Chapter Eight

Two hours later, Connie was sitting in Trish’s car as they drove to Fica club which was located on the outskirts of the city about fifteen minutes drive from the park. They stopped for some takeaways as both the girls had not had a proper breakfast that morning, they tried Emma’s phone again to no avail. With it being a weekend afternoon, they had a bit of trouble finding a parking slot when they got to the place.  Trish eventually parked near the far end of the street. 

Walking back to the club, they noticed how different the club looked during the day without all the blazing lights on the neon signs. There was dead silence coming from the club and on closer inspection they noticed that the front entrance was also locked. Disappointed, they decided to walk around the building and just as they turned the corner the double doors in the alley suddenly opened and one drunken looking guy came out staggering.

Quickly the girls walked towards him.

‘Ladies, you are here early this place is not open until 8pm. I suggest you go home sleep a bit and come back tonight’ He said as he staggered away.

Ignoring him the two girls just looked at each other and remained rooted where they were quietly until the guy turned a corner.

‘There is our entrance ticket. What do you think, must we still go inside?’ Trish asked bored. It was obvious Emma was not there.

‘Hmm…..I don’t think there will be any harm in looking around after all that is why we are here, right? Are you scared?’ Connie asked with a quizzical expression on her face.

 Dismayed Trish didn’t bother to reply her she reached to open the heavy door.

Connie moved to help her and they both started laughing at how heavy the door was.

Leading the way, Connie went inside and the heavy door closed behind Trish with a loud thud that made them jump as they found themselves in a short dark hallway. Holding hands they moved inside and the place was empty and dimly lit with the only light and low sound coming from the bar.  They walked towards the light hoping to find someone but the counter was empty. 

 ‘What do we do now, this place looks dead to me and as you can see Emma is not here.’ Trish whispered desperate to leave, the place was making her uncomfortable.

 ‘Hold on, we can’t just go back without talking to anyone we need some answers. Just keep your cool I have some pepper spray in my pockets so don’t worry. Come on let’s look around.’ Connie said trying to sound brave but deep down, like Trish she was afraid.

 ‘Look around? Look around where in this darkness. Seriously if we are not out this instant I am going to leave you here alone.’ Trish said 

 Ignoring her threat Connie pulled Trish by the arm and tiptoeing they started looking around. As they neared the stairs to the private lounge they became aware of some faint music and voices coming from upstairs. So this place was not completely deserted after all, Connie thought. She pulled her friend towards the dancing floor hoping to find their friend drunk and slumped on some chair or lying on the floor but there was no one. Accidentally Connie kicked a stool that knocked the other one balancing on it causing them to fall with a loud bang.

 ‘Oh No, what did you just do?’ Trish asked in a whisper

 They heard a creaking sound of the door followed by a man’s voice upstairs ‘Todd is that you?’ There was silence and the man called out again, ‘Hello, I know someone is down there, Hello!’

 The girls looked at each other both frightened to speak. Suddenly they heard pairs of footsteps rushing downstairs and quickly Connie pulled Trish and they hid under one of the tables hoping whoever was coming would not hear or see them.

 ‘What are you doing? Isn’t it we came to get answers from these people?’ Trish cried in a low voice.

 ‘Ssh...Keep quiet or else we are going to get caught.’ Connie snapped at her.

 One of the people from upstairs switched on the lights frightening the two girls even more and they knew it was a matter of time before they were caught. Connie could feel Trish’s body trembling. In that moment she wished she had listened to her and left whilst they still had a chance. Holding her pepper spray in hand they waited.

 They could hear the pair of footsteps going in circles around them, pulling and shifting furniture, doors opening and closing. The sound drew close to where they were and Trish tightened her grip around Connie’s arm. One of the guys stood in front of the table they were hiding and in a husky voice yelled, ‘I want that culprit caught, did you check behind the bar?’

 ‘Yes sir and there is nothing there either and from what I can see nothing seems to have been disturbed except for the stools.’ The other guy replied.

 ‘We need to be sure we can’t risk anyone meddling in our business. Do one more search around and should you find anything I don’t care what it is whether walking or crawling, kill it.’ The husky voice man barked as he began moving away his footsteps disappearing upstairs.

‘Pete, Go and check to make sure that stupid Todd locked that back door when he left and hurry upstairs we need to finish that order quickly.’ They heard the voice of the husky man calling from upstairs

‘Ok Sir, let me do just that’ Pete replied as his footsteps disappeared in the direction of the entrance that they had used.

