After the Club

After the Club

When she left the club, she felt kind of dizzy. What was wrong with her? She had come to the club with her best girl friend, they had laughed and danced a lot that night. Of course they enjoyed the attention and flirted on the dance floor in their tight mini dresses. And of by the way she had drunk some Red Bull with Coke, maybe it should have been less again. But those guys had invited her both over and over again. On the other hand, she was also accustomed to a lot, she had been drinking more sometimes, and they often went to the club to celebrate. She liked the feeling of being awake, floating, but also being freer in her head. A little more uninhibited. And there weren't that many drinks that she should be drunk by now. She was fine a few minutes ago. 

Her best girl friend Jana had already left a while ago with a really cute guy, they had met him that night. She tried to remember his name. But even that was suddenly hard for her. Anyway, she was left alone, but she had promised to call a taxi in any case. She thought for a moment that Jana actually wanted to call when she was at home. But her girl friend hadn't called either. Was something wrong? But she quickly dispelled the worries, somehow it was hard for her to concentrate.

She felt a new impulse, her knees became soft and everything spinning around her faster. She leaned her arm against the wall and tried to breathe deeply. To get her hand free, she leaned her back against the wall, feeling the cold through the thin fabric of her mini dress. She opened her handbag to find the cell phone. Everything was blurring in front of her eyes and her hands were shivering. She had hoped so much that the fresh air would help her. She slid down the wall and sat with her legs apart on the road. Oh, my God, what's happening? She could no longer see the display clearly, wiped and knocked uncontrollably on the cell phone display in the hope of finding the number after all. Fuck, what was wrong with her? How would she call a cab like that? 

She shook her head and stood up with effort. She held onto the wall for a moment and then pushed away. Staggering and disoriented, she stumbled off. She thought she was stopping a passing cab. But instead of staying on the main road, she ended up in one of the secluded side streets. It was dark, most of the lanterns were broken here, only some flickered nervously. There were full trash cans by the road. She had the feeling the road would get narrower with each step. The brick walls became closer and closer, most of the windows were broken and some were bricked up. Where was she here? She didn't even remember being here before. It had to be the old industrial area behind the rail station. In the half-darkness she tried to orientate herself, but everything was still spinning, her gaze became increasingly blurred. Now there were torn garbage bags lying next to the alley, and it stank horribly. Something scurried over her foot. She screamed in panic, she saw the rats still running down the alley. Nobody had cleaned the place for a long time, broken bottles lay all over the alley. 

She looked around anxiously, didn't know where she was. She was breathing faster, becoming more and more panicky. Too late she noticed that she had lost her handbag in front of the club, she didn't have a cell phone either. When did she leave the club? How long had she been walking? Would she find her way back? The pavement was bumpy here, she tripped and kinked. She screamed quietly as she almost fell. The foot hurt. Again and again she could think briefly in fragments, looked around anxiously and yet went deeper and deeper into the street. She didn't notice the men following her with a smile. They whispered together and waited for the right moment. One of them had her handbag on him. One of them took her cell phone, removed the battery and threw it in one of the trash cans.

From the murky shadows of the dark street a figure approaches her; shrouded from the steam of the sewer grates and the flickering street lamps. Squinting her still dizzy eyes the figure approaches slowly as if rising from the darkness itself. From beyond voices get closer, wild voices of drunken men on the prowl. She gulps "I must keep moving, moving towards the shadowy figure ahead and away from the gruff voices".