Chapter 1: Into the Dancefloor

His eyes open in a snap, the sensation of waking up was similar to the feeling of falling in your sleep. His gaze meets a closed hand gliding through the night sky, accompanied by a zipping sound. The stars have disappeared from his sight, leaving him cramped in the darkness. Lying on his back, he tries to recall the events that had led him to his current predicament, but he remembers nothing. His mind struggles to form a single cohesive thought until he realizes that he does not know anything at all; Not even his name.

Unease fills his stomach. Being trapped in a confined space did not help his case at all. Despite not being in a room, he could feel walls closing down on him, encasing his body as if he were some caterpillar in a cocoon. The air he was inhaling was not fresh but filled with the smell of smoke and burning plastic. His innate need for freedom and release grows more and more as he continues to remain in this strange space that has been constricting him.

All of a sudden, he gets lifted off the ground, sending him on high alert. He yelps, and struggles against the anomaly that holds him. He wanted it to stop, but he could not think of any words to speak. Without any decisive reason, he feels the need to leave without being touched. Not long after, he felt himself being dropped to the ground, but that doesn’t stop him from moving.

Beyond this cocoon is simply just a normal world, where a crime scene has taken place. In a nightclub that has been reduced to burnt cement walls and piles of ashes. On the ruined dance floor, two men stared down at the body bag they were supposed to carry out of this burned-down venue. They look at it with their mouths agape, astonished at how the man inside it continues to writhe and scream.

“Did you even check his pulse?!” One of the men asked in a slight panic.

“Of course, I did!” The other exclaimed, “Dude wasn’t even breathing when I checked!”

As the two of them continue to assess the situation, a hand glowing with a yellow light rips through the bag. It blinds their eyes and envelopes them as a whole.

Not far from the scene, ambulances, fire trucks, and police cars stood by. People who survived the nightclub’s fire were being given medical attention. The policemen were still assessing the situation, as they asked for input from the firemen who had just extinguished the fire an hour ago. The blue and red lights from their vehicles were suddenly overpowered by the same yellow light that came from the arm that emerged from the body bag. Distant screams pierced through the air, getting the attention of almost everyone.  The light was coming from what remained of the nightclub, and it didn’t take long for it to go away. As soon as it did, the officials cautiously made their way into the ruins.

“Hey, is everything alright in there?” A paramedic asks, peeping through an ashy doorway. Her gaze immediately falls on a young man whose clothes were torn and falling off his body. He stands above two unconscious men - the workers in charge of extracting dead bodies from the crime scene. A policeman stops her from rushing towards the men in front of her.  He looks at the strange person before them with a creased brow.

“Who are you, and how did you get here?” The officer asks. He gets no verbal response.

The suspicious young man looks at him, utterly confused and fearful.  After a short period of silence, he takes a step backward and began fleeing.  The policeman, however, is quick to pull out his gun and aimed at the suspect’s leg, shooting him. He falls with a scream, clutching his leg with shaky arms. He rolls over, similar to how a dog rolls on its back to show submission.

“Hey, that’s too far!” The paramedic exclaims, pushing down the policeman’s arm. She looks at the officer’s name badge and looks at him.

“Mr. Ines, let me do the talking first.  He just looks confused,” she says firmly.

She then slowly walks towards the injured young man in front of her, trying her best to not provoke him. At this point, he was brought to tears from having to experience pain like this for the first time. The paramedic inches closer towards him and crouches down.

“Are you okay?” She gently asks. She keeps her guard up, keeping in mind that this guy is potentially dangerous. She glances at the two other men nearby, wondering if the person in front of her is responsible for this.  

A hand suddenly reaches towards her, emanating the same light that she had seen earlier. It was nearly blinding this time, but it did not grow as it did from moments before. She hears yet another gunshot, immediately extinguishing the light. A pained scream soon follows, coming from below her. Realizing that he had been shot again, she turns to Officer Ines behind her, who has now called for back-up.

“We’ll take it from here,” He said.

The paramedic looks at the wounded man lying on the ground as she hesitantly stands up. She doesn’t know if she should feel bad for him, or to feel frightened about what could have happened to her if he wasn’t shot. Another thing that occupied her mind was what came out of his palm. He was not holding anything that could produce that kind of light. She saw his veins and bones behind the skin of his palm as the light was emerging.  It was almost as if there was a flashlight being pressed at the back of his hand.

She watches as the cops began to hold his arms behind his back, cuffing him. He had little strength left after losing blood from being shot twice. They drag him upwards, forcing him to walk towards the ambulance. He didn’t shout a single word to resist. He asked no questions. He could only whine, as he limps in the grip of the uniformed men that surrounded him.