Midnight Catalyst | ONC 2024

Chapter 8: Absence and Alcohol

"Hey, how are you? It's been so long," I said as I walked up to her. The men looked at me, sharing the same puzzled look the girl had. I continued with my conversation, "I think the last time I saw you was at the party; whose party was it? Come to think of it, I was wasted that day." I tried to do a slight nod with my head while holding my right hand out and making a peace sign with my fingers. I wanted to communicate my intentions to her. And I prayed silently that she understood my intentions.

She immediately changed her expressions as she greeted me back, "Yeah, back from the party, how are you? I haven't seen you since then," she replied. "Oh, I got busy with academics and stuff. Also, sorry, they are friends of yours." I asked her as I redirected my attention to the men, "Oh, hi guys, I'm Sunny, and I study in her class."

"Oh no, they aren't my friends; these men were just asking directions to some place nearby. I am not sure where it is; maybe you could help them." She asked me back. "I would be happy to help them. Tell me, Where is it that you need to go?" I asked them as I stared at them expectantly, internally wanting them to just back the fuck off.

"We were just leaving; actually, I'm getting reception again on my mobile, so I'll just use the maps. Plus, it's not technically in this city, so I don't think you'd be able to help us," one of them replied. The other simply nodded his head as they walked away. I kept my eyes on them for a while until I watched them climb aboard a motorbike and drive the opposite way from our campus. I then turned my attention to the girl, who was looking like she was on the verge of tears. She looked relieved, but I could understand how she might have been feeling.

"Sorry, I hope you're alright." I asked her, trying to reassure her.

"Thank you, thank you so much! I don't know what would have happened if you weren't here, so really, really, thanks a lot. "Don't worry about it," I replied as I accepted her gratitude. "I'm Sam, by the way," she said as she introduced herself. "Sunny," I replied back.

I asked her where she studied, and to my surprise, she was a student at my college but not in my class. She was pursuing a degree in Journalism and Mass Media apparently. I offered to walk her back to the campus, to which she happily obliged. While we were conversing, I could only think of how out of character this whole thing was for me. Normally, I would have done anything to avoid something like this. I would have just walked away silently without giving anything like this a second thought. I know how horrible that sounds, but that was the kind of person I was, and I still am, I believe. I don't think I would ever put myself in trouble for anyone else, especially a stranger like this. Call me selfish, but I call it self-preservation, and who knows, the situation could have taken a more dangerous, darker turn in events. But we were lucky, and those two guys just left without any further trouble.

"What did those guys actually want?" I asked, curious to know what actually transpired between her and those guys.

"Oh, I was walking out of the store when I noticed them standing by the entrance. I walked past them when one of them stopped me and offered me a ride back to the campus. I tried to politely decline when they started talking about how it was dangerous that a beautiful girl like me shouldn't be walking alone. I tried walking away once or twice, but they kept following me, making weird comments, while one of them kept talking about a party at his farmhouse nearby. He kept inviting me and telling me about how fun it would be, trying to convince me to come with him. I kept declining over and over when they showed me their phone and asked me if I knew where that location on their phone was and how close it was from here, to kind of re-emphasize their point, I guess. And that's about when you came in."

"Huh," I replied, trying to process her reply. "Do you think we should take this incident up with the police?" I asked her.

"What! No, no, no, no police. I can't. I don't want to go to the police. I don't want to go through all of that process; I just want to keep this incident behind me and move on," she replied almost immediately.