Mantis

10. Unexpected meeting

Viktor disappeared. Since he dropped me off home on that rainy evening, he didn't reach out once, and after several unanswered messages from him, I buried any prospects of developing our acquaintance and focused on my own affairs.

I returned to university, and evenings were spent in my student apartment with textbooks on medicine. The third year of studies had already established a certain study routine in me, which I clung to stubbornly. Becoming a doctor was a goal that was born in my mind probably back in elementary school, and I pursued it persistently, tirelessly, although lately the books had been more of a burden.

That evening I returned to the apartment exceptionally worn out after the first academic year lectures on pharmacology. I sat at the desk and slowly flipped through the extensive textbook, painstakingly cramming knowledge into my head, which was weighing heavier and heavier on me. The sound of the phone saved me from falling asleep sitting up, ringing right next to my ear as I was already closing my eyes with my cheek resting on the hefty volume of Szczeklik's internal medicine.

– Hello? – I answered, not even paying attention to who was calling.

– Paula? – I heard Luiza's somewhat trembling voice, one of my roommates.

– What's wrong? – I asked alertly, sitting up straight in my chair.

– I dozed off for a moment on the bus and... I think I got lost – she whimpered desperately, and I let out a loud breath that I had previously held in.

She got lost. Lu, like a child. She ran around this city for the third year and got lost. But that's just how she was. One of a kind.

I knew her since elementary school, and she was never like other girls. She didn't gossip, didn't paint her nails, she didn't even wear dresses, let alone heels. In fact, in many ways, she was my complete opposite. Her world revolved around medicine, and she had the potential to become a really great doctor, but in other matters, she was clueless, as if she were born yesterday. She did everything hastily, without any plan, in chaos. She constantly confused directions on public transport and trains back home. She would get lost in public places, accidentally leave her phone somewhere, and there would be no contact with her for half a day. Sometimes I wondered if she could even use GPS at all, and I was slowly losing hope that she would ever master the topography of even one city to a satisfactory level.

When she got into medicine at the same university a year after me, her mom practically insisted that Diana and I, with whom I had been living since the first year, take her in, and since we already had one spare room, we automatically solved the problem of finding someone else.

So the scatterbrained Lu moved in right behind the wall in our three–room student apartment, and her mess – luckily for Diana, who liked order – didn't extend beyond the boundaries of Luiza's room. Again, I practically saw my scatterbrained friend every day and occasionally rescued her when she got lost.

– Relax, Lu – I said matter–of–factly. – Tell me where you are.

– I don't know – she moaned despairingly.

– Okay. – I tried a different approach. – What do you see? Look around.

– I don't know – she repeated helplessly. – Some park. There's also a restaurant. A club with a flamingo above the door...

– A pink flamingo?

– Yeah, but... – she stopped because I interrupted her.

Okay. I know where you are. You need to...

But I can't – this time Lu didn't let me finish. – It's dark...

– Alright – I ran my hand through my hair, or rather tried to because it got stuck halfway in the tangle of curls. – Don't move and wait there for me. I'll be there for you in about half an hour.