A soft crunch resounded as I stepped on the litter of dried leaves all across the pathway. It had been two days since I last met Alex. I hadn't seen her since. It was honestly surprising to go to class and find the seat beside me empty. All this time, Alex was sitting beside me, and unsurprisingly, we both discovered that we weren't really looking forward to listening to the classes. We had also devised a couple of unique games and activities we could do as a team of two during the hours of classes to pass the time. While I wasn't looking forward to that kind of entertainment, especially after what just happened, I wasn't expecting silence either. At least not in the type of silence where I wouldn't even see her.
After the classes, I walked around the campus for a while. I went to the canteen to get a coffee while I was secretly looking to catch a glimpse of Alex anywhere. I kept roaming around aimlessly in the pleasant, soothing breezes that were carrying the scents of dirt and a faint floral essence. My overgrown mess of hair was being constantly ruffled and toyed with by the spirits of the winds, who were playing with it like a dumb kid who just had a shitton of candy. My baggy sweatshirt and baggy trousers were flying in the wind, carried around like freely-left sails on a boat. Hues of orange and pink were taking over the spotless sky as pigeons flew around in spirals, almost as if they had a mission of their own.
I decided to make a visit to the convenience store. Thinking back on it, I did not have much of a reason to go there. There wasn't anything that I was honestly looking for. Except maybe for a glimpse of Alex. I can't explain why. But I have had this bad feeling since our last interaction. And the unexplained disappearance of Alex didn't help my anxiety either. Anyway, I visited the convenience store, and to my disappointment, I didn't find Alex there either. I even went out of my way to ask the cashier if she had come by. The cashier couldn't be of help, though; he didn't know me or Alex, and no amount of description would have brought the memory of her to him. Especially if he hadn't seen her.
Disgruntled, I walked out after purchasing a few items. The sky had turned hues completely to a much darker blueish-black. I was walking past the parking lot in front of the store when I overheard two voices that sounded somehow familiar. I looked in the direction of the voices to see a couple of men standing alongside a woman. The woman or girl looked young, way younger than the men. They were standing at a distance from me, so I couldn't make much of them. So I decided to walk a little closer for a better look at them and the situation.
As I walked closer, I sensed this fleeting feeling of familiarity with these men's faces. I had definitely seen them before. I thought to myself, thinking back to times when I had last seen a couple of sketchy men. And then suddenly, it flashed in my head! These bastards were the same two people who were chasing Alex the day me and Alex first met. Was I sure it was them, though? Not really, but whoever they were, they looked very similar to the men from that night. I needed to get a closer look.
Walking closer and closer to them, I noticed the girl standing with them, or, a better way to put it, being surrounded by them. She looked helpless; her body wasn't steady; her face was looking flushed and pale; all the signs were very clear. She was afraid. At least she looked afraid. I thought to myself about how I could further proceed. On one hand, if I read the situation correctly, this girl was in an unpleasant situation, maybe even in some kind of danger. On the other hand, if I mindlessly engage in a group of friends fooling around, or worse, a family, I might end up making a fool of myself. I had to make a choice.
After the incident with Alex, we spoke about it further on another day. While what she said wasn't much help, she mentioned that those people started following her from the convenience store. I had also further checked online for any information regarding such things. I found a couple snippets and articles online about woman trafficking and how there was a rise in such cases in the area where our campus was situated. While infrequent, there were a couple of cases of missing girls, mainly students from nearby universities. This was a situation I wasn't equipped for, especially if the situation was one of the extremes I was thinking of. While I was pondering about all of this, I noticed one of the men try to lay a hand on the girl as she immediately flinched away from any contact. I had to make a decision quickly.
"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.
"Okay, no police," I replied, trying to ease her and instinctively asking her, "Do you want a smoke?"
"Sorry?" she asked me back, almost as if she wanted to confirm what she heard.
"Do you want a smoke?" I repeated it again as I pulled my pack of cigarettes out.
"No, sorry, I don't smoke," she replied, laughing out loud. "Oh, sorry, do you mind if I?" I asked her, pointing to the cigarette in my hand.
"Oh no, go ahead," she replied, after which I immediately lit my cigarette as we walked back.
