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What once Was... Chapter 18

*********WARNING!!! This story is intended for MATURE and RESPONSIBLE ADULTS ONLY*********

Eva and Joey find the fox with his head buried in his arms across the room. Eva leans to Joey and whispers, "Well, didn't think I'd meet your new boyfriend like this." Joey shrugs and looks back.

R.C. lifts his head with a hurt expression on his face with his phone in his left paw. "Oh I didn't know you were looking for me, I need to make a phone call." He gets up and walks to the roof again dialing home to see if his mother will answer. He hears a couple of rings, then a worried, "Hey!!" as his mother replies back.

"Hey, what's going on?" R.C. asks into the phone as he talks to the roof edge. He listens intently

"Oh, alright." R.C. says, he gets up and continues the conversation while Joey and Eva stand in the doorway to the outside watching the fox pace around. Joey looks over and whispers to Eva, "I'm worried about him, he's never been the same lately."

Eva nods, "He's just going through life changes, and he'll be ok."

"I hope so; I really hope I'm not too much for him." Joey looks back with a little worry.

The two continue to watch R.C. as he paces back and forth for a few more moments then hangs out. R.C. breaths a heavy sigh as he approaches the two. "Things are ok. My dad just got a case of pneumonia and he's bed ridden at the hospital for a day or two. Of course my mom tells me not to visit."

Joey and Eva both approach the tall fox and wrap the fox up with hugs. R.C. pulls the two close into a tight hug as well.

"Well, this is fun seeing you two showing off your cuteness for me." Eva jokes with the two. "Did you two kiss, yet?"

R.C. turns away blushing as expected. "Well..." Joey starts and subtly nods.

"Ah, I see." Eva laughs. "My girlfriend and I kissed, so what's wrong?"

"You know I never kiss and tell." R.C. sternly replies back.

"So you're saying you did kiss? I know you R.C. very well." Eva pokes the fox making him cringe. "And you're very easily pokeable."

Joey laughs and joins with Eva poking the bigger fox making him buckle down and curl up. "NOOOOO" R.C. yelps. The two keep at it for a few moments longer making R.C. really red and nearly in tears, giggling uncontrollably.

R.C. eventually uncurls still catching his breath as the other two laugh their tails off at the vulnerable fox. He looks up at the two, "You know something? That's not funny!"

"Yes it is, and you know it!" Eva taunts the fox back. "So did you two do it, yet?"

"Really? You have to ask?!?" R.C. sternly yells at Eva.

"What? You act like you're still a virgin, more like an anal virgin." Eva giggles then lifts her paw, "We did it!" Eva proudly exclaims.

"Oh shut up!" R.C. really blushes. "Are we going back inside or what?" He becomes irritated at the interrogation that's taking place right next to his boyfriend.

"Fine, have it your way. Let's go in and have some fun, shall we???" Eva points to the door and starts walking in. The other two follow with R.C. glaring at Joey shaking his head.

As they walk in, they run into other ravers waving and saying hi. Each one responding with a hug, some of them are also offer congratulations the two foxes on becoming a couple. All of which is making him uneasy making him quite nervous and on edge. He continuously looks around trying to dodge the seemingly endless onslaught of fellow friends on his relationship status change. Both Joey and Eva take notice. Eva especially as she's known him for longer and never has seen him act like this before. She takes action by grabbing R.C.'s right arm and pulling him back causing the fox to jump a little.

"Dude, are you ok?" She asks, pulling him aside.

"I guess so?" R.C. replies while shaking nervously.

Eva then pulls him into a hug and notices how tense he is. She holds him tightly hoping it would help calm him down. R.C.'s mind is racing rapidly to where he just loses sense of what's going on around him. It causes him to panic and break the hug with Eva. He then rushes off to the rear stairwell where it's dark and sits in the corner. He tries to calm down best he can, unfamiliar with the sudden rush of thoughts and emotions that are overwhelming his mind. As he sits there, he tries to draw focus from his racing mind to the music around him hoping that would calm him down to a more manageable state.

A couple minutes pass sitting in the corner, he realizes no one spotted him and should actually go check to see if they're still there waiting. He gets up feeling a little dizzy from the rush, but manages to regain full composure. He makes his way back to the floor through the thicker crowd of ravers. "I didn't think this would get as packed!" he thinks to himself trying to maneuver in the upper vendor room looking for the outside stairwell to the main floor.

