Jolted up with a loud knock on the door, I blinked to align my perception to my surroundings. 

I was dreaming of home and the knock crashed the blurry view and feel of my bedroom and the smell of summer, of mom's home-cooked meal.

There was no light in my room. 

The hazed display through the cotton curtains of the last strobe of greyish orange, fading into the black backgrounds.

With sluggish steps, I opened the door.

Lily stood in front, radiating small bursts of enthusiasm. 

She walked in and pulled off the curtains. I flinched - a jerk reaction by a tropical country person developed over a while, assuming the harsh flashes of sunlight. 

But sunlight didn't stream. It was only getting dark.

Lily smacked my head. "You are not yet ready."

I turned around to tackle her but her perfectly fitting pink dress caught my attention. 

She was ready and her act of aggression made more sense. I was still in the morning attire I wore to the class.

"How much time do we have?" I hurried through the pile of clothes stacked inside my closet, pulling out one and rushing into the shower. "It will only take a minute, I promise." 

Lily's annoying click reminded me of Mom. 

She used to stand outside my room, grunting like an angry hyena, letting me know how fashionable late I was. 

Warm water dripped over me as I dried haphazardly after a quick shower, running a comb through my wet tangles before wriggling inside my white dress, and adjusting its straps over my shoulder.

Lily was already prepared with the disaster management kit. 

All I had to do was sit on the chair as she blow-dried my hair, sifting her long slender finger through my hair and finishing it with a run through the comb.

The corner of her lip tugged upwards, approving my looks after twirling me in my chair. 

"Perfect," was followed with a wink.

Well, what was to disapprove of a white polka dress and boots? 

Although it was Ria, the fashionable diva in the family, I'd hoped to have rubbed some of her fashion sense on me over the years.

Before Lily opened the door, I held her elbow. 

"I can't always give you company for parties and all. I came here to study." 

Guilt creed up like an old stalker. 

"So do I, Mia." Lily clasped her warm fingers over my sides, nodding. "But that doesn't mean you can't live a little." 

Jerking me, her silence spoke the rest. Maybe this wouldn't become the routine. Lily might hold onto her words. 

You know what they say about strong opinionated women. They have the power to sway people's decisions in their favour. 

Lily was one among them. 

Surefooted and sanguine, she was perfect to handle anything tossed at her. At that time, I was naïve to assume it may act to my disadvantage. 

After all, friend or not, she was still my competition. 

Little did I know, she would redefine my opinion. 

Guilt faded in due time.

Lily remained tight-lipped about the invitation. Something about her friendship-forging ability conveyed it wasn't difficult for her to get invited anywhere.

Talks rolled up the distance faster. 

Lily pointed to a house at the end of a broader alley. It boomed from a distance like an underground music system. 

Our pace quickened. Colourful hues of dancing lights escaped up the gaps in the window and spread across the silent streets. 

The place was bustling with people. Everyone knew everyone. 

I only knew one.

Lily, my navigator, intertwined our palms and waddled us inside. 

Shoving away drunk, stumbling kids, proving to be my dame in shining armour. 

In the middle of the sweat-infused, alcohol-reeking bunch of college kids, Lily found a secluded corner for us. 

She left me there for drinks and made it back before I could blink the reality in. Or absorb the deafening soundtracks played by a boy, who seemed barely legal to drink milk.

I held my plastic containers with a colourless liquid. 

Lily somehow managed to get white wine. The how of it, couldn't be disclosed in her interest. 

She pointed to a boy, who in the middle of a crowded floor danced to the piercing noise in a weird yet entertaining fashion. 

He twirled like a ballerina but with his heels. His arms reached out into the surroundings before stumbling into a wall.

We giggled like school girls at his lack of coordination. Poor guy.

When the liquid courage coated my mouth with bitterness and chest with warmth, the loud godforsaken music started to resonate with me. 

I was giggling at someone, stumbling over others. 

Lily guzzled her drink to be in a happier place. 

I was still nursing mine, only to realize it was an empty cup. I had already drained the content.

"Just wait till the fun begins." She screamed for my benefit but her voice was muffled in the background electronic score.

Before I could decipher her wordings, a pair of strong, large hands landed on my shoulders. 

I turned around and almost instantly my eyes fell off their socket. Tossing the empty cup to a side, I hopped in front of it.

"Irfan," I said, praying my action went unnoticed. 

But the towering boy in front of me traced my disused cup's path. His stubble face didn't reveal if he was pleased to see me or not. 

Taking matters into my hands, I continued. 

"Please don't tell your parents or mine." After a pause, I wrapped my lie with a confident delivery. "I wasn't drinking."

He chuckled. His hand waved in the air and scanned my nearby area like he was evaluating the crowd I was associating with. 

