The one person out of place. The music is pounding; high people are dancing in trance to the electro beat that pierces your eardrums. You can't believe you got so lucky to have ended up here.
The combination of a Medieval Castle, a XXI century Dj and people dressed up in mafia costumes popping pills somehow manages not to look surreal, although it does seem more like a movie set than an actual party.
The people are perfect, the settings as well, there are even log fires burning in the stone fireplaces. The lights are dim, drinks and food abundant, girls try to look even more plastic than they already do and somehow manage to get away with it.
A huge mirrored disco ball hangs from the ceiling, contrasting with the 300-year-old lamp that hangs besides it. Flashing colored lights fill the room.
A woman from the Russian Mafia in a fur coat tosses her head back with laughter as a man from the Italian mafia whispers in her ear something in a French accented Italian.
Two girls in very expensive looking outfits and long black boots dance wildly in the centre of the crowd and start making out as one of the guys besides them joins in.
In the meantime, people come up to you and start talking in an impossible french, you look at them helplessly before apologizing in English, they smile at you but not in a friendly way, you are a bit too stunned with the surroundings to notice. Several come back with drinks, shots, pills, powder:
-Come on, have some, it will help you have fun!
Your instinct tells you not to lose control of yourself, your common sense agrees. They are all strangers, and a couple of guys are a bit too expectant.
You dance, until your brain feels like it will burst with the beat. You wander around the lower floor of the castle and find an old armchair in front of a dying fireplace. You throw in a few logs and sit to watch the fire. What is this place?
You return to the dance floor and try to dance some more even though you are way too tired to, just for the sake of doing something, just because you can't believe you are here.
Someone comes into the castle with freshly baked croissants, after eating a couple you attempt to find a place to sleep for a while but all the mattresses on the top floors are taken and you don’t feel like joining the orgy. For the first time in your life you can’t help but feel a bit too conservative.
One of the organizers of the party notices you are tired and can’t find a place to sleep, he offers you go to his house which is the one “50 meters from the castle, to your right. The door is open, just go up the stairs and find an empty bedroom”. You don’t even hesitate; you are too tired and cold to refuse.
It’s no surprise the house turns out to be a mansion, and you have at least 10 bedrooms to chose from. The first one seems like it could be the guy’s bedroom, so you move further on and find a guest-looking bedroom.
Astonished you think to yourself that you must have at least lived in 6 apartments half the size of that room. The bed is the most comfortable you have ever slept in, the duvet thick and soft. With a smile, you fall asleep.
Raf (Not very sure if I should publish this. I’ve had it lying there for a while. I know I’m leaving out so many details, but it would be too long and confusing otherwise. I would love to find some pictures of that night. Based on true events- France, November 2009).
PS: Thanks to Mario and his friends for taking me there.
'Alone', Toulouse-Lautrec, d'Orsay Museum.
That sounds like an amazing night Raf! Keep your posts coming. Oh, and I still want Raffa Chucks! Let me know, as always.
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