The club seems packed to the fox more than he anticipated as he approaches the stairwell noticing the main floor is quite packed with dancing as a faster-paced house-style music blasts from the front stage. He looks at the stage, but can't make out the DJ performing as there's not much lighting that's focused on the performer which is unusual as there normally is a light at least in the general vicinity. He realizes he just focused on the fact that the DJ performing was unknown, this makes him feel relieved he's not losing his mind and then makes his way down the front stairs to the main floor. He tries to scan the crowd looking for any of his friends. It's very difficult since most of the floor is washed in black light with some bleed from the vendor room windows above. It's not enough to make anyone distinguishable to the casual glance. The fox sighs feeling a bit awful for just leaving like that, so he goes to the edge wall and casually walks by taking glances and avoiding the occasional dancer. He gets a few waves from a few friends who happen to notice him. He waves back hoping one of them could be Joey or Eva.

Making his way completely around the main floor and the lower side room, he doesn't see either one. He starts to get worried. Then he realizes he never checked his phone to see if either one left a message. His phone does show a text, it's from Joey. Reading it over, he suddenly becomes a bit concerned and rapidly makes his way to the exit trying not to knock anyone over. He then rushes down the stairs to the street exit and out to the sidewalk along 9th Ave. He looks around up to Penn Ave, then down to Ft. Duquesne Blvd. He sees no one. Realizing that he parked at the garage across the street, he makes his way to the stairwell and heads up to the floor he parked on thinking he would maybe be there. He walks over to his car, but sees no one. He starts to wonder if he scared them off perhaps. He pulls his phone out and reads the text again, this time carefully. He thinks for a minute, and then suddenly sprints to the stairs heading back down making his way back to the venue.

Making his way back up, he realizes he forgot to check the 'chill room'. He takes the back stairwell up to there to avoid most of the crowd near the front stairs that normally lead to the vendor room. The sounds of the main room fade as he hits the 2nd floor at the rear of the vendor room taking the hall to the 'chill room' and the slower paced house fills the air. Entering the room, it's lit normally and most of the room is filled with ravers just sitting in groups on the floor with a few dancers in the middle near the DJ booth in the closet.

"R.C.!" shouts a voice from the left rear corner.

The fox looks over and noticed Joey sitting there with a few others. He makes his way over and realizes Eva with him as well.

"R.C., are you ok? I thought you left or something!" Eva stood up and hugged the fox. R.C. returns the hug.

"Yeah, I just had a moment there and didn't feel good, sorry." He replies back in her ear. He hugs back tight feeling much more calm than before. Part of it has to do with the slower paced ambient trance filling the room. They break their small embrace and both sit down with Joey who's already sitting up against the wall. R.C. sits next to him with Eva on R.C.'s other side. R.C. looks over at the DJ, not recognizing the leopard behind the decks as she changes the vinyl on the inactive turntable. He then gazes on the floor where a few are out dancing, which usually amused him as he felt the music was a bit slow to sustain a steady dance pattern to.

"The dancing out there isn't too bad." Joey leans over to R.C. while discussing his take on the dancing out on the floor.

R.C. leans back, "I'm not much into the slower style music, just seems so slow to keep myself moving." He looks back to the floor slightly perplexed, and then turns back. "But yeah they're doing quite well."

Joey giggles, "You dance quite well. You sure you don't want to try?"

"Ha, NO!" R.C. replies rapidly.

"Please? Not even for me?" Joey begs and presses the bigger fox. "I want to see you dance!"

R.C. isn't feeling too comfortable, especially after his recent moment of feeling overwhelmed. "Not tonight, but..." he looks around and then leans into Joey's ear "maybe in private for you." Then pulls his head back and tries to cover his face.

Joey smiles and realizes the actual meaning of that statement. He then pulls R.C. close and hugs him tight. "Well in that case, you better own up next time you come see me, alright foxy?"

R.C. blushes feeling both embarrassed and slightly turned on about the thought of putting on a show. Thoughts race through his mind about what he would like to do. He imagines being at Joey's place in his basement giving a slight strip-tease dance enticing his boyfriend. The risks of possibly being caught also runs across his mind making him a bit more aroused. R.C. snaps back to reality, looking down and feeling quite relieved that his pants are roomy. He looks over at Eva who's quite occupied with the dancers. He wraps his left arm around her and pulls her in, then his right on Joey and pulls him in snuggling them both. R.C. smiles happily, feeling the company of his best friend and his boyfriend leaning on him closely. He closes his eyes and slowly drifts into a daydream.

