It was a fine spring morning. The birds were singing sweetly outside my window, and my world faded from the blackness of the night, into the soft sunlit morning. Once awake, I laid in my bed for a while longer, thinking about the events of yesterday. I remembered everything about what had happened. I recalled every last detail.
Yesterday, being a Friday, I had gone out with my friends for a late evening, just as we often did on Fridays. We circled through the fairly empty streets of the town. Coming upon a small alleyway, we stopped. “Here it is,” I remember Joe saying. “This is the spot.” At the time I did not know what he was talking about, but as he turned down the alleyway, I followed. The world seemed to get darker the further we went down the way. After a while I came out skeptically, “Maybe we should turn back.” Joe merely gave me a sick smile and replied with, “No way. We’re almost there.” I began to feel the ground shake beneath me, then I heard a pump, pump, pump shaking through the alleyway, obviously from some loud music. I wasn’t sure exactly what was ahead, but by now, I knew that the direction we were going was not a good one. The pumping got louder until I could hear hardly anything but the blasting music. I saw a low light shining up ahead, and beneath the light was a group of shadows. As we drew nearer one of the guys broke from the group and came up to us. He smelled of alcohol so bad that I thought I could taste it. He was bare-chested, and so hairy that if I touched his arm, I’m sure that it would have felt much like a rug. His voice came out all slurred as he spoke. “Yo, you came man!” He spoke to Joe, and help a glass bottle in his hand. “Ya, you think I would miss this!” That was the reply that Joe offered, and then with a bit more class added, “Hey, I brought a friend. You mind?”
“Nah, one more ain’t gonna hurt anything! Come on in! Make y’rselves comfort’ble.”
I followed Joe into the crowded clearing. There were so many people that it felt stuffy. I knew about these parties, but somehow it seemed appealing, and I just followed Joe through the crowd. Many of the men were without shirts, and the clothing on the females wasn’t much more modest. Joe was handed some beer, one of which he handed to me.
“Umm, I don’t drink.” I stated, a little uneasily.
“Oh, nonsense! Everyone drinks!”
“No, seriously. I’ve never drunk any beer in my life!”
“Well, what better time to start than now. Come on, man. Join the party. What the heck, eh?” He popped the caps off both his bottles and mine.
After only a moment’s thought I agreed. “What the heck!” And down went the drink.
The party went on and on, farther into the night than it should have. I drank beer, after beer, after beer. I drank until my head was spinning and I couldn’t tell one person from the next. I felt dizziness sweep over and I slid to the floor, holding my head. The next thing I remember is blackness, infamous blackness. My world fell into silence as I passed out, there on the ground.
When I awoke I was in a small dimly lit room. I lifted my head off of the couch, which I seemed to be on, but it promptly fell back down. My head felt like a rock. Joe heard the commotion and turned around. “Oh, so you’re up. Good, it’s pretty much time f’r you to go home.”
“What? What time is it?” I asked, quite shocked.
“It’s, like, two in the monin’, man.”
“Wow! I have to go!” I jumped off of the couch and then lowered my hand onto the coffee table in front of me to steady myself.
“You’re not leaving yet, are you precious?” A voice from behind me soothed.
I turned around and there on the couch lay one of the girls from the party. She was now wearing less than she had been at the party. Her current wardrobe consisted of only undergarments. “Wh-who are you?” I stuttered through the question, shocked.
“You don’t remember me, baby? I’m Liz… from the party.”
The name didn’t ring a bell. I didn’t remember much of the party. My head was still spinning with everything that had happened.
“Please don’t go…”
Her words sounded so seductive, but I didn’t even remember who she was. She brought her body off of the couch, and meandered over to my presence. Bringing her hand up she began to stroke my bare chest. “You can stay a little longer, can’t you?”
I looked over at Joe you gave me a sideways-smile. “Joe, can you take care of her, I really have to go.” I found me shirt and put it back on my body. MY wardrobe was now again complete.
“Sure dude. You go back home. I think I’ll stay her for a while. I totally don’t know why you want to go home now. The company here I’m sure is, like, totally better.
I’d never seen Joe like this before. He was obviously very drunk. “Ya, okay.” I left the room and made it to my house where I slipped in and knocked out on my bed.
I got up, and changed my clothes. The ones which I was wearing smelt of beer. I went downstairs and threw them in the washer. I couldn’t let anyone know about this. I was supposed to meet Joe by the alleyway this morning, so I promptly left the house and headed towards the alleyway. As I got closer, my head became dizzy again with the thoughts of the night before. I knew what Joe wanted me to do, and I knew what I needed to do. I might lose Joe as a friend, but by my recollections of the night before, I don’t think that I wanted him as a friend anymore.
Joe was there, at the entrance to the alleyway, waiting for me. He was alone, which I was glad for. As I came up beside him he looked at me and said, “Wasn’t that, like, a great party last night? We’ve got another one tonight that I’m sure you’d be glad to join. What the heck, eh?” His breath was thick with beer.
“No, not what the heck. The party last night might have been enjoyable, but it wasn’t right. The thoughts and actions that went on during that party were of the devil!”
“Oh, so you’ve finally turned then? I thought that you were on of the ‘Christians’ who wouldn’t mind a bit of fun every once in a while. I thought that you were better than this, Sam.”
“No, I thought that you were better than this. I thought that you were the kind of guy who would stay away from this kind of stuff. I guess that I was wrong.”
“Ya, well, guess you were. So, you coming to the party tonight?”
“Did you not hear what I just said? Are you both drunk and stupid!”
“Wow, man. Don’t get all touchy with me. I’m just askin’. If you don’t want to come, just say no.”
“No then!”
“Your loss, dude.”
I turned to go and then turned back to him. “About being ‘that kind of Christian’ I think that I was, otherwise I wouldn’t have stayed at that party last night. The fact is that that is going to change, as of today. Sorry if I’m losing you as a friend, but you’re not the kind of friend that I want to have.”
Joe only gave me a blank look. I turned around and smiled. Please help Joe. I prayed. He doesn’t know what he’s getting himself into. This praying for Joe became a regular thing for me. I saw that Joe needed prayer, and I brought him before the Lord, everyday.
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