April is sitting on the side of a road, perching on her suitcase just out of the fluorescent glow of the street lamp; acting as a beacon not only for the noisy nightlife mistaking it for the moon; but also for the late night passersby; although there are few of them; they are mostly men, mostly intoxicated on this side of town.
F**k, she thought – where the hell was this side of town. She had no idea where she was. Her phone battery had made it to a few blocks from here and had faded from life just as she tentatively left the freeway exit and walked through the darkened streets, to wherever “here” was.
From a distance, she thought the streetlight was a bus-stop; but now she is here she can see it is just an entrance to a park. The gate is lightly ajar; it looks like it passes through the centre of town; but it looks less welcoming than the streets at this time of night. What was the time anyway? The last time she had checked her phone was about 0145am, but she is not sure if that is local time or the time at home; as she had barely arrived before things went horribly wrong. Still at least it’s not raining.
She tried to push out of her mind what could have happened and focus on what had happened, to get her bearings and some control over the situation. The flight had been delayed; so rather than arriving at 8ish; it had finally touched down at just after 1130pm. The queues through immigration were unbearable; with just two officials scrutinizing the documents from hundreds of tired; grumpy passengers. When she eventually got through to get her luggage; that carousal was bear; with just a few lonely suitcases and packages sitting to one side; none of which were hers.
After searching for anyone in a uniform for what seemed like an age, she suddenly saw a flash of the pink scarf that she had tied to the handle of her case; when she had packed, when was that? It felt like days ago. On closer inspection she was relieved to see it was still attached to her case; she paused for a second to contemplate why it was sitting alone and tucked away; but then her mind turned to getting out of the airport and to the hotel; she had an early start in the morning, her boss had expected her to come out earlier as it was – she was already behind.
As she walked through the arrival doors, she heaved a sigh of relief; she was not sure what she would do if he had not been there. In the barren arrivals hall; there was one person waiting and he had her pseudo name on his board. Things were finally going her way.
April shuddered; as the first drops of rain pulled her back from her reverie into the stark reality of the situation that she was now in. S**t. Why did she say “at least it wasn’t raining”.
As April was reviewing her options; carry on walking into town; with her luggage but with limited shelter from the elements or take her chances cutting through the park; which as foreboding as it was somehow felt safer than the faceless strangers on the road making her feel increasingly uncomfortable and at least it would offer some respite from the rain, under the trees; a third option loomed into view.
She had not noticed the car pull up in the rain nor heard the woman trying to speak to her. But now she saw a friendly face smiling at her; “Are you OK?” “My brother was driving me home when we saw you; I got him to turn around. What are you doing out here?”
April briefly explained the situation and as she relived the story, she began to appreciate the gravity of the situation she was in or could have been. And she still was not at the hotel; or anywhere close at this point.
She explained to the woman and her brother in the car that she had arrived later than expected and her driver had met her and shown her to the car. He had her details and ID from the company that her organisation used and confirmed the hotel name and address. She had gotten in the back and started reading messages that she had missed; she also popped the hotel into her map so she could see where she was going.
The driver, who had been really friendly and chatty, now started getting into a really impassioned and personal monologue about his partner leaving him and how he was depressed; he started making comments about April’s appearance and her life. And that is when she noticed on her app that they were moving away from the hotel. She could also see that they were moving away from the city centre and into the surrounding areas; which were becoming increasingly run down.
Suddenly the driver announced that parts of the city were closed; due to a celebration and the quickest way to get to where her hotel was via the freeway. April panicked. She did not know why; but she had a sinking feeling that if he went on the freeway; he would not go back to the city; but could take her further away.
She was desperately trying to remain calm and talk her way out of the situation. She had no idea how to handle this. But with the lights of the city fading behind her and the lure of the freeway ahead; she suddenly heard a voice scream “STOP”. She did not know what had happened; but the same voice very calmly said. “I’d like you to stop the car please, I’d like to get out”. And to her surprise, he did.
She had calmly taken her suitcase out of the boot; realising that the voice she had heard was hers; the driver then left at high speed, and she had made her way to the spot that she now found herself in. With a choice:
- Take her chances via the park and get some shelter
- Carry on through town on foot and hope she wasn’t too interesting
- Take her chance with a couple of strangers offering to take her to her hotel
What would you do?