R.C. gets up later, seeing that he's alone and the music stopped. He gets up in a panic thinking the rave is over and everyone's left.

"Hello?!?" He shouts hoping someone would hear as he walks to the hallway to the vendor room. "Anyone still here?" The vendor room is empty, but still lit with the neon signs on the wall glowing brightly in a bluish hue. Still, there are no replies or sounds other than the faint brown noise coming from the air vents around the venue. He heads to and proceeds down the front stairwell to the main dance floor. The floor is empty, but all the event lights are on, not the service lights. R.C. finds the panel to turn the service lights on which flood the rooms with white fluorescent lighting. With the increased lighting, it shows to R.C. that the place indeed is empty. The fox starts to worry that he was left behind, he runs to the exit stairs looking out the window, and it's still dark as if it is early in the morning. He reaches for his phone, but in unable to locate it in his pockets.

"HELLO?!?!? HELP? Is anyone even still here?!?" R.C. cries out of desperation hoping to hear any form of response as one of his greatest fears is becoming more real by the moment, being alone. His breathing rate slowly increases into short rapid breaths. He starts to pant a little and his eyes are open very wide. He flattens his ears some, trying not to obscure his hearing in case someone does respond. He heads to the exit door only to find it is chained shut with a master lock connecting the end links rendering his escape nearly impossible out the front door. R.C. becomes increasingly tense and starts to fear having to go back upstairs to get to the secondary exit which would lead him into the dark alley behind the strip club next door, an area he wishes not to find himself in case he runs into muggers.

Keeping close to the wall, he heads back up into the main room, still lit with the service lights. Again he shouts out, "ANYONE STILL HERE, PLEASE? WHERE IS EVERYONE?" nearly on the verge of tears as he walks along the wall to the lower room using the path opposite the upper vendor room and the front stairwell. Having activated all the service lights helps keep the place well lit helping keep R.C. from going into a full panic over being alone. He slowly makes his way to the rear stairwell where the exit door is, next to the elevator. He heads down only to see that door is chained locked as well.

"How the hell am I going to get out, let alone how is anyone going to get in with both these doors like that?!?" R.C. shakes his head at a loss. He slowly makes his way up letting his mind race with feelings of hopelessness and despair. The next place he goes to is the chill room which where he came from.

Entering the room, it too is lit up from the service lights in bright fluorescent white. He hopes he can at least find his phone. R.C. makes his way to the corner in which he came from and searches around, but coming up with nothing. He searches the DJ closet next, but still comes up empty handed. In face there is no equipment left from the rave.

"HELLO!?!? What the hell is going on? Did I die? Am I going to die?" R.C. shouts the greeting again, but comments to himself as to the really desperate situation that is at hand.

"Great I'm stuck here, fucking hell why did they leave me?" He starts to cry knowing he's trapped. "What did I do wrong? Why did I deserve this?!?!?" He slams his right fist into the wall hard while tears start to stream from his eyes. The fox then turns around and slumps down burying his face in his paws. He continues to sob feeling hopeless about being rescued or even where anyone has even went. He thinks to himself, "Is this a cruel joke? Why did everyone leave? I just want to go home so bad."

Suddenly, he hears a sound and tilts his ear, "R.C.?" He snaps his head up, "R.C.? Are you ok?" The male voice sounds very familiar to him as if it was that panther whom he's friends with.

R.C. shouts, "Joey? I'm up here!" The fox slowly stands up wiping tears from his face. "Hello?!?"

"R.C. Are you ok, what's wrong?" The voice gets louder as it Joey 3 is actually next to him.

R.C. looks around, sees no one. "Joey? Where are you?" He maintains some hope that someone is there with him, especially considering it's his really good friend. I'm right here?!?

"Wake up foxy!" Another voice sounds, this time it's Eva.

R.C. starts to lose hope as he looks around the room seeing no one. "Eva? Joey? Joey 3? Anyone?!?!?" He shouts hoping someone would maybe hear him hoping he isn't hallucinating. He waits, but the voices stop. R.C. starts to lose hope again, slouching back down and continues crying knowing he will be locked in that place for seemingly forever. He crawls over to the corner to curl up and starts to bawl. "I am no one anymore." He sobs loudly. "It's over, hopeless! HOPELESS!!" He shouts pounding his paws into the ground. He then curls up and slowly drifts off.

END