Nightclubs
By Franceska
Nightclubs were places where people could escape. They weren’t just hard alcohol, ear-ripping music, and sloppy flirting. Behind the counter, from where I worked and whisked up drinks, I’ve heard countless stories where people were on the verge of dying, passing out in the middle of Mount Fuji. Leaving behind their family for education, and so much more.
I took this job due to being in plentiful debt. When I replied to the boss’s email with a polite disagreement, I didn’t expect anything good to come from it. I was just a 20 year-old in desperate need of paying her college bills.
But as the lights raging with colour overtook my vision, and the pop music sang familiar melodies into my ears, I knew I belonged here.
My hands worked in autopilot. Grabbing the glasses, shaking the cocktail shaker, sliding the order over to the customer.
Nightclubs by Franceska is an excerpt from Story Factory’s How to Be a Writer program. At Story Factory, we believe that all students are curious about the world and have a means to put their imprint on it. In How to Be a Writer, after-school workshops are student-led. We provide a safe, creative space for students to express themselves and lean into the joy of writing. Each workshop will follow a similar sequence but topics and content will be guided by the students’ interests.
Students have the option to either complete a number of short pieces of writing or a longer, more developed work across the term to be published and released to the community.