I believe that all things happen for a reason.. Of course, I didn't believe that at first. I used to be the type to just do things in life and not think about the consequences. Now everything I do is calculated to an almost maddening detail.                I suppose I should tell you where it all started. Tirst I'll start by saying I was an extreme party girl. A different place each night. I had a boyfriend whom I though I was in love with. He kept warning me I remember telling him that he sounded like my father. I miss that sometimes.                Anyway, I remember the night my whole life changed.                I was dressed to perfection. Strappy lavender stilettos, short lavender minidress. My brown skin glowing with the complement of colors. I remember spending hours on my hair, getting it to fall just right at my shoulders in dark ringlets.                Eyeing myself one last time I headed into the living room where my two best friends were waiting to take me out on my twenty-second birthday.                After stuffing me full of dinner, Cheryl and Kylie to me to a new club the'd just built on the other side of town. The other side of town being the part that girls like us weren't supposed to go to. We piled into Cheryl's two-door Camero and made our ablivious way to my destiny.                The club was called Meow and it was the most beautifully decorated club I'd ever been to. There was a mixture of mohagony hardwood, marble and glass. There were dancers hanging out in cages. The disc-jockey was a woman which was very unique, Hell, it was the first thing that wasn't repeating itself, that we'd been to in a long time. We lived in a small town and clubs were the only things that put you even remotely close to the city folks.               Meow wasn't too dark nor to light. The cover charge wasn't pocket breaking. And the guys? Man, they were just gorgesous.                Cheryl was a barrel of giggles as we made our way deeper in to the club. Kylie was immediately enthralled by the eyes of a handsome collegian.                Cheryl tugged on my arm as we sat at the bar and ordered our drinks. I glanced at the bartender who was also adorable and found myself grinning goofily.                He smiled at us, purely GQ. "New here?" He asked, yelling over the music.                Cheryl leaned on the bar, putting her best breast forward. "We come to this part of town all the time." I glanced at my friend with her glazed eyes and all. Two shots of tequila and she was done for.                But the bartender grinned nonetheless mixing drinks for the both of us.                I handed one cup to Cheryl and she was on her way. Away from the bar and into the crowd, leaving me alone at the bar.                Bartender walked back to me after taking the orders to serveral people. "You guys don't coome to this part of town often."                "How do you know?" I asked, taking a tiny sip of my Almaretto Sour.                "Easy one. I've never seen you before." He shrugged as if it was all that simple.                "So you have eyes everywhere here." I made it a statement, rasing my brows.                He shook head. "This is a less than traveled part of town. Trust me on that one."                "And if I don't?"                "Don't what?" He asked.                "Trust you."                He leaned into me close enough for me to hear him without yelling. His face turned from a joking playful expression to a very serious and stern one. "Look, go and find your friends. Now, you guys shouldnn't be here."                I laughed at that. "The last time I checked this was a free country." I turned away from him with my back to the bar.                "I'm serious." He reached over the bar and grabbed my shoulder. "Look at me! Get your friends and get the fuck out of here!"                I'd turned around to say something degrading, but a sound rose above the music in the club. I turned around quickly to see the people in the packed club stampede towards the various exits. Above the pulsating music I heard many blood-curdling screams. I quickly scanned the crowd but couldn't find Cheryl or Kylie anywhere.                I dropped the cup I was holding and pushed my way into the thick crowd of people. "Cheryl! Kylie!" I screamed, hoping they'd hear me.                More people started towards the exits, nearly taking me with them. But, I held my ground. I called for my friends once again, grasping onto the railing trying not to be pushed over. My heart began to beat rapidly, I was beginning to panic.                I must have leaned too far over the railing, because as more people screeched past me I was flung over the railing. I managed to hold on with all of my might and not plummet into the checked dance floor. I screamed for help.                As if on cue Bartender appeared over the railing, grabbing my wrist and pulling me to safety. Before I was steady on my feet her was pushing me into the throng of hysterical people.                I'd turned to look for my friends one last time and that's when I saw it. The biggest panther I've ever seen outside of a zoo. It's paws were as big as my head and it's onyx fur gleamed the pure hues of pink and blue from the lights from the club. It stalked the upper area of the club, moving in slow motion due to the strob lights that strategically pulsated with the music.                It turned it's huge head in my direction causing me to stop in my tracks. My breathe caught in my throat as it walked towards me, moving frame by frame. It's ivory talons scratched up the hardwood floor. I couldn't hear the music anymore. I could only hear the blood rushing in my ears.                While I stood there mesmerized, two hands grabbed me. "Leena!" Kylie and Cheryl said in unison. "We've got to leave." I looked at their faces and on it were expressions of pure panic.                Once outside, Cheryl screamed. Kylie and I both turned our heads towards the double doors of the club. There sat the panther, head cocked to the side as if he was surveying which one of us he could eat first.                We all turned away from the creature and ran further into the empty parking lot. I cursed loudly remembering that car was at least another two blocks from the club. I stumbled and fell, the height of my heels and the speed of my running causing me to roll a couple of times on the rough asphalt. I was in pain, but not that much. My left arm stung and my right leg was scraped pretty bad.                I laid on my back, eyes closed tightly. I heard Kylie utter an "Oh my God'. I opened my eyes and was face to muzzle with the beast from the inside.                Looking back, I believe I must have stopped breathing for those few seconds. I watched the massive animal loom over me. It's ivory fangs glistening in the street lights. Droplets of spittle complied at the corner or the snarling beast's mouth. Those few seconds felt let eternity because I remember being sucked into the thing's emerald eyes and watching something move behind them.                I was so hypnotized I didn't even feel the cat's razor-like claws slice into stomache. I coughed tasting the metallic taste of blood in my throat. I let out a gurgled scream and it walked away. Towards my friends.                I rolled over, nearly choking on my own blood. I was able to look up and see the cat smash into my friends. I tried to scream again, blood welling up in my mouth. But before I could, I fell into nothingness.