CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
'NARROW ESCAPE'

༻༺

AS THE EVENING WENT ON, THE SHY, INTROVERTED HEIDI WHO WOULD STAMMER AND WORRY SHE WOULD MAKE A FOOL OF HERSELF in front of the Scot sitting next to her, was soon no more. It was probably just the drink that was giving me the extra boost of confidence, and yeah, maybe I wasn't really being myself, but at the end of the day, if it meant I could speak to Colin using coherent sentences and not have to worry about saying something embarrassing, then it was worth it; even if I did, in my current state, I probably wouldn't notice, or even care, for that matter.

Anyway, conversation was alive and drink was flowing as the pub got busier, the room barely having enough space to accomodate most of its customers. By this point, I couldn't hear anything above the racket of people talking and the music blaring through the jukebox, but Colin and I were content in our own - surprisingly very private - little booth, chatting, laughing and drinking, as we seemed to get closer and closer to each other, with each and every drink.

'You smoke, Heidi?' Colin suddenly asked, removing his arm from the back of my leather seat and taking a lighter and a packet of cigarettes out of his pocket.

'What was that?!' I shouted over the noise, having not heard a single word he just said.

Rolling his eyes jokingly, he held the cigarettes up and repeated loudly in my ear, 'I said - do you smoke?'

'Oh. Um, no. No, I don't.'

The Scot smirked confidently, looking at me with glazed-over eyes, as he slurred, 'Ever thought about starting?

I aughed nervously and shook my head frantically, 'I-I really shouldn't, Colin, I...'

'Aw, c'mon, Heidi, one smoke isn't gonnae hurt. Live a little!' Colin chuckled, taking one of the cigarettes out of the packet and holding it out to me, 'You might find that you like it. Go on, give it a try.'

Staring at the death stick in my hand worriedly, I knew exactly how I felt about smoking, and so did people I'd criticised for it, like Roger, for example. So I became probably the biggest hippocrite on earth when I nodded in agreement to Colin's idea and and let him light the end of my cigarette, before taking the first short drag. Immediately, I started coughing, a burning sensation appearing in the back of my throat, as I regretted trying to impress him and quickly put the rest of the cigarette in the ashtray.

'I think I'll pass on becoming a smoker.' I wheezed, trying to get my breath back.

'No worries. It's not for everyone,' Colin chuckled, making me laugh as well which just made me cough even more, 'Hold on, I'll go and get you another drink.'

Getting up from his seat, Colin went over the the bar whilst I sat at the table and practically coughed my guts up for the next couple of minutes. When he finally returned with a glass of wine, I took it from him and downed it in a oner, the liquid clearing my throat, althought I was just thankful that I could actually breathe again.

'You alright?' Colin asked me, as I simply nodded in reply, 'Sorry about that, I hope I didn't pressurise you too much.'

'It's fine,' I waved my hand dismissively, 'I knew it was a bad idea. My own fault, really.'

He just smiled, 'So, anything interesting going on in your life?'

'Me?' I asked as he nodded, 'Oh...y'know, the usual. Trying to cope with the work load of uni and balancing a job at the same time to tide myself over...whilst failing miserably.'

'Oh, come on now; things can't be that bad,' The Scot said, 'You show up for lectures more than I do, if anyone's destined for failure it's me...Where is it you work again, Heidi?'

'This old antique shop near Oxford Street,' I replied, 'The wage is alright; it gets me by. But all my money goes towards living expenses and nothing else,' I told him honestly, 'Things have been a bit better since Roger moved in though.'

'Roger?' Colin looked at me quizzically, 'You don't mean Roger Taylor, do you?'

'Yeah...'

Suddenly, the Scot burst out into a fit of laughter, 'You're no going out with him, are you?'

I furrowed my eyebrows at his statement, 'What, no!'

'Oh, thank God,' he put a hand over his heart, as he carried on chuckling, 'For a second there, I was seriously questioning your standards, doll. Roger Taylor - as if anyone would stupid enough to get involved with that wee nyaff!'

I don't know why, but part of me was rather taken aback by Colin's harsh comment, not to mention slightly offended. A couple of months ago, I would have probably agreed with him. But now, despite our differences, I couldn't anymore.

'He's not that bad, he means well.' I defended the blonde.

'Aye sure!' Colin said sarcastically, as he continued laughing away, myself plastering on a fake smile, although in reality I was far from amused.

A while passed and the conversation had began to slowly fizzle out between Colin and I after his rather dickish comment he made about Roger earlier. I must admit, I was a bit disappointed. He'd come across so nice before...perhaps he wasn't as nice as I thought.

Anyway, as I sat there at the table playing with the ends of my hair, a wave of sickness suddenly came over me out of nowhere, making me pull a confused face. It went away after a minute or two - it was probably just the alcohol disagreeing with me - but it came back again, this time even worse than before. It got to the point where I genuinely thought I was going to be sick so, grabbing my handbag, I shifted myself to the outside of the leather seats and stood up, an action which suddenly made me dizzy.

'Is everything alright, Heidi?' Colin asked me.

'Yeah, yeah, I'm fine,' I lied as I rubbed my forehead, 'Probably just had a bit too much to drink, that's all. I'm going to go to the bathroom, back in a minute.'

'Course, take your time,' Colin said, as I hurriedly made my way through the crowd of punters towards the bathrooms.

When I entered the 'ladies', I made a beeline for the nearest unoccupied cubicle and bent down next the toilet, ready to empty the contents of my stomach into it if need be. This isn't right, I thought to myself. I'd only had a few glasses of wine - why did I feel so ill? Despite feeling like I needed to boke, nothing happened, so after a couple of minutes of kneeling next to the toilet just to be sure, I decided it was safe to leave the cubicle and walked out, making my way towards the sinks to wash my hands and fix my appearance in the mirror.

