[center][h1][color=8882be]Ashley Gallagher[/color][/h1][/center]
[center][h2][color=8882be]Carousel Club[/color][/h2][/center]

[u]“Suit yourself, I’m going for a drink.”[/u]

With a huff swish of amethyst tulle, Ashley’s headache dissipated ever so slightly. He lit a cigarette and pinched the bridge of his nose. [i]Pull yourself together, you fool.[/i] But it wasn’t that simple. His thoughts were thick and fuzzy, like swimming through honey. The sharpness and wit he relied on normally was failing him spectacularly. This fucking case.

The music flared briefly and drew his eyes to the stage. The jazzy little number the girl was performing did nothing to hide the painful youth of her features. So young, but a prey to the city, as they often were. A shame, there was so much beauty to New York City, if only its shadows weren’t so goddamn oppressive. He cast his gaze out at the crowd, realizing he should be looking for anything out of the ordinary. Though, he figured he’d be hard pressed to find anything ordinary at all about the patrons of a club such as this. One figure in particular caught his eye, and he felt himself stiffen.

A shimmer of rainy grey eyes met his, then looked away. So brief, but he would know them anywhere. [i]Impossible[/i]. Before he even realized he was moving he was on his feet, shouldering his way closer to the edge of the club, craning his neck to catch a glimpse. Sure enough, there she was, not a radiant beauty, just a comfortable one, with honey-brown hair and an easy smile. Someone whispered, “Mary.” And a few beats later he realized it must have been him, as he felt the name sweeten his lips. 
    
Something solid slammed into him and he scrambled, gripping the shoulder of the man who he had just collided with. “Hey! Watch where you’re fuckin’ going, you maniac.” 

Ashley ignored him, frantically searching the back wall once more, but she’d disappeared. No. She had to be here, she was right there. With a newfound sense of urgency he weaved his way through the tables, eyes darting back and forth. She was here, he had to find her. Movement caught his eye. She had her back to him, but it didn’t matter, it had to be her. Somewhere deep down something was screaming at him, begging him to wake up, but it was muffled, suffocated by the clouding of his own damn mind. 

He reached out, clumsily grasping at her pale shoulder. “Mary.” She jumped out of her seat, and whirled to face him, and reality hit him like a freight train. The face that stared back at him was a stranger’s, and a horrified one at that.

    “Let go of me, you lecherous creep!”

He stumbled backwards, unable to find the words even to comfort this poor girl he had practically accosted. 

    “Hey pal, what’s the bright idea?” Ashley barely registered the man who had come to her defense, and he shook his head, couldn’t stop shaking his head in fact. He turned, stumbling for a door, any door. [i]Mary[/i]. 

[center][h1][color=82ca9d]"Emerald"[/color][/h1][/center]
[center][h2][color=82ca9d] Club Carousel[/color][/h2][/center]

    Emerald wished she could say she was surprised as the man was dragged off by a shady stranger, but with the way this night was going…

She was simply thankful the attention had been directed somewhere else, away from herself. She took a moment, sitting down properly at the bar and fixing her hair. She was in control.

“You alright, Em?” Mickey offered her a genuine smile, albeit a tad uneasy as well. She waved him off. 

“Just some desperate freak, takes more than that to ruffle my feathers.” And yet… her heart flip-flopped as she realized she was now completely on her own, and a sitting duck. She squirmed uncomfortably on her seat, the drink in front of her lacking it’s usual appeal.

“You ever going to let me take you away from all this?” It was a joke, one he had told many times, but she could feel the yearning truth behind it all the same.

Even so, “Wouldn’t dream of it, I love this life.” The lie tasted bitter on her tongue, and she swallowed it with a tiny grimace.

[center][h1][color=fff200]The Creep (alternatively, Jacob Collins)[/color][/h1][/center]
[center][h2][color=fff200]Outside Club Carousel[/color][/h2][/center]

Jacob’s walk home was cold, and wet. Rain sneaking it’s way down the collar of his shirt. He felt defeated, frightened, and most of all humiliated. He had hoped the first time he spoke to Emerald it would have all gone so differently, so much better. But he had ruined everything.

He never had a way with words, never knew how to talk to girls. In school they had laughed at him, taunted him, and he’d become accustomed to the idea that love was not a luxury he was allowed.

The first time he had seen Emerald on stage, the urge to rebel against the cruelty of that notion had consumed him, and in that moment he had loved her with his entire heart and soul.

But yet again, his stupid words had granted him the same look he had always gotten, disgust, fear, horror. All he wanted was for her to be safe. Even if it was in the arms of someone else.

Perhaps if he wasn’t so deep in his thoughts, he might have seen the man in the white trench-coat, matching each path he took, just a few paces behind him. Perhaps he would have heard the wing-toed footsteps or the soft breath. By the time he did, it was too late, and in his final moments of consciousness, he wondered how the world could possibly be so cruel