The bass had been pounding for over an hour, and sweat had begun to bead at the corners of Jocelyn’s brow. The sequins on her dress caught the light like a disco ball that had been fragmented a thousand times. The drink in her hand was her fourth, or at least she thought. She’d lost track sometime after the sparkling purple shot a man in a parka had handed her. She laughed loudly, and failed to hear her own voice, the music drowning it out. This caused her to giggle again, a drunken laugh that bubbled up from the back of her throat.
Her feet ached from her heels, but she refused to sacrifice them, wanting to add all the height she could to her diminutive frame. The dull pain was a reminder of just how long ago she had stepped out, but in her mind the night was still young. It didn’t matter that she’d forgotten where she was, in fact that had been one of her goals when she left her flat that evening, but it did matter to her that the lights kept spinning and her body kept swaying.
Unfamiliar faces swept in and out of view, most of them were friendly, some of them were slack jawed, and almost all of them were blurred. Jocelyn shut her eyes for a moment and matched her hips to the rhythm. The heat had begun to get to her, and the alcohol coursing through her veins surely wasn’t helping. Opening her eyes, pupils dilated and heavy, she slid out of the packed room that had become a dance floor and out into the house where the party was taking place.
The cool air hit her like a ton of bricks and she took a deep breath and smiled. Her lipstick had faded, but her attitude hadn’t and she downed the rest of her drink without bothering to taste it. The liquor burned the back of her throat and she grimaced before shaking it off. It occurred to her that she should find a drink of water before she regretted her existence the next morning.
Weaving her way through people swaying to non-existent music, and couples so tightly locked together you couldn’t tell who was who, Jocelyn flipped her short red hair out of her face and squinted at the staircase that lay ahead of her.
“Fuck.” She grabbed the bannister and teetered down a few steps. This would be easier if she could tell which stair was real, and which was just double vision. Two more steps and she was still upright, this was going well. She put one more foot in front of the other, and suddenly the world was tumbling. It happened so quickly she shouldn’t have been able to process it, yet it seemed as if the world was passing by in slow motion. The party spun faster than it could have if she was dancing.
Then came the sickening impact of the floor, Jocelyn’s hips hit first, then shoulders, then head. The smack of her skull against the bottom step made darkness blossom across her vision. Pain followed quickly, but was numbed by the number of drinks she had imbibed. A blessing, for now.
“Fuck.” She started to sit up only to have the spinning sensation return with a vengeance. “Wha- just happen?” She placed her hands over her face.
