# Read the first page of Shiny Happy People by Clay McLeod Chapman Read the opening of Shiny Happy People by Clay McLeod Chapman free, no signup. A new party drug and a viral challenge haunt a town's teenagers. - Page: https://uncovered.ink/read/shiny-happy-people-clay-mcleod-chapman - Genre: Horror - Year: 2025 - ISBN: 9780593904107 - Read it blind (cover and title hidden): https://uncovered.ink/?b=9780593904107&s=read-page - Buy: https://bookshop.org/a/125786/9780593904107 - Borrow: https://search.worldcat.org/search?q=9780593904107 ## The opening What's in my drink? Some guy in the kitchen simply handed Jenna a red Solo cup and she took it. She didn't ask—didn't know—what it was until the vodka struck her tongue. Now she's gasping at the burn as the liquid fire funnels down her throat, blossoming in her belly like one big Molotov cocktail. “Hoooooly shit!” She laughs, vodka dribbling down her chin. It literally burns to breathe. Jenna is ready for another. And another. One month. That's it. Only one more month until everyone at Greenfield High can kiss her dimpled ass goodbye and she's out of this town, off to college, buh-bye, bon voyage. Cheers to that. She finds the dance floor. Or maybe the dance floor finds her. Everyone else merely dances around her, thrashing planets orbiting the sun. She’s the center of this solar system, a galaxy of classmates spiraling to the beat. The music seeps in, dull vibrations sinking deeper— Whoa, what’s happening?— and deeper and— How tipsy am I?—the sound system is cranked up so loud, she can see the discarded debris of Solo cups vibrating on the table, countertop, shelves every time the bass kicks in: dum-dum-dum-dum. The humidity in the basement thickens. Everyone’s hair is wet, slickened tendrils clinging to their temples. The occasional blast of a camera flash from someone’s phone ignites the whole room, solar flares of pics bursting all around, momentarily blinding her. I am a star! She feels the heat radiating off her body in these rippling waves, distorting the air. She doesn’t know what the song is anymore, a scorched techno beat burning the wallpaper away. Gabe comes out of nowhere. He’s been hobbling on crutches these last couple of weeks after a skateboard accident. Look at him now. Crutch-free. Practically strutting. Grinning ear to ear. He’s radiant. Perfect. My God, it’s like his skin is glowing down here in the basement. That boy shines. He’s a meteorite heading straight for her. Collision in T minus three seconds . . . Everyone splits down the middle, bodies breaking off and forming a valley. Two seconds . . . She makes eye contact with Gabe, yearning for him, feeling the very gravity of his presence pulling them together. One second . . . The dance beat thickens as Gabe stops in front of her. Impact! Jenna presses her palm flat against his chest, right where his heart is, and she swears she feels the vibrations of the beat radiating from him. His heart is one enormous speaker cone. Everyone else melts away. It’s just her and Gabe now. Jenna feels outside her own body. She watches as Gabe takes her hand . . . guides her up the stairs . . . leads her down the hall . . . escorts her into the bedroom . . . closes the door behind him and . . . Gabe kisses her. Thin vibrations tremble through his soft lips, so Jenna closes her eyes and tastes the sound. The sweetest beat. He’s brought the music with him. How considerate. One second, Jenna is vertical. The next . . . She’s horizontal. The two topple onto the bed. Jenna is in Gabe’s arms and laughing all the way down. Whose room even is this? Jenna doesn’t know. Doesn’t care. It has no personality. Just navy blue wallpaper and boring decor straight out of a Pottery Barn catalog. Peel back the pastel layers of suburban bliss, and these McMansions all look the same, anyway. It’s Jenna’s room now. Correction: Jenna and Gabe’s. They’re ripping at each other’s sticky clothes, peeling them all off, layer by layer, as if they’re skinning each other. Gabe presses his lips against hers, mashing their mouths. Deep impact. The meteor of his flesh, his bones, his whole aura collides into her own, and the song inside her just . . . explodes. ## Books with a similar feel - [A House at the Bottom of a Lake by Josh Malerman](https://uncovered.ink/read/a-house-at-the-bottom-of-a-lake-josh-malerman.md) - [The Hunger by Alma Katsu](https://uncovered.ink/read/the-hunger-alma-katsu.md) - [Whisper Down the Lane by Clay Chapman](https://uncovered.ink/read/whisper-down-the-lane-clay-chapman.md) - [The Reformatory by Tananarive Due](https://uncovered.ink/read/the-reformatory-tananarive-due.md) - [Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix](https://uncovered.ink/read/horrorstor-grady-hendrix.md) - [Echoes by Ellen Datlow](https://uncovered.ink/read/echoes-ellen-datlow.md) --- Source: Uncovered (https://uncovered.ink). A short sample shown for reading and discovery. Rights holders can request removal at https://uncovered.ink/takedown.