I have decided to dedicate my Wednesdays to one of my passions: creative writing. I'm just going to post pieces up on these days, and when I run out of pieces I'll start making up new ones. Hopefully my creative writing professor from last semester will give me a few exercises once her advanced class starts.
Anyways, here's my first piece for Wednesday- a piece I wrote some time last year because I needed a good setting description of a regular area I use.
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Hey kid.
Yeah, you.
It looks like you’re searching for a good time. Well, I can tell you now that you aren’t going to find it here at all. You need something just a little out of the ordinary. Well, I’ve got just the place for you.
Directions? Well, that’s a little difficult. Just take the first shady-looking back alley you find and walk down it. Then keep going further and further. The streets are going to look darker and scarier the further you go, but that’s completely natural. At the point where you find yourself hopelessly lost and every time you try to backtrack you end up getting even more lost, you know you’re really close.
Now’s the part where you have to pay attention, because the place is really easy to miss. Eventually you’re going to run into a completely nondescript street with a completely nondescript door on the side of a completely nondescript building. The only distinct feature is a neon sign with half of the letters burnt out completely. The ones that haven’t gone yet look like they’re going to go at any second. If you squint enough, you can read what they say.
Arnie’s Place
Open the door. The only thing beyond it is a staircase descending further down than you can see. Go down them. The further down you go, you can hear the sounds of muffled jazz music that you can swear are getting louder, but it stays the same all the way down. There will be a moment where you want to give up and just leave, but keep going. Like the alleyways, the exasperation means you’re close. And just at that moment, you see a bright red door with a blacked out glass window. Go ahead and open it.
You’ve made it. Congratulations.
The club is cozy, with a small dance floor, a well-stocked bar, and lots of lounge chairs. The décor itself is… odd, to say the least. It looks as if the room flew through the stream of time and picked up whatever thought it looked good, but in the end looked outrageously tacky. The best way to describe it is a bizarre fusion of a retro-futuristic 60s lounge, a 1930s speakeasy, and a lavish Victorian parlor, full of ornately molded white plastic, red naugahyde seat cushions, and hardwood floors. There is a small raised area near the dance floor for the occasional live band to set up and play, and behind that is a hallway leading to private rooms for whatever you want them for.
The first two people you’ll run into are Arnie and Max. Arnie is the owner of the place, and he has his chair near the entrance. He wears pinstripe suits that were fashionable 70 years ago with matching fedoras. If you look close enough, you can see his skin has a reddish tint that isn’t quite natural, but that doesn’t matter. Arnie is friendly and hospitable, but do try your best not to get too close to him, and never make him angry. Especially in the club. That will end really badly for you.
Just a little past Arnie is Max, the barkeep. Unlike Arnie, he looks completely normal, with dark hair and a relaxed demeanor. He knows every drink under the sun, and has crafted a few potent libations of his own. Only try “Arnie’s Special” if you are particularly brave or stupid. He’s always up for a good conversation as long as it doesn’t get in the way of his job.
The only thing I may have to warn you about is the patronage. The regulars there are… unusual, to say the least. Some of them aren’t even human. Heck, most of them aren’t human. Don’t worry about it, though, because Arnie has a very strict club policy that everyone who enters is forced to follow. Not following it is grounds for instantaneous expulsion. He has the rules to keep the peace, and all of the patrons respect the rules, as not many clubs will accept their kind. So yeah, don’t worry about any of them devouring you, because that’s a no-no in Arnie’s Place.
Yes, I said devouring.
And that’s all you really need to know. Oh yes- when you meet Arnie, and you will (he has a tendency to personally greet newcomers), let him know that Mr. Cutter sent you. You get some drinks on the house.
