The Witness He Loved

Strange Girl

CHAPTER 2

Strange girl

Mateo’s pov

I hit the man’s head from behind and he came crashing down. They hurried to help him up and the girl took the opportunity, broke free and stumbled to our side shakily.

The men shifted back.

“What the f**k is your problem, the shortest among them said.

The one I hit had a b****y nose.

I rolled my sleeve to continue.

“My problem? Well you were dragging a woman who clearly didn’t want to go with you.”

“Leave before you get hurt,” he continued

I laughed.

Bianca grabbed my hand.

“Mateo let’s just wait for the cops, they look dangerous,” she whispered from behind me. Before I could reply her, one of the men charged towards me, I moved closer to him, to avoid hitting her.

The one I had hit earlier followed.

I smiled, great. Exactly how I wanted to spend my birthday.

The taller one swung first, I stepped back and dodged his fist.

Before he could recover, I pushed him backward.

He stumbled into his friend.

The shortest man grabbed an empty bottle from the ground, but I saw him quickly.

Bianca gasped. “Mateo!”

The man ran towards me. I caught his wrist before the bottle could hit me. The bottle slipped from his hand and shattered on the floor. Then I grabbed his shoulder and drove my knee into his stomach.

“f**k,” he groaned and fell. He crawled to his friends side.

Then the sound of sirens echoed from a distance.

“Lets get out of here, they said helping him up. “You will pay for this, he said, and they disappeared into the night

Bianca and Ethan forcefully brought me out to celebrate my birthday by enjoying myself at the bar. But it was not my thing, and I had wanted to go home.

As I stepped out, was when I saw the men dragging a lady. At first , I didn’t want to get dragged into it, but she was shouting for help, so I had to intervene.

I looked at the girl properly , she was shaking, she looked dirty and was bleeding on her arm where a strip of cloth was tied on.

“Oh my God, what happened to you?” Bianca asked, and we all stared at her, but she didn’t reply.

“Are you ok?” Ethan asked .

The girl gave him a look.

“Do I look ok, she said and started walking towards the front of the bar. I quickly followed her, because she looked like she was about to fall any moment.

She got to a bench and picked up a bag, then looked inside, then it fell from her hand and she fell also. I reacted before thinking. I caught her just before she hit the ground.

“Hey,” i called , but she didn’t respond.

Her eyes remained closed.

Bianca immediately rushed over.

“Oh my God, is she breathing?”

“Of course she’s breathing.”

The girl looked exhausted.

Her face had gone pale.

“So she fainted.”

“Yes.”

Within minutes, the police arrived.

An ambulance followed shortly after it was called. The paramedics hurried over.

One of them checked the girl’s condition.

“Let’s move her.”

They carefully lifted her from my hand onto a stretcher.

Within moments, the ambulance doors closed and the vehicle disappeared down the road.

For some reason, I found myself staring after it. I had held her in my hand the entire time and I enjoyed it, but I didn’t even know her name.

After some questioning, the police left after taking the CCTV of the place where the fight occurred.

“Time to go home,” I said.

“Well,” Bianca said.

“What?” I asked.

She smiled and put her hand in between my hand playfully.

“Happy birthday.”

Ethan burst out laughing.

I rubbed my forehead.

“Remind me why I agreed to come?”

“You didn’t agree,” Bianca said proudly.

“We forced you.”

“Exactly.”

“This is what friendship looks like.”

“If this is friendship, I need new friends.”

“Mtcheeeew,” Ethan hissed.

“Did you hear that, Bianca? After everything we’ve done for him.”

“You mean dragging me to a bar?”

“You’re welcome.”

We laughed.

We reached the cars. Bianca’s vehicle wasn’t there.

It had been taken for repairs earlier that week.

So she had come with Ethan.

I unlocked my car, and got in.

Finally, the night was over, I sighed.

Ethan was still standing outside his car talking while Bianca complained about how boring my birthday celebration had been.

“I should have stayed in my apartment,” I said.

“And miss all this excitement?” Ethan laughed.

I shook my head and reached for the seatbelt.

That was when bright headlights appeared across the street.

At first, I didn’t pay attention, because cars passed all the time.

Then the engine suddenly roared and the vehicle came speeding towards mine.

The vehicle didn’t slow down.

“Mateo!” Ethan screamed.

I quickly jumped from inside and hit the ground landing with my hand.

The speeding vehicle suddenly swerved, and Its side slammed against my car.

The vehicle stopped and the driver’s window rolled down, and a familiar face appeared.

The shortest drunk man. He smiled, then raised his middle finger and sped away.

“Those idiots actually came back, I thought.

I stared at my damaged car.

A police siren sounded nearby, seconds later, a patrol car sped past us, heading in the same direction.

“Serves them right,” Bianca said.

Ethan helped me to my feet.

“You okay?”

“My hand hurts.”

“Hospital?”

“No.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, its just a scratch.”

We eventually got into Ethan’s car and left.

A few minutes later, we passed a police checkpoint.

The drunk men’s vehicle was parked on the roadside.

Two officers were questioning them.

Bianca laughed.

“Best birthday gift ever.”

We all laughed.

Then my phone suddenly rang.

It was professor Harris, but why was he calling me by this time of the night, I thought.

“Hello sir.”

“Mateo, where are you?”

“Am on my way to the campus.”

“Ok Mateo, be fast.”

“What’s wrong professor?”

“Hmmmmn….. Someone broke into the research lab.”

“What.”

“And….. Your project is gone.”