"What are you doing here?" He asked, eying the drunk couple sitting behind me on a couch, evaluating each other's tonsils.

"I can ask you the same. What are you doing here?" 

My brain was already marinating in an alcoholic concoction to make much sense. 

I turned to introduce the culprit who brought me here but Lily chose this fine moment in time to abandon me.

Quite a friend.

Irfan walked me out. 

Better lighting on the veranda highlighted his blurry features. 

He wore a red and black t-shirt and faded denim. He leaned on the bannister to his right, hooking his left hand into his pocket. 

Although he too reeked of spirit like all others, his speech was composed.

A new wave of the crowd emerged from inside, all of whom embraced him and muttered something about his performance. 

I had no clue what they were referring to but I'd rather ask Irfan than some stranger.

When I prodded him about the earlier performance reference, he scratched the back of his neck and handed me his cup. 

I may be naïve in many ways but two things surely dancing in front of me. One about Irfan trying his best to hide something and the other, of him not revealing my occasional drinking to my parents.

After all, what else were family friends for?

The night drifted at a snail's pace and Irfan gave me company while my friend abandoned me. 

He inquired about my classes and I hid my face with the rush of memories.

"I may have screwed up the first day itself," I said. He didn't probe further. With pursed lips, he patted my bent head like I was a whiny puppy who wanted to be petted. "You suck at consoling." 

My muffled voice emerged from behind my hand veil.

"Yes. I agree." 

He bent further, arms resting on his arched knees to match my level; the minion of 5'4". 

"Don't worry, Mia. The professors here seem strict but they are cool. You will do fine," he said, his gaze constantly travelling over my shoulder to one specific girl who happened to be standing away from everyone, checking her phone in the darkness of the garden.

"Your girlfriend?" I questioned his longing looks.

"I wish," he sighed. Then he proceeded to narrate the saga of bad encounters with Renee; his crush when all of a sudden, his tone flared up. "Oh hell no."

Irfan was looking at a boy, holding a broken glass bottle in his hand, stalking another boy who lugged a drunken mess of a boy on his side.

The crown dispersed, lending way for the bottle wielder boy to take easy steps towards the other.

"Stay here. Don't come out." Irfan set me aside and ran out, disappearing in the crowd.

My insides revolted. 

I knew in my gut, I was about to witness an accident. Probably murder. 

Everything was suspended in contemplation. My ears echoed a flat-lining tone. 

I traced the steps off the entrance and elbowed through the throng.

Whispers grew when the bottle wielder closed his distance to the other, whose back faced him. 

The other boy was facing away from reality, still pulling his drunken friend off the ground. 

His face turned towards us, light hitting him at an angle that highlighted his jaw features.

It was him. 

The mute unblinking boy from the therapy.

The flat-lining noise stopped. The place grew silent. 

Goosebumps trailed over my skin. There was barely an inch between the assaulter and his next victim. 

My brain snapped. 

I didn't have to learn medicine to know how shards of glass in the bloodstream can be fatal.

My vision blurred. Mouth turned dry before tossing up a metallic tang over the roof. 

I didn't recollect how, where or when I managed to grab a rock. Maybe it was given to me.

But I did remember one specific detail.

Determination.

My meeting mate wouldn't be hurt on my watch.

I felt like screaming. I might even have. 

Everything around me was vibrating with unknown energy. My chest drummed back into my heart. I sprinted. 

Never having performed a javelin throw. I hoped for success.

Then everything slowed down. 

The stone propelled out of my hold and flipped in the air. It curved lower, reeling into the hold of gravity before smacking the side of the bottle yielder's head. 

He fell backwards, both feet flung in the air before his butt made contact with the dirt. His stupid bottle rattled like an empty metal can, rolling away.

Muttering stopped. The crowd fell silent.

Someone grabbed mine, tugging me away. 

I turned to check on the mute boy. 

He stared back. No smile, no gratitude. Nothing. A glassy stare. 

I tried to wave at him and deliver a smile to convey that everything would be fine. But that arm was grabbed too.

Reeling out of the episode, I ran into the darkness. 

When my tunnelled vision widened, I heard my breathing. My heartbeats. My conscience.

What did I do?

I was breathing again. 

I saved the mute boy from grievous injury. If only I could save him from all others.

I kept running, kept following the entities that led me into an abandoned street. 

I may have wounded the dragon but I was saved two. 

My dame and knight in shining amours who ran with me. The ones who rescued me.

~

Now that you've read Mia's perspective of the event, tell me

Did you like it?

And how do you think these two will meet and start talking?

Let me know in the comments. I'd love to hear from you

Or simply, emoji spam me. Even that would make me so so happy <3