The next day the coughing was gone but I still had a cold. I was back on my feet but I moped around the house still feeling slightly feverish. I had missed Francesca on her way out this morning and because she had a small gig with the band later, I knew that she wouldn't be back until late.

"You should take a walk outside, get some fresh air." My mother had told me over the phone when I called her in slight despair.

"I'm sick, remember?" I responded. However, my mother insisted and after taking her advice I was knocked out cold returning back to the apartment. With my sore lungs, breathing in the cold air outside felt like a thousand needles to my throat. I felt so sorry for myself, crawling back into bed where every bone in my body shivered underneath the covers.

It was dark outside when I woke up. Like a bear in the winter I was living through hibernation, sleeping my way through my illness. I would have pulled the cover back over my head if there hadn't been a sudden commotion in the apartment that forced me out of bed. The base of loud music vibrated through the walls of the entire apartment. Stepping out of my room I was met by a full blown party.

"What the hell!" I shouted in vain, the loud music dimmed my voice as well as the vocal cords erupting in my throat. My eyes shifted from left to right looking for whoever was responsible for this commotion. There were dussin men and women crawling in the apartment, none of them I recognized.

"Francesca!" I shouted, stepping over a puddle of something I didn't want to know what it was. A distinctive smell of something burning led me to the kitchen.

"What the fuck?" I said at the sight of the scene.

"You leave the microwave for one minute... A skinny but tall man chuckled. He was young and wore a beanie. His hair had knots and looked crispy like a surfers and for some reason two of his front teeth were missing.

"What were you trying to do?" I looked at the pile on the plate still shuffled into the microwave, because of the burnt color, it was impossible to tell what it was.

"Heat some frozen pizza of course." The skinny man had a smokey laughter and showed no signs of hiding his missing fangs.

Chaos, complete chaos. I thought. Who were these people? Who was responsible for all of this?

"Francesca!" I shouted out randomly. Suddenly I was passed by another man with the same characteristics as the one I met in the kitchen, purposefully messy hair and a repulsive grin. "Tell Francesca that I invited a few of my friends." The man said as he was headed for the door.

"What?"

My steps were rapid behind him. It was too late though, the man went for the door and suddenly a group of middle aged men and women poured into the hallway. The majority of them wore leather jackets and boots, all which were decorated with metal spikes pinned together to make them look like porcupines.

"I can't do this, I really can't do this." With one strike the fever hit me again, all at once I was overwhelmed. I failed to keep steady on my feet. I went to support myself by leaning against the wall.

"Hey? Are you alright?" The man from the kitchen asked. I met him in the frame where he stood holding his plate of burnt pizza.

"Fuck off!" I hissed, waving my hands for him to leave me alone.

"A wild one." He laughed.

I had a headache so bad that I thought I was on the verge of losing my eyesight. Dizziness, nausea it was all hitting at once. My dying wish was for all of these strange people to leave the apartment. Continuing to move in panic, I aborted the attempt of making it back to my bedroom. Quickly, I dove into the bathroom, or what I hoped to be the bathroom. I heard the familiar sound of the door coming ajar and made the leap, pushing past whoever stood in my way. A moment of complete silence hit as the noise from the party outside was dimmed when I stumbled over the threshold. As my vision cleared the tears came pouring all at once. The feeling of panicking sorrow quickly turned to hurtful rage as I promised to give Francesca my worst once I got off hold of her.

"Err...are you okay Maya?"

Silence as I drew my breath. There was movement behind me. A stranger with me in the bathroom. A stranger who knew my name.