough that it’s not legal.”
“What? Then whose car is this?”
She gently placed a finger on his lips,
shushing him. “Curiosity killed the
cat. Here we are.”
They pulled up to a warehouse in the
Fashion District. Not many cars parked
out front and there wasn’t any music
coming from inside. Metal bars covered
the windows like steel spider
webs. Didn’t look like any party house
he’d ever heard of. He was startled
when Caitlyn grabbed his hand and
escorted him up the walkway.
As he got closer to the door, the
numbers of the address seemed
familiar. He pulled out the piece of
paper the older man had given him.
It was the same address.
He turned to Caitlyn. “Oh my God,
you’re in on it.” He started
hyperventilating. He wanted to run, but
he was in the middle of nowhere, near
an abandoned warehouse with the most
beautiful creature in the world–
“Kevin, you need to relax.”
He felt his heart beating faster, the
breaths growing shallower. He watched
as Caitlyn moved towards him, her face
appearing closer and closer, her lips
zeroing in on his until they touched, her
tongue like sandpaper. Her eyes –
where had he seen them before? They
were the last things he saw before
passing out.
He awoke on a bed to the sounds of
eating. Banners stencilled with “Happy
Birthday, Kevin!” were strewn across the
room, along with colourful balloons and
lit candles. About twenty people sat
down eating and drinking family-style
around a long, wooden picnic
bench. They were mostly middle-aged
with the exception of one or two elders,
gumming their food. It certainly wasn’t a
festive mood. Instead, a pallor of
moroseness hung in the air.
Kevin moved, surprised that he wasn’t
shackled or tied, which caused the bed
INITIATION