However, before I could, the room began to spin violently again, making me hold onto the sink in fear of falling over. I closed my eyes and took a couple of deep breaths, trying to regain my composure.

As I stood there with my head down and clutching my stomach like I'd been punched in the gut, an older woman walked into the bathroom and wandered over to one of the mirrors next to me to touch up her makeup. As she did, her attention slowly turned to me as I stood there looking like I was about to collapse.

'Are you alright, pet?' the woman asked me, worry evident in her voice.

Opening my eyes and turning my head to look at her, the image in front of me wasn't clear like it was supposed to have been. It was twisted and distorted, lines and shapes moved around me but no actual picture was forming in my brain. It was quite frightening, actually.

'Do you want me to phone you a cab?' the lady spoke to me again, although her words were echoed and I could barely make out what she was saying.

Frantically rubbing my eyes and shaking my head, trying to get myself together, my sight finally cleared and my hearing went back to normal as I could see the lady in front of me, who was still looking at me with deep concern.

'No, no thank you. I'll...I'll be fine. Honest.' I replied shakily.

Before the woman could protest, I staggered out of the bathroom and back into the main pub again, the noise in there suddenly deafening. However as I made my way back to Colin and I's booth, something I saw made me stop dead in my tracks, and double check that what I was seeing was real.

There, at our table, was Colin, with my half-finished glass of wine in his hand. Discreetly, he reached into his pocket and took something out, what it was exactly was I couldn't tell. But you didn't have to be a Chemistry student to figure it out as the Scot looked around him to make sure no one was watching, dropping the small object into the glass, which dissolved in the liquid before putting it down on the table and pretending like nothing had happened.

My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach; an overwhelming feeling of terror and fear rushing through me as the world seemed to come to a standstill. He's been spiking my drinks, I thought to myself, He's drugging me this whole time. By now, my head was screaming desperately at me, 'Get out of here. Now.' but the rest of my body wasn't getting the message. I just stood there fixed to the spot, in such a state of shock that my legs seemed to forget what they were designed for. And by the time that I had snapped out of my trance, realised what was happening, and had my chance to make a narrow escape, it was too late.

'Heidi!' I heard Colin call over, having spotted me from across the room.

Knowing that I should have made a run for it, I knew that I couldn't when Colin stood up from his seat and made his way towards me. I instantly took a few steps backwards.

'Heidi, are you okay?' he asked me, the fake concern in his voice only now plain as day. I didn't want to answer, but I eventually nodded in reply.

'Good,' he smiled, 'C'mon, come and finish your drink, then I'll take you home.'

Apprehensively making my way back to our booth, we both sat down, although this time, I was sat a lot further away from Colin than I did before. He obviously noticed this change, as he quick to comment on it.

'C'mon, love, I don't bite, come a wee bit closer.'

Looking up at him briefly, I shifted maybe a couple of centimetres closer to him, but that was as close as I was willing to get. Rolling his eyes, he put an arm around my shoulders and roughly pulled me to him so our bodies were now touching.

'See, isn't that better?' he said in my ear, making me close my eyes tightly shut, in hope this was all a bad dream. He looked at my glass of wine, 'You haven't touched your drink.'

I avoided eye contact, 'I don't want it.'

'Are you sure?' The Scot asked me again, to which I once again shook my head in reply. He sighed, 'Shame to let it go to waste.'

Staring at the floor, I didn't reply.

'Is something the matter, Heidi?' he asked me, the facade he was putting on making my blood boil. I then uttered something I would later regret.

'I know what you've been doing...'

'What are on about?'

I shot him daggers, 'You've been spiking my drinks.'

But the Scot didn't seem bothered that he'd been caught, 'So what if I have been? They're just a bit of fun, they're no gonnae kill you.'

'What, like the cigarettes?' I fired back.

That last comment was a massive mistake, as Colin suddenly grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked on it so I was looking straight at him, making me yelp, 'You've got some gob on you, don't you, doll? I'd watch what I was saying...before I do something I'm gonnae regret.'

Whatever confidence I had left now diminished, I whimpered quietly as the pain was quickly becoming excruciating, 'Let go of me. You can't do anything, not here in front of all these people.'

'Is that so?' Colin said, leaning in and whispering in my ear, 'You wanna put a bet on that, doll?'

As soon as I felt his hand travelling up my thigh and underneath the hem of my dress, the adrenaline finally kicked in, and without a second thought, I pushed myself away from Colin and, very unglamorously, spat at him square in the face.

'You foul bitch!' he excliamed, retracting from me with disgust, wiping his face with the back of his hand.

As soon as he loosened his grip on me, I took this as my chance to spring to my feet and dash through the crowd of people, bumping into several of them as I did (not that I really cared), before bursting out through the front doors, my heart beating so fast it felt like it was about to leap out of my chest. Looking around me, my vision still distorted from the drugs, I didn't have a clue where to go or what to do. All I knew was that I had to get out of here now. So with that in mind, I sprinted off down the street as fast as I could, with no set destination in mind, as long as it was as far away from this pub as humanly possible...

-

Hey guys!

Long time no see 😂 I can't apologise enough for the long wait, life is brutal at the moment and I've just had no time recently. I'm not sure when I'll next update, but I'll try and get the next chapter to you all as soon as I can. Hopefully this longer chapter, however, has made up for the delay. Bit of a turn of events, eh?

Thank you for being so patient!

- Anna :-) x