Party of a Lifetime

I still can’t believe I am here, thought Melanie to herself. There she was on an exotic remote island far from home with a large group of people, partying the night away. It was like a dream. Like most of the world she had been stuck at home and away from her family and friends for months due to the COVID outbreak of 2020. In spite of stay at home orders, she was managed to sneak out and meet up with small groups of friends without any complications with law enforcements or becoming a victim of COVID herself. However, she still missed the concert vibe, that feeling of being with one collective whole group experiencing the same event. With COVID cases on the rise again, she knew it would be a matter of time before local governments would shut everything down again.

“This party is lit!” Shouted another party-goer closer to Melanie. The declaration was quickly followed by a loud roar of the crowd and the rhythmic movement to the explosive beats from the speakers above. It was exactly what Melanie needed the most right now.

Suddenly, without warning, a flashing green light illuminated over the crowd.

“PARTY LIKE IT’S YOUR LAST DAY ON EARRRRRTH!” Boomed the DJ. It was met with a frenzy of cheers.

As the song came to end, Melanie felt she needed to refuel. She went to go look for her friend Robert. Robert, who was not much of a dancer, was sitting obediently at the table they claimed the minute they entered the club. Robert had already ordered some food in anticipation of Melanie’s hunger. She sat down and immediately reached for a chicken tender.

“I wouldn’t if I were you,” Robert stated before she had a chance to enjoy the juicy morsel perched at her finger tips.

Perplexed, Melanie glared back at Robert. “Oh, why? Do you take claim of all the chicken tenders on the table? You know how much I love chicken tenders!” She added, raising an eyebrow.

Robert laughed heartily. “No, it’s because I know your love for them I’m warning you. It’s club food. This club may have a killer playlist, but the chefs clearly don’t know how to cook. There’s no flavor to the food.” Robert warned.

Melanie in full disbelief of Robert’s warning, threw the tender into her mouth. She was dying to have the scrumptious juices of the chicken flood her mouth and completely satisfy her craving. She was slammed with disappointment. Robert was right. The chicken was bland. She tried another piece just to confirm her suspicions. The second tender produce the same results: blandness.

“How much was this?” Melanie inquired, ready to go to the bar to demand a refund.

Robert shrugged his shoulders. “I didn’t see any prices on the menu. So, I’m assuming it’s included with the price of the trip. After all, ‘all expenses paid’ must include food, right?”

“The trip. Of course!” Melanie thought.

Melanie and Robert were part of a social media group who fought against masks when they were mandated. The group first claimed that COVID was a hoax, following the confident touts of the President. Then continued to believe it was nothing more than a flu. Even after the vaccine was approved for emergency use, Melanie followed the advice of her group chose not to inject herself with it. She believed it was created too fast and like many others in her group, she feared it would either alter her DNA, or worse, allow the government to track her with the microchip that was probably embedded within the injection. She was young and healthy and had confidence in her immune system.

In early 2021, she received an interesting direct message from someone in the social media group. In fact, she still remembers the message:

“Congratulations, Melanie Richardson! You and a companion have won an all expenses paid vacation to a private island in the South Atlantic! Forget about the stress of COVID, as you spend 14 fun filled days in a completely maskless community. Reply to this message to confirm your information and reserve your spot before this offer expires.”

Once she responded, it asked for identification of name and birthdate and then confirmed if she was vaccinated or had any COVID symptoms. She responded “no” to both questions and from there she was given a confirmation number for both the flight and hotel reservation. Since it didn’t ask for any credit card or bank information, she wasn’t worried too much about if it was a hoax or not. She did follow up with a phone call to the airline company and hotel. Sure enough, both reservations were entered and legitimate. Either someone was feeling really generous with their money, or they don’t know how to perform a proper kidnapping. She chose Robert as her companion because he felt the same as she did about COVID and the vaccine. Also, if any type of threats manifested, Robert would have been able to handle it. He was an ex-Marine and more than capable of protecting the both of them.

Now, five days later, they were sipping down pina coladas with the rhythmic music of ocean waves at night after partying hard with other travelers. The concerns of COVID now left behind on distant lands. Life the way it was supposed to be. The fact of the flavorless chicken tenders no longer bother Melanie since they were most likely included with the trip. During their whole stay, they had not had to provide payment on anything.

Melanie stood up. “Hey, I’m going back dancing. You wanna come?” She invited Robert.

Robert looked weakly back up to Melanie. “Nah, I’m going to chill here. I’m tired already.”

“Wow, you’re drunk already? How much did you drink?’

“Come on, Mel. You know we’ve been drinking almost every night since we’ve been here. It’s probably catching up to me.” Robert responded, with a sudden outburst of coughs. Melanie flashed a concerned look at him.

“Robert, you ok? Seriously?”

