Party

"You feeling okay, now?" Jimmy said as he parked the van in a hotel's parking lot.

"Yeah... Yeah, I, uh..." I said while wiping my eyes with a tissue paper. "I'm fine now."

"I see..." Jimmy's eyes look as if he wanted to suggest not going to Mother's office now that he saw me cry for hours and hours while listening to an old pop song throughout our little road trip. However, he merely sighed as he unfastened his seatbelt--he must be following the Mother's orders right about now. "Let's go. It's about to start."

"Yeah..." I also unfastened my seatbelt and opened the door of the van timidly after seeing Jimmy do so.

We then walked towards an elevator, Jimmy pushed the button going to the thirteenth floor, and when the elevator door opened, I thought we would be welcomed with many different doors and a long hallway. Instead, the entirety of the thirteenth floor is just an empty hall with no other doors, no windows, no furniture, and no decorations.

No, wait, I retract the words I had said earlier. There IS another door in the hall. However, it was just standing in the middle of the entire colossal thing awkwardly. Let me say that again, it's literally just a door, a black wooden door, standing at the very center of the entirety of the thirteenth floor, and there's absolutely nothing else along with it.

I raised an eyebrow as I looked at Jimmy with an awkward chuckle. "Are you sure this is the right place, Jimmy?"

"Huh? Oh. Yeah. You'll get used to it." He then walked towards the lonely door sitting in the middle of the hall as he turned around to meet my gaze when his hands gripped around the doorknob. "Come on now. Everyone is expecting us."

I furrowed my eyebrows, thinking that Jimmy had finally lost his mind after all the bullshit that Mother had told him to do, but I still complied with his instructions nonetheless. I'm sure the Mother has her eyes around this hall, and I can't afford to fuck up now. When I finally stood beside Jimmy with a nervous gaze, he smiled at me gently as if to reassure me that everything will be fine, and slowly, he opened the door.

I thought I would see just another glimpse of the empty hall once Jimmy opened the door, but what greeted me was something entirely different. What lies inside of the door was a different world entirely, a different dimension, a different setting, a different hall, different everything! There's a lot of people wearing a ball gown and intricate masks as they spoke with each other loudly with glasses of varying alcohol in their hands. I looked around the door and saw that nothing was amiss with it, and it's definitely just standing there in the middle of the thirteenth floor, and there are absolutely no other things going on on the other side of it too. However, curiously enough, there it is. A different hall made out of dark concrete is inside of the door, and everyone else is partying the same way the people in historical Hollywood movies would do.

"Surprised?" Jimmy said with his gentle tone.

"I must be going crazy..." I said, still not wanting to accept what is happening to me with my mouth wide open.

"I thought the same way when I first saw it, too," Jimmy said before pushing me gently towards the door along with him. "Now, let's go. We need to meet the Mother."

I merely nodded at what he had just said and walked into the door, half hoping that I would bump my head into some kind of wall and realize that it was all just a prank, but no, nothing like that happened at all. It felt like I was transported into another world literally; the entire place felt like it was so foreign to what I consider as my own "time."

The entire hall is massive, the walls are made out of dark kind of material I haven't really seen before, the ceiling is so high up that I could barely see it from where I stood, and there's a massive hole in the middle of the entire court surrounded by what seemed like intricately designed and thick metal railings. Beside the pit, reclining there with a glass of champagne, Mother stood while watching whatever was happening underneath us. It seems that there's some kind of attraction going on below, and it appears that that might have been the very reason why there's a hole here in the first place.

Jimmy and I walked towards the Mother timidly. I noticed that, although there's a lot of people all over the hall, everyone stood five feet away from the Mother, minding their own business far away from her as if she was some kind of parasite that no man must ever approach. Nonetheless, the two of us approach the unapproachable, and with a soft coughing sound, Jimmy took the Mother's attention. When Mother turned her bored and sullen expression towards us, her face lit up like a newly bought light bulb and tapped my shoulders while telling Jimmy to leave both of us alone. Jimmy happily complied before bowing to me with a melancholic gaze as his way to bid farewell. I simply waved my hands towards him while looking at how he slowly stepped away from us with his back facing our direction.

The Mother placed her hands around my waist and beckoned what seemed like a waiter to give me a glass of their finest champagne. After only a few seconds, the waiter returned and handed me a goblet filled with what seemed like the best poison they have in store.

Mother then reclined on the railings again with a radiant smile on her face. "I am proud of you, my son." She said as a twinkle fell out of her eyes before sipping her drink.

I dropped my head as I downed the champagne in my glass. "Thank you, Mother."

Mother then gestured to me to come closer towards the hole and stand beside her to watch whatever is happening down there. "This is the world that only people who have a strong soul can enter. This is what we're trying to build inside of all the members in Plural Heights. You, my son, are one of the lucky ones who managed to abide by my law without the need of my power to make them transcend into a higher form standing, not just in wealth but in spirit."

