Chapter 1

“All I’m saying is that he’s an arsehole!”

At a small pub in Northern Ireland, two men were standing, each holding a pint. They both looked quite drunk already, swaying side to side as the Irish band Greywind was performing on a small makeshift stage. They were performing their song Desolate as the pub packed full of Irish men and women danced or sung along.

“I told you to quit months ago! Why don’t you ever listen to me?” The other man shouted.

They both laughed and drank their pints, chugging them down very quickly.

They made their way to the bar, two more pints already poured and slid to them as the bartender took their empty glasses, quickly cleaning them to use for more people.

“But I need the money man! I gotta live my life!” The first one shouted.

“You’re Aiden fooking Cullen! You are the smartest man in this entire bloody country!” The man shouted.

Aiden laughed.

“Just cause I got good grades doesn’t make me smart!” Aiden shouted.

They both laughed and drank more, the music blasting out and filling the pub.

Both men were smiling wide, having the time of their lives drinking and enjoying the music and people around them.

Aiden suddenly woke up face down on the ground, his eyes slowly opening to see nothing but an endless desert of sand.

He grabbed his head, slowly pushing himself up onto his knees, struggling to open his eyes due to the bright sun beating down. He yawned and rubbed his eyes aggressively.

He sat up on his knees, looking forward at a city in front of him. At the edge of a city was a large sign towering over him as he looked up through squinted eyes.

Welcome to fabulous Las Vegas Nevada.

“What the…” Aiden started to say.

The other man he was with was sleeping in his bed, late at night when his phone began to ring. He groaned, slowly sitting up and answering it without checking to see who it was.

“Hello?” He said with a tired, dry voice.

“Lorcan! What the **** happened? Why am I in Las Vegas?” Aiden shouted, covering his eyes from the bright sun.

Lorcan’s eyes finally opened as he looked very confused.

“Las Vegas? The fook are you talking about? I dropped you off at your place two hours ago.” He said.

“Bullshit. I’m in Vegas!” Aiden screamed.

“Lorcan rubbed his eyes and moved to sit on the edge of his bed, his feet touching the floor as he leaned forward.

“So I dropped some random person off at your home while you went to the airport, got on a flight to Las Vegas, got there in apparently two hours, and don’t remember it?” Lorcan asked.

“I mean I’ve done crazier shit while drunk.” Aiden replied.

“I mean I know that but even then, that’s pretty unbelievable.” Lorcan said.

“Well then tell me what the fook happened?” Aiden shouted.

He held his phone up, taking a selfie of the sign and himself holding up a thumbs up and smiling, then sent it to Lorcan while still on the call.

Lorcan’s phone vibrated, holding the phone out to see the picture.

“Well shit…” Lorcan said.

“That’s what I said!” Aiden screamed.

“Alright, what’s the last thing you remember?” Lorcan asked.

He got up from his bed, heading out of his bedroom and to the kitchen of his very small cottage home that sat in a very small village.

“Um…complaining about my boss.” Aiden said.

“Alright, that was about ten at night.” Lorcan said, opening his refrigerator to grab a bottle of water.

“How the fook do you know that?” Aiden asked.

“It takes a lot to get me that drunk. I can usually remember everything.” Lorcan replied, drinking some of the water.

“Yeah usually I am too. I don’t know what I drank.” Aiden said as he paced around in the sand.

“Are there other people there?” Lorcan asked.

Aiden looked around the mostly quiet city.

“Nah, just a few cars driving by. Seems like this place is quiet during the day.” Aiden said.

“Well, see what you can find and do. I gotta work in a few hours so I’m gonna try and get some sleep.” Lorcan replied.

“You’re going to hang up on me after I wake up in a random city?” Aiden asked loudly.

Lorcan drank some more water for a few seconds.

“Exactly.”

Lorcan hung up the phone as Aiden sighed, throwing his head back and lowering the phone.

“Well, this will be fun.” Aiden said to himself, walking down the sidewalk and looking at all of the buildings. Hundreds of casinos, hotels, and restaurants all over. There were people sleeping in alleyways, under bridges, really anywhere that they could.

Aiden found a clothing store that was open, looking down at his white tank top and jeans that were very dirty and messy.

“Alright…let’s see what I can get.” He whispered to himself.

He went inside, the store full of every type of clothing. A section for leather jackets, another for jeans, another for graphic t-shirts, boots and shoes, socks, everything he could need. Aiden nodded and shrugged, grabbing a random pair of jeans, a random shirt, a random pair of boots, and a random jacket.

He took them to the front desk and placed them down, a young man who looked like he was in high school sighing, clearly tired.

“How much for these?” Aiden asked.

The young boy slowly grabbed each item, scanning them one by one. He looked hungover, his eyes surrounded by dark circles.

“That’ll be Three Hundred Dollars.” He said, yawning.

Aiden looked at the kid shocked.

“For this? Damn.”

Aiden pulled out his wallet, only having Pounds in cash. He pulled out his credit card, shutting his eyes.

“I really hope this works.” He said softly as he handed the card to the kid.

He didn’t look at it at all before he swiped it.

“I’m sorry, but…”

Before the kid could even finish, Aiden grabbed the clothes and ran out of the store.

The worker didn’t do anything but keep the card, putting it down and yawning again.

“I don’t get paid enough for this.” He said softly.

Aiden ran out of the store and took off down the empty sidewalk, looking back expecting to see somebody chasing him. But he stopped once he realized he was running from nothing. He stood still and kept staring back.

“Huh…interesting.” He said before he began to walk peacefully.

He was looking for somewhere to change into the clothing, but as he walked he began to see people slowly moving around like zombies wearing little if any clothing. Homeless people wearing shirts without pants, pants without shirts, or even just stained underwear.

Aiden shrugged, stopping on the sidewalk and stripping out of his old clothes and changing into his new ones.

“Alright, I could get used to this place.”

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