“Dude, I’m fine. Go, dance. I’ll wait for you right here.” He assured her in between his coughs.

Melanie didn’t need to be told twice. She rejoined the sea of club dancers who were playfully pantomiming a drunken dance. She weaved when they weaved; bopped when they bopped. Song after song; person after person, she changed dance partners like a golfer changes clubs. The nostalgic feeling of being surrounded by a large crowd filled her with excitement.

The flashing green light returned and beamed over the dancers again.

“YAAAAAAAY! PARTY PEOPLE! DAS HOW YOU DO IT! SHAKE IT LIKE IT’S THE END OF THE WORRRRRRRLD,” the DJ’s voice blasted once again, but Melanie took it as a sign to return to Robert’s table and see how he was doing.

Robert was still at the table. He wasn’t sitting up on the booth seat, but lying down on top of it. She sat down near him and began nibbling at the remaining tasteless food on the table. Gently shaking Robert, she asked, “hey, you ok or what?”

Robert slowly rose to sitting position. “I don’t know. Is it just me, or is it hot in here?”

Melanie didn’t think too much about it. She was feeling hot herself, but she figured it was from all the dancing, not necessarily the room temperature. However, as she sat there comforting Robert, she took a moment to try to capture a good feel for the temperature in the club. Concentrating deeply, she felt herself starting to feel hot as well. Perhaps the club’s temperature was higher than some other clubs she remembered. There was just no method to confirm this since it had been over a year since she’s been in a club.

“You know, I think it’s just hot in here. I feel it too,” she assured him.

“Yeah, ok, well, I’m think I’m just going to lie here. I feel so tired.” Robert stated feebly in between his coughs and return to lying position. Melanie had never seen Robert this drunk before. He really overdid it. Nonetheless, she wasn’t going to let Mr. Inebriated ruin her fun. She stood up, popped one more chicken tender in her mouth and returned to the dance floor.

When she returned to the floor, it seemed more spacious than it was before. Melanie didn’t remember any club floor becoming spaciously empty so early in the evening. Regardless, it just meant more room for her to move around. As the DJ played another club mix with one of Rhianna’s songs, she swerve her body, matching the rhythm of every beat as best as she could. With every turn, she would reach out for whoever was close enough to grab her. With each jump, she started to feel weakness in her legs. She soon went from flailing around gleefully, to a slow one-two step, only each step meant larger gasps of air. Perhaps fatigue from dancing so much was starting to set in because Melanie could no longer find the strength to continue before the song came to an end.

The strobing illuminance of the green light returned to blanket the dance floor. “YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS! IT’S TIME TO PARTY LIKE THE END OF YOUR LIFE, BABYYYYYYY” screamed the DJ.

This time, the encouragement of the pep talk wasn’t enough to motivate Melanie to dance. It had an opposite effect. She wanted nothing more than to sit down try to breath. Wearily, she walked back to the booth where she left Robert. He was still lying down, motionless.

“Robert, you still alive or what?” She joked while breathing hard. Silence met her ears instead of Robert’s voice. “Robert. ROBERT!” She called out. Robert opened his eyes, but still remained on the booth seat. She crouched down while clutching table tightly as if she, herself, were going to topple over from pure exhaustion to check on Robert. “Hey, buddy, you ok or what?”

Robert replied with a flurry of coughs. Melanie knew he was in no condition to stay at the booth, or the club. She needed to go and find someone to help Robert. Melanie, still holding on to the table for support, tried to stand back up. Her legs would not respond to her request. She fell to the floor from pure weakness. She felt like all the oxygen in her body had fleeted from her lungs. Simultaneously gasping deeply for air and pushing herself to sitting position, she leaned her back to the booth where Robert still lay. That’s when Melanie noticed it.

The club floor was becoming scarce, while booths and floors near the tables were filled with people lying down and exhibiting difficulty with breathing, similar to Melanie. Every person lying down was either motionless, or coughing ferociously, including Melanie. The club dancers were not even dancing anymore and cheers were replaced with erratic flow of coughs instead. Her body started fluctuating between burning with pain or sharp chills wrapping her insides. An eery feeling of death gripped her thoughts. Could this be the end? What was happening to her and everyone else?

As if on cue, the ominous flashing green light flooded the club once more. She knew it was soon to be followed by the motivating words of the DJ. She was shocked to hear the words weren’t motivating at all. If fact it was something different. Something more macabre than she could imagine. She knew right then and there why she had been invited to the island.

“Yo, Party People! Welcome to the end of the line! This last song is dedicated to all you who didn’t believe in COVID. Felt it was a hoax. Still doubting the effects. For the first ever, here at CLUB COVID, I present you with… Disturb’s Down with the Sickness! Guaranteed to be the last party of your lifetime!”