We walked back, closing our campus, as I was almost done with my smoke. We didn't talk much as we walked back; most of the time it was either awkward silence or asking one another questions about ourselves and our studies. I just kept my gaze on the overgrown foliage by the side of the footpath or the dandelions and various other wildflowers that had grown on the sides. Sam didn't speak much either.
"Why did you trust me?" I asked her out of the blue. "What do you mean?" she asked me back.
"I mean, why did you trust me back there? Or better, why do you trust me right now? I might just be a conman, no better than those guys back there."
"Well, are you?" she asked almost jokingly.
"No, but I could be," I replied.
"Well, I don't know; maybe it was the situation that made it easier to trust you there. I really didn't have much of a choice now, did I? Also, I saw you on campus once or twice, walking alongside Alex," she said.
"You know Alex?" I was completely surprised by this.
"Oh yeah, Alex and I are on the same floor; I mean, our dorm rooms are on the same floor."
"Wow, I didn't know that," I replied, trying to hide my surprise.
"Yeah, I've spoken to Alex occasionally; she gives me coffee sometimes, and I share ramen or pasta whenever I cook some with Alex. But yeah, I do know her."
"Huh, small world!" I exclaimed. "Have you by chance seen Alex today?" I asked hopefully.
"I think I last saw her in her room in the morning today; she didn't look really good, so I didn't want to disturb her today," she replied.
"Makes sense," I mumbled to myself, and I thanked her for letting me know.
"Are you and Alex, are you guys dating?" she asked curiously.
"What? No. No, we are not dating; we're just friends, I guess," I answered, unsure about that last part.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to hypothesize, but you guys looked very close, so I thought you guys were dating," she replied apologetically.
"No, it's fine," I replied, not thinking much of it.
We eventually reached the campus and our dormitory. I took the lift alongside her as I wanted to give Alex a visit. As we reached her floor, Sam turned to me and thanked me once again.
"Thank you once again; honestly, I'm really grateful to you."
"No worries, you don't need to mention," I replied as I waved her goodbye.
I took a long, deep breath as I walked towards Alex's room. I noticed Sam disappear into the corridor and eventually into her room as I stood at Alex's front door. As I breathed out, I knocked at Alex's door. After a couple of seconds, the door opened to show me a tired-looking Alex at her front door. She looked like she didn't have good sleep; maybe her coffee, maybe the incident—I couldn't tell who the culprit was. But my guess would be the incident. Her hair was slightly unruly and looked similar to mine, which was basically a mess.
"We need to talk," I said confidently.
"Do we?" she asked and continued, "I was under the impression that you wanted nothing to do with me."
She looked hurt. Simultaneously, she also looked like she was fighting the urge to slam the door shut. I could understand her anger and her frustration with me, especially after how carelessly I spoke to her back then. I wanted to fix things, and I wanted to explain myself. I also wanted some answers of my own. All I could now hope was that she was also looking to reconcile with me.
"What is it that you want to talk about?" She asked, not letting me in but not slamming the door shut.
"I'm sorry; I am, truly. I am really, really sorry. I don't know how to deal with people. I don't know how to deal with emotions; quite frankly, I can't actually understand them. But I don't want to push you away either, and I most definitely don't want to hurt you. I am really sorry, and there are some things I need to explain, but I believe that could be better done inside. But before any of that, I hope you accept my apology."
I prayed intensely and pleadingly with everyone and everything that she would accept my apology. I hoped she would understand, and I am hoping that she will agree to listen to me. I really just wished that she wouldn't push me away the same way I pushed her away.
"Come in," she replied as she opened her door and sat down in bed. I made my way in with my bag of goodies from the convenience store and sat down in one of her chairs.
"So what is that you want to talk about?" she asked, going to a matter of importance immediately.
"Not so fast," I replied as I pulled out my goodies from the bag. I had actually bought a couple of beers for each of us and a bottle of wine. God knows that I needed to be intoxicated to explain what I was going to do because I don't think I would be able to do it sober. Also, I thought it was a fun way to reconcile with Alex.
"First, some alcohol; I definitely need it, and I hope you won't decline either."
Alex smiled as she got up from her bed. "Let me see if I have any wine glasses with me," she replied as she sprung into action. It was going to be a long night.