The air is cool. Mysterious. It surrounds me, moving around my skin, touching me gently. Swirling as light as a feather. Dark and cool, yet caring. I blink into the air, and if I think hard enough, I can see the silky particles of oxygen moving around me ever so slightly. It is purely silent. Not a sound of movement or a breath of presence. A tender and welcoming silence.

Suddenly, two blazing headlights of a car appear from the distance. For a moment, the peace inside of me remains, but then fear begins to replace it as I see the headlights growing steadily closer. I feel a hard grip on both of my wrists, holding me in place. Panic pulses violently from my chest and outward through my entire body, shattering my calmness like a pane of thin glass under the pressure of a large rock. My throat clenches with fear. The once kind air around me begins to grow agitated, circulating around me like an angry mob, choking me so I can't breathe. I cannot pull away - I cannot move. I am paralyzed. Hands all over me, gripping me, holding me down. The headlights getting closer, moving faster, rushing towards me like unstoppable creatures.

Someone is calling my name.

"Danielle."

Everything is calm again and the zooming headlights recede from view. My vision is dark, but then there is another flicker of light, but not at all like the headlights from before.

"Hello? Hey, bitch, are you deaf? Wake the fuck up."

My eyes open in a flash, lungs gasping for air. Warm, calm, familiar air. Cheeks wet with tears, I look up at the bright figure standing above me. The domineering spider thing I saw earlier. Angel Dust?

I nearly scream at the sight of them, but my throat feels scratched raw, seemingly from yelling, so I hold back. "I'm awake," I mumble, my voice quiet and rough with sleep. My head lays at the bottom end of the bed, where my feet should be, and my sheets have been kicked to the upper part, where my head should be. Pillows are everywhere. I am still in my gross clothes from the day I died, but my shoes are missing. The demon stands over the footboard, looking down at me with an impatient smirk. I rub my hands over my face, the terror from my nightmare not yet flushed from my veins.

"Why are you in my hotel room?" I ask groggily.

"Thought I would check up on you," he says. His voice does not sound inviting, but I note that it is masculine. "Your meeting was scheduled for half an hour ago."

I bolt upright with a gasp. "Wait, what?" I sputter. "It's already half past two?"

He nods. "This does not look good for you, sweetheart." He wags his finger and makes a tsk sound with his tongue. "And please, for the love of everyone's poor eyes, please change your damn clothes. You look like a Barbie doll that's been shoved down the garbage disposal with a hobo's limp dick."

I sit up, swinging my legs over the side of the bed. "I will take that as a compliment," I mutter. "And I don't have any other clothes."

His eyebrows shoot up and a small smile spreads across his face. "Aww," he says, making a pantomime of pity. After a pause, he scoffs and crosses his arms, cutting the act. "Sucks for you. I'll tell Charles to reschedule the meeting for 3, and you'd better be there."

With that, he turns and struts from the room, sauciness practically dripping from his stride. I sigh, looking at the neatly vacuumed floor. I have to find clothes. I have to be prepared.

I have to get this job.

Jumping off of the bed, I rush to slide my shoes on and comb my fingers through my hair. Looking in the mirror, I realize that Angel Dust was right. I do look like a Barbie doll that has been shoved down a garbage disposal with a hobo's limp dick. First thing on the shopping list, a comb. Second thing, a professional-looking outfit with a new pair of shoes. Hopefully, I can find some makeup somewhere, but where do I find all of that?

Suddenly, I have an idea, but it won't look good for my job interview. Then again, I don't have money, so unless I want to find a way to steal some shit, I have no other choice. Running out of my hotel room, I dash to the elevator and go to the lobby. I look around for Charlie but see her nowhere. Turning a corner that leads into a hallway with more hotel rooms, I practically crash head-first into Vaggie.

Vaggie. If I can't find Charlie, then she will have to do.

"Vaggie! I need your help, please."

She looks shocked for a moment but discards the expression quickly. "Well, I have nothing better to do. What's up?"

"I need clothes. And a hairbrush," I say, the words spilling from my mouth.

"I can see that."

"I don't have any money. And you remember that job interview Charlie was talking about at the bar yesterday? That was supposed to happen, like, half an hour ago, but somehow, I slept in. Please help me. I look like... like garbage. And I'm starving. And my hair, it's like a rat's nest on top of-"

"Okay, fine! Just please shut up!" she barks, causing me to unconsciously shrink back. She rolls her eyes. "Sorry. Follow me."

I follow Vaggie through the lobby and to the main doors, where she then takes me out into the streets of the city. I walk beside her into a building with a sign that reads SEX in glowing pink letters. Below the sign is an arrow of the same color and glow that points to the door directly below it. We step through the door and immediately enter a new world. The air is hotter, stuffier, and much darker. We walk through the crowded room slowly, giving me time to examine it. Purple lights are strung up along the ceiling, and dancing, drunken bodies are hobbling around everywhere. There is a long silver pole in the center of the room with black and purple couches surrounding it. A very slim female-cat-demon-thing dressed in a very short black skirt and a mesh tank top is on the pole, twirling and twisting in a slutty manner. The carpet is black with streaks of pink, and it appears to be glittering. A few people sit in the couches around the pole, some throwing money in, others not.

