Decadence Avenue

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The neon lights shone brightly on that strip of corruption as we gawked in half-stunned, half-amazed wonder.

Fake designer bags and large, yellow advertisement banners hung audaciously in the windows, argon signs smoking hot in the coldness of the night.
It was like a low-class version of Las Vegas.



We had gone out the previous night to walk on the beach behind the hotel. The sea was an infinite, rippling field as we stared into the pitch black, finding the feeling of freedom in the ocean when we had none.
We chased the flocks sleeping seagulls across the shoreline, our ragged Converses leaving imprints in the shiny, wet sand.

The beach didn't look the same as I had remembered.
Maybe I had forgotten about the row of consecutive hotels that lined the shore- miles upon miles of tall buildings of lit windows packed side-by-side like glowing bricks. Maybe I had forgotten how despondent the sight of the chains of vacancy signs looked, or how the plethora of junky tourist shops littered the city like the discarded cigarette butts on the street.
But I wasn't surprised by that.


It was the downtown strip that caught me off guard, the sight of such a contrived and cheap place on earth, reeking of hedonism and wasted life. We wandered up and down the street, surprised at how heavy a bustling and lively place could feel,
surprised at how much meaning we found in a place that had none.



But with each glowing pill we swallowed over the marble counters in the bathroom, the grimy lights of Decadence Avenue looked a little more lively. With every red sphere that slipped down our hungry throats, we blended in a little more with the corrupt city.

Running through the strange streets with the chilly air of the night soaking through our skin, we could taste youth. Back at the hotel, we danced the shackles off our feet in a darkened room, our bodies pounding with blurred colors and sounds.


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On the other side of the metal chains of cars and the line of high-rising hotels, the innocent waves of the dark ocean swept the quietly sinking shore.


The full moon lit up the world that night.