inspired by the song “bang bang bang bang” by sohodolls !
it was 2 am, in a warm late summer night. crickets were chirping peacefully, the moon was full. everyone had been sound asleep for a while now… everyone except jisung. no, for him the night was still young.
he was in his room, putting on some black eyeliner and glitter dust in front of his mirror. after that, he sneaked out of his room from the window, and grabbed his skateboard that was waiting for him. the teen got on the four wheelers, the wind tousling his black hair as he headed towards his destination: dustmere district.
dustmere (or the dusk, if you actually go there) barely counts as real in the daytime: it just sits there, sun-bleached and silent, with crumbling brick, rusty gates, and dusty windows hiding more dust behind them. nobody really goes there in the morning except delivery guys who don’t want to be there and old shopkeepers who swear they’ll reopen “soon.” it feels like a warning sign stretched across a neighborhood.
but when night drops, dustmere becomes electric. neon lights sizzle awake. motorbikes growl through narrow streets. teens climb fire escapes like it’s a sport, passing around smokes, tagging fresh graffiti over last week’s drama, making out in alleyways like it’s an apocalypse and they’re celebrating. bluetooth speakers battle each other from different corners. every doorway looks like it might be hiding the next party or the next rumor. the line between danger and freedom blurs just enough to feel electric.
there are stories in dustmere, stuff that’s happened on rooftops or behind those locked metal doors, and even if nobody tells them straight, everyone somehow knows. that’s exactly why parents hate it. they say it “used to be better”. now, to them, dustmere is a black hole swallowing good decisions: too wild, too dirty, too dangerous. people whisper their kid “changed” after hanging there. parents try to ban it, threaten, track phones... but that just pulls teens in harder. because in the dark, surrounded by noise, smoke, and reckless friends who feel like family, dustmere doesn’t feel abandoned at all. it feels like the only place that’s truly alive. nobody cares about who you were in the morning, just who you become when the night comes along.
as jisung entered the neon streets, he hopped off his skateboard. he smiled to himself, thinking how good the air of freedom felt and twirled in his lungs, life at night felt always finer. he walked through the narrow avenues, greeting with a simple nod of his head the teens he met on his path. there were loud kids, quiet ones, aspiring rockstars, improvised bartenders ready to resell you beer bottles from who knows who’s convenience store. you just had to choose who to spend your time with, or just stay on your own. nobody judged, nobody cared, it was peaceful. but everyone was ready to fight if you hurt someone of their clan.
jisung climbed the emergency stairs that led to the roof of a building. he loved staying there, the view of the colored lights was amazing. it was the perfect spot to stop thinking about annoying teachers constantly telling him to concentrate, or parents that filled his head with useless “you’re a good for nothing”’s. he was usually alone there, but not that night. near the edge of the roof there was a girl, staring down at the streets while listening to some grunge-like music.