She lay down on the wet stone floor of the alleyway covered in her own blood. She knows it is hers because she isn’t smirking like the man above her. He isn’t showing any signs of giving up. She is, though. She is exhausted from fighting him off. Minutes seem to be hours. Her tight fitting dress doesn’t seem so beautiful anymore. It is wet, covered in dirt and her blood almost disappears through the dress as though it is part of the fabric, considering its colour and pattern. The dress didn’t come with a split, but like a fashion designer he tears one right up her right leg, up to her hip bone. Her black lace underwear is stretched from ankle to ankle. Her wrists are covered by the grip of his hands as the skin on her arms graze against the stone underneath her. The fight seems to be over for her. She can no longer stare into his dark, vicious, brown eyes. Instead she stares off into the distance with the most tears she ever cried blending in with the black of her mascara. His heavy body almost feels as though it has gained extra weight. Her arms are feeling weak from all the attempts to hit and push him. Whatever he was doing to her now, she no longer feels. She lays there and takes it; lifelessly.

***

Saturday nights for Nick and his five best friends are never dull. Despite it always being an eventful evening, it is also the same routine every week. Pre-drinks at Luke’s starts at around 7pm. Some of the boys will have their hair gel and change of clothes ready to apply, together with an extra bottle of Jack Daniels just in case. One of them by now would have organised the cab to be in front of Luke’s by 11pm, and whoever remains will wait on the couch, watching the last quarter of Saturday night football. Eventually, they arrive at the front of their favourite club, where they shake the hands of the three big and buffed security guards out front and walk in with no issues. The first destination is the bar. The boys order their usual starter of three Jagger Bombs which they scull together one after the other. They leave the bar with a beer or a scotch and coke depending on preference. You’d think they’re celebrating some big news or a great success accomplished by one of them, but every Saturday night is a celebration no matter what. Nick and his mates will then make their way through the smoky room to the back corner next to the DJ booth. Since they know the owners and DJ’s of the club, there is no questioning their presents near the area which is ultimately VIP only. The night continues with repetitive thumping bass lines as the back drop of the boy’s mission to find themselves some fresh meat. The smoke obscures their vision together with their drunken state. Every girl at this state is a 10 out of 10. The drinks will flow and the girl hunt will continue up until 7am, where the six boys will then somehow manage to get into a maxi cab together, sometimes accompanied with a snuggle buddy for the night. Whoever can speak English the best, allows the taxi driver know the address of Luke’s little town house just outside the city. Once in front of what they hope is the right house, and after fiddling with the keys and dropping them several times with every attempt to find the key hole, they all find a spot to rest inside. Luke is the only one in the group who doesn’t still live at home with his parents. That’s why all the fun begins and sometimes ends there. He doesn’t mind, because the rest of the guys always pitch in with cleaning later. Luke, Jacob, Peter, Chris, Simon, together with Nick have been close since day one of high school back in 2001.

This Saturday night, they arrive to the unit block approximately 6:15am. The boys stumble out of the maxi cab one by one without extra company. Jacob gives Simon a little shove as they walk toward the correct unit and begins to tease him.
‘I cannot believe you, man. She was right next to you and she wanted you. She wanted you bad.’
‘Fuck off! I wasn’t keen.’
‘What do you mean you weren’t keen? If you weren’t keen you should have told me.’ Jacob puts his arm around Simon and continues, ‘she was hot!’ Jacob’s emphasis on the ‘h’ in ‘hot’ carries with it some extra stench of alcohol.
‘Yeah, I don’t think she would have been keen for you, brother. Your breath fucking stinks,’ Simon reveals as the rest of the boys burst out in laughter, missing the fact that Nick has been stopped in his tracks by a sight a little further down the street.
‘I’ll be back,’ Nick tells the guys, regardless of whether they heard. He is the least drunk of them all.

With his hands in his pockets, Nick approaches a thin brunette standing in the corner of the next block. The red of her dress stands out in the darkness. By now, Nick still hasn’t seen her face.
‘Hello?’ She turns around revealing a very worried look in the brightest hazel eyes he has ever seen. Even in the darkness her watery eyes shined through.
‘I won’t hurt you,’ he tells her as though she should know, ‘I’m just wondering why you’re standing all on your own here.’ She stares him up and down with arms cross to keep her warm. Then, she turns back around staring off into the end of the road as though waiting for something or someone to make its way down.
‘Are you cold?’ Nick asks as he leans further forward. ‘You can have my jacket.’
He takes his jacket off and holds it out for her, so that she can put her arms straight in. She looks back over her shoulder eyeing his black leather jacket. She now notices his shaved head, his facial stubble, his expensive branded jeans and well-manicured finger nails.
‘It’s warm and really expensive. I can’t let you stand here freezing by yourself at this hour.’ She still says nothing as he continues to hold out the jacket.
‘What’s your name?’
‘Steph,’ she finally makes a sound and glances back around to the distant end of the road.
‘Steph. Great.’ He smiles at the sound of her voice.
Suddenly, yelling comes from the block before them. ‘Nick! Are you coming?’ It’s Luke who has no regard of the volume of his voice.
‘What’s this dickhead doing?’ Peter asks Luke while he texts.
‘I don’t know. He must be smashed.’ The boys look at each other, before letting out a great big laugh in realisation that they are all equally drunk. They continue their journey toward the front door, like they completely forgot about Nick not being with them.
Nick finds her looking over at his friends, but he assures her, ‘don’t worry about them.’
‘Go inside!’ Nick yells, waving at them to go away not realising they were already gone.
‘What are you doing standing here? Are you waiting for someone?’ he asks her.
She shakes her head.
‘Would you like me to take you home?’ He tilts his head a little to the left to get a better look into her eyes.
‘You’ve been drinking.’
‘I won’t drive. I’ll call you a taxi, but I can come with you so I can make sure you get home.’
After several long minutes, it’s a risk she is willing to take. She turns around to him and allows each arm to slip into the sleeve of his jacket.
‘Thank you,’ she says with nothing but the same worried expression on her face she was met with. Nick calls a taxi after Steph tells him the suburb she lives in, and they wait for no longer than ten minutes until the taxi arrives.

