Free Hell's Hotel by Lesley Choyce Page B

sucked in her breath. Time froze.
    And then the crowd of kids up front let out a cheer. Jenn had been safely caught and there was another girl on the stage ready to go. Part of Tara’s mind relaxed, but it was like she had to remind herself to breathe. Her brain certainly was acting strangely. She wondered if she had done the right thing by taking those pills. Maybe three was too many.
    Then Jenn was back beside her, tugging at her to go up on stage. “It’s great! You’ll love it!” she screamed, so that she could be heard over the din of the music. Tara let herself be pulled along, her fears gone, infected by the enthusiasm in Jenn’s voice.
    Suddenly there she was, on stage, blinded by the colourful lights now projecting onto her, transported to some other dimension. She stumbled a little, trying to get her bearings. She realized that the crowd in front of the stage was focused on her, but she couldn’t see any of their faces. She looked at the girl singing and playing keyboards, and recognized her as someone who had graduated from Citadel last year. She smiled at Tara and gave her a thumbs-up.
    Tara reminded herself that she had always wanted to go bungee jumping. Maybe this was as close as she was ever going to come. She positioned herself backwards at centre stage with her heels sticking out over the edge. She remembered the first time she’d ever done a backflip off the high board at Centennial Pool. Beneath her, kids were shouting. Why should she trust these strangers? She could break her neck. The rational part of her brain was telling her this was not a smart thing to do ... but the drug made her feel like this was someone else here on stage. It wasn’t Tara. She leaned back, closed her eyes, and fell into the darkness.
    She was floating through clouds. Time slipped into a slow, frozen mode. Drifting, drifting. Then came the cushion of a dozen hands catching her and easing her down to the floor. She opened her eyes. The room was swirling. The music was still washing over her and there were all those faces, smiling, friendly, although some looked pretty hideous in the weird lighting.
    She got to her feet and wanted to thank them all for the experience, but already someone else was on the stage and she was forgotten.
    As Tara got her bearings and wandered towards the back of the room, she suddenly realized how late it was, how tired she was. She hadn’t really had much sleep the night before. She needed to get to bed. She felt like some high-flying airplane about to crash.
    Jenn found her wobbling towards the exit. “I need to go some place to sleep,” she said desperately. “I think I’m coming down from the pills. I’m feeling really strange. I need to lie down and sleep.”
    â€œYou want me to take you home — to your home, I mean?”
    Tara realized the state she was in, remembered the last words she had had with her mom and dad. No, she didn’t want to get into all that. Not tonight. She couldn’t go home. Besides, it would serve her parents right. They deserved to worry.
    â€œI think I get the picture,” Jenn said. It was pretty obvious that Tara wasn’t going to go home in the condition she was in.
    â€œWhere are we going to go?” Tara asked.
    â€œWell, it’s not exactly the Sheraton, but it’ll do.”
    They walked for three blocks, and Tara found herself standing in front of Hell’s Hotel. Graffiti was spray-painted on the outside walls. Somewhere upstairs through the fourth-floor windows she could see a faint light.
    â€œWelcome home,” Jenn said as she led Tara in through the darkened door.
    Inside, they tripped over something, recovered, then inched ahead. “The stairs are right over there somewhere,” Jenn said as they worked their way along the wall.
    â€œI don’t know if this is a good idea,” Tara said. She realized she was still high. Her mind was working against her,