And I left her behind the wall

I could feel those eyes piercing through me even before I located them. Those haunted, sad eyes filled with naked terror and pain. They were easy to ignore in that overcrowded club, but it was impossible to ignore the impaling feeling that it brought to me. So I stared right back at them, in an attempt to humiliate them into looking away, but that didn’t happen. Instead, those eyes brought in a sense of familiarity to mine, that now it was I who was issuing the penetrating look.

Once I got over my initial sense of confusion, I began to walk over to that hidden corner of the room from where those eyes have been following me around the room. Let’s just get this over with. I walked with a determined face and strong purpose in my strides. The corner was hidden by the shadows cast by the dim lights of the club which were flashing on and off. When I was almost there, I slowed down and asked out loud, “Do I know you?” and in reply, the body that belonged to the eyes took a step forward and stopped. The face was still hidden, but I could see that the eyes belonged to a girl. Feeling a bit more confident about my decision to confront, I took a step closer and repeated, “I asked, do I know you because I noticed you have been staring at me almost the entire time I have been here”. Once again she made no reply, instead raised her hands in front, her palms facing me.

I didn’t understand what she was trying to say, but I felt that my anger was fading away and a sense of curiosity was taking over. Focus, just ask her to back off and go back and join your friends. You do not have time for this. Maybe, just one more step closer and I might be able to see her face. And why the hell do you want to see her face? What is so interesting about some creep in a shady corner of this dump of a club anyway? Just a little closer, I’ll quickly see her face, explain that she is making me uncomfortable and leave. It’s the decent thing to do. Aargh! Fine then! Suite yourself!

So I stepped closer and kept searching for her face in the dark while also explaining how uncomfortable I was. But then, she moved back, once again hiding in the shadows. My curiosity got the better of me and I just walked towards her and Thump! I walked right into a glass wall. I ran my hands around the surface hoping to find a place where it has an opening, but there was nothing. Just a big glass wall put right there. My eyes went back to the girl inside the glass wall and as she looked up at me, I saw her face. The colour around her eyes looked bruised and her lips were chapped and trembling, bleeding in places. Her hair was in disarray and she had deep bruises all over her arms and her neck. I stood there in shock and terror and realised that she was saying something.

“I can’t hear you” I said and shook my head as I pointed to my ears. So she mouthed slowly “Help Me”. I looked around for help, but everything around me was a big confusion. And so I started groping around the glass again trying to find some way to open it and let the girl out. But there was nothing, not a handle, not even a crack. I tapped on the shoulders of the guy standing right next to me and screamed over the noise of the music, “Hey! Is there any way to get over to the other side of this wall? There is this girl trapped behind it”. He looked at the wall and said, “Nope! That wall is sealed shut. No way in” and he laughed as he went back to his alcohol and dancing.

I looked back at her and saw her shaking her head slowly at me. I didn’t like the look on her face, she looked disappointed. I am trying here! Jeez! Then she pointed her finger to something beside me and I saw a steel chair right there. She wants me to break the glass? I am not going to damage property! But then I looked back at her and saw dry tears running down her cheeks. I took the steel chair and raised it as high as I could and just as I was about to bring it down on the glass wall my friend pulled me from behind and grabbed the chair out of my hand. “What do you think you are doing?” he asked and I stammered something to the sense of, “the chair… to break… over there” and he asked “how much did you have to drink? You have been standing in front of that mirror for quite some time now”. I stood there staring at him and stammered, “mi- mirror?”He pointed towards the glass wall and said, “Yea. MI-RR-OR” and started laughing at me as if I were some idiot child.

I looked back at the glass wall and saw her there, looking frail, almost dead. Her face still carrying that disappointed look. But this time, the face became more familiar and I instantly recognised her. “Please” she mouthed to me with pleading eyes, banging on the glass wall. And once again, I turned my back on her to face my friend and said, “Another round of beer then?” and walked back to the insanity that I had left behind for a few minutes.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/frail/