Despite her apprehensiveness Nick still attempts to ask her questions on the way to hers.
‘Where were you tonight?’
‘My best friends 21st,’ Steph tells him as she watches trees and houses go passed her.
‘Where was that?’
‘At the bar up the road from where you found me.’
‘Oh, that joint? It’s not bad,’ Nick says with no reply from Steph. ‘Did something happen? Because you don’t seem like you had a good night.’
‘I did have a good night. Nothing happened. Her uncle was taking me home and next thing I know, I was a little further down from where you found me.’
‘Why did he leave you there?’
‘I don’t know,’ she says with a quiver of sadness in her voice.
‘That doesn’t seem right.’ With Nick confused by the information she shares, Steph shrugs her shoulders. Nick takes his focus away from her, and begins to stare outside his own window, tampering with all sorts of ideas in his head of what could have happened to her before he found her.
After twenty minutes, they stop outside the white metal fence of Steph’s house.
‘I’ll come back tomorrow and grab my jacket. Take care.’ This wasn’t only an excuse to see her again, but his curious mind wanted to know what was wrong with her. He hoped a nights rest would loosen her up a bit and maybe she will reveal more when he goes back for his jacket. For now, she thanks him for his kindness, steps out of the taxi and makes her way to the gate of the white fence, before the taxi drives away. Nick has no idea what just occurred and sits contemplating the situation in his head over and over.

It’s a blue sky Sunday afternoon with a hint of a chill in the air. One by one the boys wake up, but Luke is the first to make his way to the kitchen with nothing but plain black, satin boxers on. He finds Nick sitting at the dining table eating a toasted sandwich.
‘Don’t worry about making me one,’ Luke sarcastically says.
‘It’s your house. You know where everything is.’
‘And apparently you do too,’ Luke laughs and unsuccessfully shoves him off the chair. Nick laughs back, but then returns to his thinking process.
‘What’s up your arse?’
‘Nothing,’ he tells him in a hurry. He gets up whilst having the final bite of his sandwich and takes his plate to the sink. He quickly swallows and says, ‘I need to borrow your car.’
‘What for?’
‘I’ll be five minutes. I just need to grab something from the shops.’
Luke grabs his keys from his desk and throws them to Nick.
‘Don’t thrash it,’ Luke warns Nick.

After a few wrong turns, Nick finally finds the familiar white metal fence. He parks right outside and makes his way to the gate and then up the paved path to the front door. He rings the doorbell only to have it answered by an older woman, wearing only black with only a hint of gold from her necklace and cross.
‘Can I help you?’ The woman asks revealing a slight eastern European accent.
‘Hello, I’m Nick. I was hoping Steph was home?’
‘Steph?’
‘Yeah, I was with her last night and I gave her my jacket. I’m just here to get my jacket back.’
‘Steph? My daughter?’
‘I guess she’s your daughter.’
‘My daughter is dead you stupid man,’ the woman says in disgust and slams the door.
‘I was with her last night. She was wearing a red dress. She looked scared or worried. She has my jacket. It’s expensive. I want it back,’ Nick yells at the door hoping it isn’t sound proof. The woman opens the door again. With a curious look on her face says, ‘a red dress?’
‘Yes, very beautiful. Your daughter is very beautiful.’
Was beautiful. She’s been gone for five months now. How dare you come here and tell me you were with her.’
‘I don’t understand. I brought her home. She brought me here. I remember the fence.’
With an offended look on her face the woman goes inside and grabs her jacket and keys. She walks outside and closes the door behind her which makes Nick step back a bit.
‘You come with me,’ she demands.
Nick has no idea what to do, but to just follow the woman as she walks a few feet ahead of him the entire time. They walk for ten minutes up the same road she lives on, they cross the road and approach the tall gates of a cemetery. Nick is a bit hesitant at first, but the woman walks straight through furiously. After looking up at the cemetery’s gates, he eventually follows her through aisles of grave stones and tombs, until they approach a tall and long dark grey marble tomb with the engraved writings, ‘Stephanie Smiris 12-5-1992 – 5-3-2013.’ In smaller writing underneath it writes ‘You were taken too soon. We will always remember your beautiful smile and bright hazel eyes. Always in our hearts. We will always miss you until we meet again in heaven.’
‘There!’ The woman says beginning to cry.
Nick looks closely at the photo above the writing to find a picture of the familiar face he met the night before. In complete shock, he then focuses his attention to something that is laying behind a tall bouquet of flowers that sits in a vase attached onto her tomb.
‘That’s my jacket.’ Nick leans over and grabs the leather jacket. He analyses it to make sure it is indeed his. The woman turns from anger to state of shock. She does nothing more but covers her mouth with her hand. Nick looks back to the photo of Steph on the tomb, and then it hits him…