 The only way out was going to be locked Trish thought as fear gripped her she began to shake Connie’s arm vehemently in protest. She blamed Connie for pulling them under the table, they should have just stood up to the guys and tell them the truth why they were there. Now they were in trouble 

‘Sweetheart what was that noise about?’A familiar female voice asked as soon as the husky guy opened the upstairs door and it was closed before he replied.

 ‘Stop shaking me so hard you are freaking me out.’ Connie retorted sharply as she pulled her arm from Trish’s grip, she added in a whisper, ‘What did that voice from upstairs sound like to you?’   .

‘What voice are you talking about? This is not a time to make hallucinations’ Trish responded in a harsh tone her mind thinking of a possible way out.

 ‘Seriously, now you are thinking that I am hallucinating? If you were paying attention you would have heard________.’ Before she could finish to explain they heard the light sound of footsteps approaching and they knew Pete was coming back so Connie became silent. 

Out of the blue Trish scrammed from under the table before Connie could stop her and she rushed to lean on the counter and Connie watcher her horrified. Trish decided she wasn’t going to allow Connie to delay them in that dark place any longer.

 Pete headed for the light switches and he switched them off without bothering to look at the counter. Something made him turn and he was perplexed when he noticed a form leaning on the counter. He quickly switched on the lights and he saw her sitting with her back to him.

 ‘I will be damned!’ He shouted as he started walking towards the counter. ‘Who the hell are you and how did you get in here?’ Aghast Pete asked from behind Trish.

 His voice sent chilling sensations down her spine that made her speechless and this action angered Pete who grabbed her by both arms forcing her to look at him. He tightened his grip around her and he asked again, ‘What are you doing here this hour?’

 Connie was shaking with fear. She didn’t know what to do. Her friend had behaved without thinking especially after they had both heard what that husky voice man had said. Her heart was beating so fast that she feared she was going to collapse.

 Protesting and fighting to free herself Trish screamed ‘Stop hurting me! Why are you suddenly behaving so aggressive towards your customer as if I have done something wrong.’ He loosened his grip on her and she continued saying, ‘The door was open so I came in, the bar light was on and there was nobody so I decided to go to the bathroom hoping that when I come back I would receive some service and here I am waiting. Is there anything wrong in that?’

 Pete was suddenly shame faced ‘If that’s the case I am really sorry.’ Pondering for a moment he added, ‘That explains why we didn’t see you when we came downstairs. But still, you are trespassing there is a clear sign out in the front that says we open from 6.00pm.’

 ‘I am well aware that it is a night club. Actually, we were here with my friends for the first time yesterday but a friend of ours did not return home so we came to look for her and that is the honest truth.’ Trish murmured

 There was a bewildered expression on Pete’s face as he asked ‘Who are ‘we’, are there others with you?’ looking upstairs Pete asked in a hushed tone.

 Swallowing loudly Trish said,’ Yes, there is someone else here with me. We came just the two of us’

 Connie felt colour draining from her face. Trish’s spontaneous actions made her want to scream. She was giving him too much information and now that the cat was out of the bag, how was she going to explain why Connie was hiding under the table when she had already lied that she was in the bathroom earlier. The door of the hallway that leads to the bathroom was across to where she was hiding and there was no way she was going to make it there without being dictated.

 Suddenly the upstairs door opened and Pete quickly signaled Trish to hide.

 ‘Pete, I see the lights are still on what is taking you so long down there?’ The husky man retorted.

 ‘Sorry sir, I was held up looking for the keys but I found them now. Just as you suspected Todd had left the door open.’ Pete replied quietly.

 ‘I am going to fire that lazy drunkard. Come up here and collect these empties before you lock that door.’ The husky voice said before he slammed the door.

 ‘Listen very carefully young lady, this is not the place to be during the day and if that man sees you, you and your friend are history. Now, go and call your friend and make yourselves scarce right this very instance.’ Pete barked as he headed upstairs taking two stairs at a time.

 When he reached the top of the stairs, he looked back and he saw her still standing by the counter and he signaled with his hand for her to move. Trish pretended to be going in the direction of the toilets and when Pete saw that he disappeared inside the office.

 As soon as Trish heard the closing of the upstairs door she looked and saw that Pete had disappeared so she quickly ran to summon Connie who was hearing everything that they were saying from where she was. Connie sprang out and without waiting for Trish, she ran only to be disappointed when she tried to pull open the door but it was locked.

 ‘Well, well, well, what were you hoping for Connie, running and leaving me behind like that…huh? Yet you are forgetting we are here because I took the risk while you hid under the table.’ Trish said cynically.

‘Don’t brag about that, your carelessness will put us into deep trouble one day. So, yes, I ran and I want to keep running as faraway from you as possible’ Connie snapped.