Doors

[Several weeks after this exchange at the party. He has not been anything close to sober for a long time, and does not bother with anonymity - perhaps too far gone to realize that it is even an option. As Aubrey R.]

once upon a time there was a hopeless thing in a deer-skull mask. He was very lonely. one day he met a wasting Knight, abstemious and hollow. they werent perfect but they were together. The End?

[Several days after this and in the deep, dark hours of the night.]

Hi.

[Public. Anon.]

Attention, statue girl. I can't find your crystals anywhere. I swore- I was positive I had them right here.

[In a light, tentative hand.]

First it was pain. Where was the glory?

I'm looking for someone. You were in the basement at the party. May have been some mention of angels. Ringing a bell?

[Later, the post gets scribbled out with a heavy pen, though it's still somewhat readable.]

A friend of Lawrence just wants to know if you're okay.

Just a 'yes' is okay, or if there's something I can do...

To the boy in the woods that I attempted to learn about pain from.

I am sorry.

The Wolf in the basement?

[Dark, messy scrawl.]

Kid. Kid with the goddamned teddy bear. You make it through the rest okay?

[The morning after.]

Interesting evening. And by interesting, I mean disturbing.

Would it be too strange to say that I was looking for the person I shared the cloves with last night?

["Promising to unfold the shining secrets that only Midas and Morgan and Maecenas knew."

When the sun rises, all guests at the party feel the compulsion to return to where they began. They leave the hotel, return to their doors, and shuck off the secrets they became for the evening. Every memory remains of the night, and physical aches linger, though injuries fade with the sunrise and the dead live once more.

In each attendant's journal, one sentence sheds light on the events of the evening:]

Your secret, revealed.

["The long secret extravaganza was played out."

On Saturday morning, Las Vegas' alter-bearing residents are drawn to Passages Hotel. As soon as they cross the threshold, the setting shifts to an opulent, 1920’s summer party. Regardless of what they are wearing, their appearance and attire shift to match the secrets that the hotel will show them. Inside these personifications of their deepest secrets, they are still themselves, if changed, their motivations and thoughts guided by what they have become.]