Echoes Of Darkness

As the sun sets in Mofocity, the town slowly recedes into darkness. Most of the town's residents had returned to their homes, closed the curtains and locked their doors. There was nothing to see under the moonless sky.

For others, the day had only just begun. Every night, before going to work, he walked along the pavement as the street lights turned on and off. The censors enable them to sense when somebody was right underneath.

The Edge of the town was his favorite spot. A place where he can quiet the noise, contemplate his life and that small gap that was missing from his memory, a place of total blackness. Right on this spot was where Mofocity had been cut off from the rest of the world 33 years ago. It was the edge of the world.

Burning stars can be seen flickering in the sky and from their dim lights, vaguely he can see the silhouettes of The Floaters, floating still in the sky like hanging shadows of corpses ... waiting ... waiting to attack or waiting to disappear.

No one in town dared to visit the edges of Mofocity. Not this one, nor the other ones. This place bore myths and legends straight out of horror fiction and nobody wanted to see what's under the moonless sky.

But for Adrian, the dusk was when he started his day, in silence, as he glided into the night, sat quietly by The Edge, staring into the great big nothing. Sometimes he can hear a whistle or a hum, sometimes a crackle like a grinding of the teeth, they all came from the hanging shadows that had always been there since The Day of The Separation – as they call it. The sounds that soothed his ears while he drifted away in his thoughts.

Once he filled his cup, it was time to go back to the neon lights. He kept his pace while listening to the taps of the soles of his shoes and his steady breathing. Passing by the same windows of shops and diners along the way back to the club where he worked, where he lived.

He tucked his hands inside the pockets of his hoodie, counting backwards 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and watched the street light behind him turned off while the one above him turned on, guiding his way back to life.

About five street lights away from the club, he saw patrol lights of a police car. It was parked right in front of The Dungeon. He stood under the lamp to see what was going on. Chief Colby Jones stepped out of his car and took a quick glance at him before walking into the club. He was alone. At least it's not a raid like dozens of times before. But whenever Chief Colby Jones came with his patrol lights on, things were never 'just fine'.

"JACK ASH Performing LIVE at The Dungeon. Tomorrow 8 P.M. Onwards" The sign above the lockets says in full display to the streets from both directions. Ginger and Goldy, the Siamese twin who was conjoined on their backs sat conveniently in the booth to greet and sell tickets to Dungeon Dwellers that came from opposite sides.

He passed the lockets straight to the entrance door. "CJ's here," said the bodyguard with one yellow eye. Adrian didn't respond. He walked into the club where the music overran any other sound in the room. Under the black light he could see teeth glowing and neon colors as he went down the stairs to the dungeon's cellar where all the magic happened.

Everyone who worked there was deformed in one way or another. Most of them were deformed physically, but mentally, they were all handicapped whether they realized it or not. They were the first born of Mofocity, the first generation citizens who were born after The Separation and they were affected by secret government's experiments that had gone terribly wrong.

Bella, one of the cage dancers had a third arm removed from her stomach that left a hollow dent right above her belly button. Dorian, the bartender had a split tongue. Bob the janitor had long ears and no neck. But Adrian was there because the owner of the joint was his childhood friend. He also had exceptional eyesight that was very useful for his work in the night time. The one thing he had in common with the others was the fact that they couldn't get work anywhere else in town.

Adrian knew his way around the dungeon like the back of his hand. Even in a room full of people and insufficient light, he knew exactly how many steps it took from one cage to another, pass the bar to the left where there was a small hallway to the restroom and a narrow staircase to Jordan's office. He was at the bottom of the stairs when Kat showed up with an empty tray and grabbed him by the arm.

"I think you should sit this one out, honey" she said behind her cat face painting. "It's a private meeting, and the old man is not looking very peaceful," she continued as she dragged him to the bar stool and put the empty tray behind the bar. She leaned on the bar and popped her bubble gum. "Some lady is missing ... a school teacher or something ... I didn't get the details 'cause the Chief wanted to talk privately with Jordy."

Dorian came just in time to hear the last part when he put down a glass in front of Adrian and poured him green liquid and a shot of thick red syrup on top of it. "My newest invention! Why don't you give it a taste, man! It's the 'Bloody Swamp Fire'" he said excitedly before he sprinkled some herb and lit up the drink.

The drink lit up for a fraction of a second, almost like a mini explosion before turning into a puff of smoke and bubbles appeared from the bottom of the drink. It looked like something out of an experiment lab and everyone at the bar was astonished by it. "Come on, man! Strike it! One of these babies will last all night," Dorian boasted of his new creation. Adrian was hesitant, but then he lifted the glass and chugged it all in. He pursed his lips as he swallowed and squinted his eyes. "That's nasty," he commented.

Dorian burst out laughing, Kat smiled while her finger stroked her necklace with a 'Kitty Kat' pendant plated in gold. "Jack Ash's special request, man! So I made something really special for tomorrow, everyone will get a glass of that before the show," Adrian nodded, raising his eyebrows still struggling with the burn he felt in his throat and mouth. Dorian leaned in and whispered, "By the way, that wasn't thyme."

