It had been a few weeks now since the exams had finished and I was planning a night out for some of my close friends because with the start of university looming after the summer, it could be a long time before we ever caught up again. The plan was to go into the city centre and visit as many pubs for 1 drink as we could before the night ended. Bearing in mind that Dundee is a large place, that’s a lot of pubs but that was half the challenge. We would start out at The Firefly in Commercial Street and take it from there. The party so far, included Michelle and me; Brendan; Martyn and Lucy with Amy and Andy bringing up the proverbial rear.

Michelle was to meet up with Brendan, Martyn and Lucy who lived a few streets away from her and they would get a taxi into town. A taxi on a Friday night would be expensive but they could afford to let their hair down a little and have one last proper wild night as teens. I would be heading to town with Amy and Andy seeing as how we all lived in the same cul-de-sac.

The night started off easily enough, with everyone having Alco pops in bars 1 and 2 to break themselves in. After all, what’s the point in drinking the hard stuff at the beginning if you want to make a night of it? It must have been around 11pm by the time we got to “Liquor Out” in Union Street. It was a small bar that attracted the same custom week in, week out with occasional visitors or at least so we had heard. This was going to be the last bar for us as 17 drinks in 17 bars has started to take its toll.

There was a little friction between Martyn and Andy by this time, mainly because they had separated from the group and taken part in their own drinking contest by downing shot after shot in Archie’s Bar (Number 14 in the pub crawl). When Andy threw up, Martyn declared himself the winner. Andy took exception to this, stating that because he was drinking doubles to Martyn’s single shots, he had won. It was more handbags at dawn than anything else because both had trouble standing, so throwing punches was out of the question but throwing insults was all legal.

Michelle entered Liquor Out with Amy, Lucy and Brendan whilst I accompanied the quarrelling duo; grabbing them by a shoulder and stating that if they made any more problems then they would be left to their own devices as the group would not be split because of immature and stupid arguments. A grumble from each of the boys was enough to suggest they understood and entered the bar in single file. Once inside, they ordered a drink and sat near the doors, all seemingly good friends again and getting rather boisterous. There was a pool table at the back, so Lucy and Brendan decided to play with Amy playing the winner in a tournament. Michelle and I ended up playing mediators between Andy and Martyn to try and avoid any fisticuffs which looked like it could happen at any time.

Sure enough after 10 minutes of being in the bar, Andy tried and failed miserably to launch an ill-fated punch at Martyn and instead ended up falling through one of the tables. Martyn, clearly angered by this unprovoked attack started laying into Andy with his boots before I could shove Martyn into the gents’. Michelle followed him to make sure Martyn calmed down. I then went and helped Andy to his feet before taking him outside for a dressing down. Lucy, Brendan and Amy picked the table back up and picked up the glasses that had been on it, lucky with no breakages but a terrible spill.

Michelle laid into Martyn in the gents’ giving him hell for what he had just done. “I don’t give a fuck whether or not he did swing at you, kicking him with steel-toe boots is not the way to solve the problem Martyn. For crying out loud, you’re the oldest one of us and yet you act like a spoilt little brat all of the time. I don’t know why Amy puts up with Andy but what the hell does Lucy see in you?? You need to get a grip of your life and fast because you’re going nowhere acting like this”.

“What the hell do you know Michelle? You’ve been gone for so long you can hardly start the holier than thou treatment on me. I’ve been here all my life and picked up the pieces when James fell apart when you left so don’t think you can tell me how to run my life!!”

Michelle suddenly felt a need to answer nature’s call and so instructed Martyn to stay put and just cool down because he wasn’t getting out of this bathroom until he had chilled out. It didn’t take long for him to ignore those demands and head back to the bar. Spotting the two tall hotties at the bar, Martyn thought he would try his luck.

“Ladies, you’re looking mighty fine tonight (hic). How about I… buy you… (hic) a drink and we get to (hic) know each other … a little better…?” he said with an overly obvious wink before he started shushing them as though it were some kind of secret.

“How about this asshole, you back off and get yourself together or I throw you out of here on your ass and you get the honour of being the first person to piss me off tonight?? Your call…” said the brunette who was clearly in no mood to be hit on by a guy at least 7 or 8 years her junior.

“Martyn!!! What the hell are you playing at? I thought I told you to stay in the bathroom and relax for a while?” said Michelle walking from the gents in a rage. “I’m so sorry if he’s offended you in any way. He’s an idiot when he gets drunk and doesn’t know what he’s saying… though that’s not specific to when he’s had alcohol. Leave these people alone and pull yourself together man because I’m not stopping you getting another beating if you make an ass of yourself”.

The tall red-head smiled and replied “No problem hun, what’s your name anyways?”

“I’m Michelle,” she said. “I’m really sorry about this. We’re all just celebrating that we’ve finished our exams and the boys are getting a little out of control but I promise you’ll have no further problems tonight”.

“Michelle what’s going on?” I said as I brought Andy back in to the bar. “Is everything alright? Are these people bothering you?” I put my arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to re-assure her. In an aggressive tone of voice “There will be no more problems, it’s sorted out”.

“James, just leave it. They weren’t bothering me, they were making sure I was alright as Martyn and I had a bit of a disagreement. Go see to him, I’ll get the rest of the group together and we can enjoy what’s left of the night. I apologise again ladies for the disgraceful behaviour,” said Michelle as she walked back to the pool table where everyone else had gathered to watch the scene unfold.

Not long afterwards the group started to filter out to the street and make their way home with the two of us walking behind so that we could enjoy what was left of the night together.

Our walk pointed us towards the large bandstand on Magdalen Green as the rest of the group started to make their way home after the fracas at Liquor Out. As we sat down on the steps of the bandstand, the stars made an unexpected appearance, breaking free from the thick patches of cloud in the brilliantly dark night sky.

“With the odd exception, tonight hasn’t been too bad at all Mr Valentine and yet you haven’t even tried to steal a kiss... I’m shocked but flattered,” said Michelle with a suggestive smile.

“You know me; I like to catch you off guard. How can I do that if you’re expecting a kiss to be stolen? The future is yet to be decided and anything can happen. Right now, we’re wild and young... so let’s enjoy our youth whilst we can get away with it,” I replied, looking off into the distance. I was thinking whether or not now was the right time to ask for her hand in marriage and I guess that the jitters got me, because I froze up and didn’t say anything more.

Michelle knew that when I was silent, thoughts were running around in my head and so it was best to leave me be. That wasn’t it at all but it was as though my body had just shut down and I was powerless to say or do anything. She started to make her way down to the river front when she heard footsteps behind her. Half expecting to feel my warm arms around her waist, she raised her arms high and wide as though floating on the wind. The stars disappeared, replaced by a black gloved hand and a cloth with chloroform was pulled over her mouth and nose. She couldn’t scream; she couldn’t fight back and she couldn’t understand why I was letting this happen. After a few minutes she slipped into unconsciousness and was taken away just as quietly as her attackers had arrived.

I came back to earth with a bump, mainly because I had slipped over the railing and landed right on my butt. After a few moments, I regained my thoughts and at this point realised that Michelle was nowhere to be seen and panic set in. I had to find her, but didn’t know where to begin...