It was December 31, 2008, at 11:40 p.m. People had gathered around downtown.
In 20 minutes, it was going to be midnight. We had also gathered so as to head to a bar as soon as the New Year would start.
"Five.. Four.. Three.. Two.. One!!"
"Happy New Year!!!"
Me and my friends rushed to a bar. As we had just become adults, we had the first drink of our lives.
I had expected it to be refreshing and thrilling. It was so bitter. But my friends were all drinking so well. I couldn't lose to them. So I kept drinking.
We were getting more and more excited. I was drunk. After a while, when I opened my eyes, I was sitting outside the bar.
"Wake up. Stand up right now."
The girl who told me to wake up was a friend who lived in the same neighbourhood as me. Her name was Lee So Young. We were stumbling on the way back home.
We stumbled some more. I even vomited on the street.
On the road ahead, someone blocked me, so I looked up. Someone in a clown mask was looking at me.
"Gosh. What is it?"
The clown didn't say anything and just moved his arms. He was pointing to a basement karaoke room.
"No, thank you." I said but my friend insisted that she was freezing and..
"Hey, let's rest there for a bit. I am freezing cold."
"We are almost home anyway." I told her.
"Let's go to the karaoke room."
She kept fussing about it so I decided to go with her.
It was smelly down there. It was musty and also reeked of cigarettes. But something else bothered me. It was the lady who was at the counter.
"How much is it for two people?"
She didn't say anything. She was just sitting there and continued to stare at us. Then she pointed at the price list.
I took out some cash. She quietly stood up and took us to the hallway where the rooms were.
We followed her. But I felt a bit uneasy. That's when I noticed how quiet the karaoke room were. We were the only customers.
I was a bit hesitant and regretted coming here. But both of us were extremely drunk. So we were desperate to just get some rest.
We sang songs for a while then decided to book more songs. My friend fell asleep while I was looking for the songs.
"Hey. Are you sleeping?"
I tried to wake her up but she didn't wake up.
I didn't realize when I too fell asleep.
I don't how much time had passed but when I suddenly woke up, the karaoke room was pitch dark.
The monitors and the lights were all turned off.
(You can check out my original story. Its title is 'The Reddest Red')