"Shit, man! I have to work tonight!"

But Dorian was just laughing very pleased by what he had done. "It's all good, man, I promise 'ya, I tried it for two weeks straight ... it's all good," he said, giving a high five to Kat.

"Hey, do you think CJ's going to do an investigation on that missing lady here?" his tone turned serious.

Kat shrugged while playing with her freshly shaven tail, "Don't they always do that whenever anything wrong is happening in this town?" She brushed Dorian's cheek with the tip of her tail that shaped like a lion's tail. "That's the fourth missing person this past four months, and they haven't even solved the other ones from last year," she said as she turned to leave.

"I know for sure that's not the fourth one, there are others, plenty of them," Dorian commented. Adrian didn't answer, he was starting to notice that Dorian's split tongue was getting closer and further away with every beat and the pounding of his head.

"Chief Colby! What do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" greeted Jordan with both hands behind his head as he lifted his legs up to his desk. The Chief chuckled and sat on the guest's chair without waiting for permission.

"I see business is doin' well?"

"As well as it can be ... considering."

"Ya' know ... yer dad is askin' me a lot a' questions 'bout what yer doin' here with 'these people'"

"Well ... if he wants to know anything about my business, tell him, he could just ask me without having to bother you, Chief."

Chief Colby leaned on the chair and crossed his hands over his belly. "I'll tell him the next time I see him ... he just worries 'bout you is all, workin' with 'these people' at night time in a place like this ... is not exactly conventional as yer dad would prefer it."

"Oh ... come on Chief, my dad didn't pay you to come here and tell me that he's concerned about me, did he?"

Chief Colby gave Jordan a sharp glance and didn't answer the question.

"'These people' are like family to me, I'd work with them any day than working with my dad in those boring factories he owns."

Chief Colby Jones has been on Matthew Cromwell Jr.'s payroll since the beginning of Mofocity. The city needed law enforcement the soonest it was cut off from the old world. It was a chaotic time, those who had money proven to be the ones who had more power to gain control over what's happening in the world. Colby Jones was Jordan's father's right hand man in his companies and conveniently took the position of the Chief Police of Mofocity.

The government, who caused all the tragedy to the poor city and lost many of their agents was more than grateful when a highly regarded business tycoon was willing to clean up their mess. In return, the Cromwell's basically owned Mofocity. All the major factories belonged to the family, they distributed the people's necessities, they produced and controlled food supplies and also information.

"Look, Jordy ... I'm not here because of your father, actually, I'm here 'cause there's another missin' person reported a few days ago ... a nice lady, a teacher at the Centraville School where yer sister goes, a daylight-er, obviously."

"And what does that have to do with us?"

"Well ... I'm just lookin' 'round for leads to see if anyone had seen her, you know ... procedures ... I haven't got much success with the daylight people, so ..."

Jordan sighed and rubbed his face with both his palms, "I can't have you poking around here asking questions, Chief! We have a big gig coming tomorrow night!"

"I know ... I know ... the whole town've been talkin' 'bout it for weeks ... big show!" CJ held out both his hands to emphasize the magnitude of the event.

"It's just that ... I have to cover all the grounds here, I won't be a bother, I promise ... just showin' some pictures and see if anyone knows her or seen her around ... maybe I'll start with that 'mute' friend of yours ... the weirdo ... "

CJ took out some close up picture of a woman in her 20's, dirty blonde hair over the shoulders, almond shaped dark brown eyes, smiling sweetly as daylight people do, he can see some freckles on her upper cheeks, overall looked like an ordinary daylight-er and not at all familiar to him. He shook his head with sarcastic chuckles in his breath.

"Why is it that every time some shit happens to the daylight-er ... you guys always come here and investigate the night crawlers? You never found anything on us, yet it seems you're so persistent in trying to find it? Has it ever occurred to you that it might be one of 'them' who are actually doing all these crazy shit you're suspecting us for?"

"Hey ... like I said, I need to cover all the grounds, it's basic procedure, we have asked around in the day and now we have to be sure that Miss Heta Lee Brown is not a hybrid and not wander around in the night time ... starting with your friend!"

"You need to leave him alone, you know he's not a hybrid, he doesn't go out at daytime ... he hates the daylight, and he's not a mute ... he just doesn't like talking to you," Jordan started to get a bit agitated.

"Well it's not just him ... I need to ask anyone who 'owns' the night and that weird friend of yours is one to sought out 'cause he knows his way 'round in the dark, I saw him just now ... comin' back from the edge ... what a creep ... I don't know why you trust that boy so much."

"I trust him with my life, we're all weirdos here, most people just like the other ones better, as for your case ... do what you need to do here, Chief, just don't ruin the gig for me, will ya'?"

CJ stood from his seat, he had done what he came for. He gave Jordan a two finger salute with a smirk on his face and left the room. "Shit!" Jordan mumbled as he threw himself back on his chair.