I hear a beautiful voice singing an upbeat song from off to my right. I look over to see the stout woman from yesterday - Mimzy, it was - standing alone on a large wooden stage, singing her heart out. It is an old song that I don't know the words to, but she seems to be enjoying herself. Alastor is standing below the stage, looking up at Mimzy with a shimmer in his eyes that I have never seen before. I then remember that they are together, which brings a smile to my face. They suit each other, in a way. Opposites attract.

"Oh, great. There's Angel Dust," Vaggie says. I follow her gaze to see the spider creature from this morning, sitting on a bar stool, chatting up a tall man with fluffy black hair and pale skin. So I was right, his name is Angel Dust.

And coming from my observations, he is gay.

Vaggie begins to walk faster, shoving past the people - right past Angel Dust, to my relief - and leads me through a large door in the back. It leads to a walk-in closet, which is mostly empty besides one skanky-looking female demon. She stares at her stunning reflection in a body sized mirror as she rakes her fingers through her silky black hair. As we enter, she makes eye contact with Vaggie. She gives a little wave, winks, then sashays from the room. Wow. Lots of sexy people in Hell.

"This is the best I can do for you. Go ahead, make your choice. I don't have all day," she says, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest. I look at her outfit before all of the other clothes, just to get an idea of what I should choose. I scan her short white dress and long, mismatched socks, and the large pink bow on the back of her head that I did not notice before. The pastels of the outfit don't seem to suit her personality, but they look very good on her. I decide that the light grays and faint blues and pinks would not look good on me, but on her...

"You're very pretty, and you look amazing in that outfit," I blurt out, way too much confidence in my tone.

I immediately regret it and pray that she doesn't take it the wrong way. She looks pleasantly shocked for a moment, which fills me with relief, but then she looks angry. Yikes.

"Thanks, but I'm talking to someone right now," she replies, looking away. Her voice is still snappy.

"It was a compliment," I say easily, "but I didn't mean anything by it."

"Whatever. Just pick some damn clothes so we can get out of here. If anyone sees me, they'll force me to climb up on that pole and dance until my legs snap off." Her voice is softer now.

I laugh, but then I realize that she was only partly joking. I nervously advert my gaze to the clothes that are hung up on racks along the walls. Most of the clothes are black, purple, red, or some other sort of dark color. I finger through them, but I know that I have to be fast. I don't have much time before the job interview. Probably about 15 minutes. I begin to feel panicked and rush through the racks of clothing. I stop at a short blue dress. It is simpler than the others; a plain, black sleeveless dress with a poofy bottom and a thin black belt tied loosely around the waist. I yank it out of its place on the rack and hold it out in front of me to examine it.

"What do you think?" I ask Vaggie, my eyes not moving from the dress.

"It's cute. Try it on."

I slide my stained shoes off and kick them aside. "Look away," I warn before undressing. She turns away with a sigh, her arms still crossed. I slide into the dress and walk to the mirror to see what I look like.

I have never loved a dress more. The gorgeous rich color of the dress makes my deep grayish eyes stand out, which in turn makes my freckles pop. I turn to the side to happily see that it looks extremely flattering on me. My waist looks even slimmer and my butt looks larger. "Oh my god, this dress is so pretty!" I nearly shout. I realize that I sound like a total girl, yet I smile to myself. Back in the real, living world, I was the girliest girl around.

This is the old me, breaking through the shell of horror and shock that I have turned into.

"Wow," Vaggie says from beside me. "I never knew a person could make a sleeveless look so good."

My smile broadens, showing off my straight teeth.

"Oh, you need shoes, too," Vaggie remembers, turning around to face a dark brown hutch that's leaning against the wall. She swings it open to reveal shelves upon shelves of all different kinds of shoes. I can almost feel my hands shivering with excitement.

First, I grab a pair of brown sandals. I decide that they show too much foot and put them away. I grab a pair of black sneakers, but they aren't converse. They are too bulky for the thin, poofy dress.

It takes three more pairs of ugly boots before I see them. A pair of black heels, about an inch tall, with an open toe and a small band going around the ankle. I pull them out and practically shove my feet inside.

"These are the ones," I state confidently. Vaggie nods with approval.

"I like your sense of style."

"Thank you."

I do a little twirl in the mirror. Looking myself over once more, I take a deep breath and decide that I'm done.

"Thank you so much, Vaggie. I needed this," I say, giving her a real smile.

"Save the cheesy stuff for later, you have an interview to get to."

A rush of anxious elation washes through my veins. It feels good to look forward to something. I just hope that it goes well and I get the job. If I don't, then, well, I don't know what I'll do.

"Right." Rushing out of the room, I leave the club and speedwalk back to the hotel as fast as I can in my new black heels.

Author's note:

okay, so all of the chapters that needed to be rewritten have been rewritten (finally)! im glad for that, it was kind of stressing me out.

new chapters may be slower to come for the next few weeks. i am completely stacked with homework, and finals are coming up, so i have a lot of studying to do.

please leave me a vote if you like the story! and feel free to comment!