I then approached the hole as Mother had instructed and saw two bloody people down there with what seemed like sharp weapons on their hands. "This... is what we're striving to achieve, Mother?"

Mother then chuckled while tapping my back lightly. "Well, of course, we're not trying to be like them!" She said while pointing her glass to the two weeping people standing on top of what seemed like a huge stadium. "I'm talking about this!" Mother then moved her arms around her. "THIS is all the people in the world who have achieved everything! They are the sole men you can ever find that have the ability to surpass the level of a normal human soul! This is the club of the people who strived to do the best they can to be the best in the whole wide world—the crème of the crop! Do you understand, my son? You are a part of that now; I made you a part of all of us!" She said with a triumphant look on her face.

I was about to reply when suddenly, a loud shriek came from below us. Mother and I promptly moved our heads to see what was happening, but seeing as how much Mother was smiling and how much my expression contorted with fear, I knew then that our reasons for looking downward were different. 

The man in the stadium pierced his abdomen with his weapon while the woman with him weakly ran towards the edge of the stadium. Everyone around me started to cuss, boo, and grunt loudly after seeing what had just happened down there. Mother also felt the same as a wave of disappointment flashed through her face. I felt like I was the only one who's not feeling somewhat disappointed because of what had just happened.

Someone just killed themselves right there! What the fuck are these people doing? We should help them!

"This is why I hate it when we have couples as sacrifices." Mother said as she threw her glass onto the stadium, creating a loud ruckus all around as the rest of the people with us started doing the same. "It only looks great on paper, but the truth is someone will sacrifice himself for the survival of the other." Mother then pushed her forefinger into my chest with her hands on her waist. "This is why YOU are not like any of those mistakes below us, my son! YOU are much better--perfection itself! That's why you're here, and they are there--all because you know that sacrificing yourself for the betterment of others will do you no good, no good at all! I mean, look at them!"

Mother pointed at the stadium below, which made me move my head towards it. Suddenly, a loud siren rang all over the place like some kind of emergency had happened, making me feel jumpy because of utter panic. However, none of the people standing around us did anything. They were all just watching whatever is happening below with either disappointment or excitement.

"We are better than them." Mother said with a snicker. "You are better than them."

The floor of the stadium below suddenly opened like a camera shutter ever so slowly, making the man in the middle fall into whatever lies within the darkness far underneath. The woman who survived screamed at the top of her lungs as she tried to climb up the wall, but she would only fall multiple times before she could even move upward. Nothing will save her now.

Mother then laughed heartily after seeing the woman scream in terror at what was happening before her. Mother then slapped her forehead loudly as she pointed at the woman with her other hand. She wanted to say something, perhaps to mock the lady below us, but no words managed to come out of her red lips because she's laughing way too much.

The rest of the people around us then laughed with her, pointing their fingers towards the woman who was about to fall into certain death like it was just another Tuesday sitcom for them.

Wait...

That's it.

Maybe...

Maybe this is just a joke? I mean, perhaps it's actually really, really funny? I don't know... I think I'm just not getting the joke.

I then slowly laughed along with them and pointed at the girl, trying to force myself into being happy because of whatever is happening to her. Fuck. I can't. I just can't laugh at it. I am still trying my best to laugh at her, I am forcing myself to do it, but I can't. I just can't be happy about all of this.

But I have to!

I have to get the joke!

I murdered my wife to have this!

I have to get the joke!

But I...

I just can't.

Thus, when the woman was finally swallowed by the darkness of whatever lies below, I finally stopped forcing myself to laugh as I dropped my hands into my side. I just don't get it.

Someone then started to talk around us. "Oh my, is that Justin?"

Another lady answered the one who said those words first, "You're right, it is Justin!"

Apparently, this is enough to stop Mother from laughing; whoever this Justin person is, he had managed to take Mother's attention away from the 'joke' below us.

"Shit, it is him!" Mother

I tried to look around, but I just can't find a reason for me to enjoy this party anymore now that I have seen what happened below. I do not know these people too. Why are they wearing all these weird clothes? Why are they wearing masquerade masks in this day and age? What the fuck is happening here?

Amid my frustrations, I saw Jimmy sitting on a wooden chair in a corner while facing the black wall before him with a massive glass of wine in his hands. I then pulled another wooden chair in the corner and sat beside Jimmy, facing both our backs away from whatever is happening in the party.

"How is it?" Jimmy asked with his usual gentle smile. I merely shook my head as a reply. Somehow, Jimmy must have understood what I meant as he looked up at the wall in front of us, pointing at it with his chin. "This is fun, eh?" Jimmy said, while looking at the black wall.

I then heard some screaming below us, people applauding, and lots of commotions that made me feel like they're all having fun. However, I merely looked up at the wall with Jimmy as I sipped my glass while pinching my chin.

"This has got to be the best damn thing I've seen here so far."

Jimmy and I both let out a relaxed chuckle as we looked at the empty black wall in front of us while everyone else focused their attention on whatever is happening at the stadium.