Waiting in the dim lighting by the hostess desk, Ruth clutched her wallet as her feet rocked from side to side. After three dates with Ryan, her hopes for a future with him were growing. After years of bad dates and unfortunate breakups, Ruth was trying to be optimistic.
As Ryan got out of his car, Ruth could see him through the restaurant door. While walking through the door, the light above the entrance shined on him and caused him to squint and duck out of the way of the brightness. With the look of discomfort turning to warmness, their eyes locked, and he joined her by the hostess, both smiling at each other as they were walked to their table.
“I was really excited to see you tonight,” whispered Ruth as they were led to the back of the restaurant, not wanting to disturb the ambience.
“So was I,” replied Ryan, leaning in to make sure she could hear him. “I’m glad I could make it.”
Not sure what Ryan meant by this, Ruth begins to speak but stops once they’re led to their table. He probably meant nothing by it.
With the lit candle in the middle of them, the light illuminates their space while the rest of the restaurant is in near darkness. The only way they could see the other patrons was through the candles lighting their tables.
After settling at their table, Ruth asking the simple question of “How was your night last night?” lead to Ryan pulling at his collar and looking around the room. He awkwardly laughed and cleared his throat, but he didn’t give her an answer. There was less warmness at the table than there was at the door. After this uncomfortable moment, Ruth’s mind flashed back to their previous dates, remembering how he never seemed to tell her enough about himself. She knew his name, what part of the city he lived in, and where he went to college. He’s never told her how he spends his free time. He’s never told her what his family and friends are like. Realizing this, Ruth began the night with more questioning.
“Are you going to be free tomorrow night? Your nights seem to be important to you.”
Ryan looked at her questioningly and replied, “It was lucky I was available tonight. My plans canceled last minute.”
With Ruth feeling like she knew less than she knew before and disappointed Ryan wasn’t being as forthright as she wanted him to be, she cut the questioning and sat in silence. She considered what he could not be telling her. Maybe he was going out with other people. Was he that busy dating around? Did he really have a date every night of the week? Eventually, with those thoughts going through her head over and over, Ruth decided to ask him.
“Are you going out with other people? It’s fine if you are, it’s just weird that you’re being so secretive. I can’t imagine why else you’d be acting so strange.”
Ryan looked confused by her question, his face going through many different expressions over a matter of seconds. Trying to figure out how to answer this, he squinted and looked at the space next to her head. After a few moments, he turned his attention back to her.
“If you want to know where I’ve been going every night I can show you. It’s nothing to do with other girls. With how preoccupied you seem with all this, it doesn’t feel like you’re going to be satisfied until you know what I’m doing.”
Ruth narrowed her eyes at him. This is ridiculous. Why would he be secretive like this? Why would he have to show her instead of tell her?
Ryan shrugged at her reaction. “After dinner I’ll show you what I get up to. It’ll be perfect timing. Nobody will be there.”
After eating their food and spending an hour or two at the table, Ryan gets the check, and they both decide to leave. With the promise made in the beginning of the evening, Ruth abandons her normal nighttime routine and leaves with Ryan in his car, planning to pick up her own car at another time. While riding in his car, Ruth begins to second-guess her choice of leaving with him. Though they’ve been on a few dates, they’ve never been in private together. The combination of the strange conversation earlier with them being alone in his car made her nervous. There was no talking while in the car, which would have been more comforting, but Ruth wrote that off as nerves from both sides. Ryan certainly didn’t look comfortable now; his calm and cool demeanor at the restaurant no longer existed in the car. His tapping on the steering wheel as he drove got more and more off-beat as their drive continued.
Eventually they got to a dodgier part of the city. It seemed like less people were walking on the sidewalks, though that could’ve been because half of the streetlights were out. It was hard to see what was going on in some spots. Every once in a while someone would appear under a working streetlight, their presence previously unknown. Ruth looked over at Ryan, checking if jumping out of the car would be the safer option than continuing on with the drive. He seemed to be more uneasy, but it didn’t seem like it was because he was unfamiliar with the area. He seemed to know exactly where he was going.
After driving in the near darkness of the strange area, they begin to slow down. With the feeling under the tires changing moments before, Ruth can surmise that they’re now driving on a cobblestoned road. The streets had gotten narrower, becoming one-ways, and she wondered if they’d somehow driven into another century. They pulled over into a makeshift parking spot, covering nearly the entire width of the road. Though there weren’t any other cars parked on the road, Ruth could hear sound coming from the alley adjacent to them.
Ryan got out of the car first and Ruth, beside herself that this was their stop, got out as well. She began seeing how big of a mistake leaving with Ryan was while looking around the road they’d just parked on and seeing Ryan walk right into the dark alley the noise was coming from. He completely disappeared into the black of the alley, and after a brief consideration of not following, she walked into the darkness herself, following him only by the sound of his shoes on the cobblestones.
The alley wasn’t as long as Ruth had expected, and after a short amount of time, both her and Ryan’s footsteps stopped. Ryan, visible from a candle on the wall of the alley, opened a door in front of him and held it for her to step into. Like the alley, the room they’d entered was only lit by candles lining the walls, which made Ruth once again wonder whether they were still in present day. Though Ryan wasn’t expecting anyone else to be there, the room was filled with people. The room looked old and insulated, and Ruth couldn’t believe she had been able to hear any of what was going on in here outside, though it was loud.
As soon as her and Ryan entered the room, there was a mixture of interest in them from the people standing around. Some of them seemingly recognized Ryan, looking over at him with familiarity, but they all seemed preoccupied in what was in their cups. Everyone was moving around the room with red solo cups filled with a dark red liquid, the plastic cups being a weird contrast to the fancy décor.
Ryan seemed panicked by the people in the room, obviously expecting it to be empty. He tried pushing Ruth back out the door, but she had already smoothly moved past him. Ruth looked back at at him as she weaved through the people, wondering if this was all he was hiding from her. A secret club? Seemed fun to her.
As Ruth went looking for a drink herself, she began noticing more and more eyes on her. From what was at first a few glances turned into full on stares. Heads were turning as she walked past, and that’s when the loud room became uncomfortably silent. Noticing the dilated pupils of the people close enough to touch, Ruth began wondering exactly what was in the liquid they’d been drinking. Purposefully losing Ryan, the person out of the two of them who knew what was going on, seemed like a worse idea in hindsight. She figured she’d be able to blend into the crowd and have a good time, but that didn’t seem like an option now.
As this is happening, Ryan can feel the shift in the room as well. There was a quiet hush over the crowd that quickly turned to madness, louder than it had been before. With that change in noise and energy, he knew it was too late. Ryan had unknowingly led Ruth to the sharks on what was supposed to be a night off for the group. He expected to show Ruth around the empty room, tell her about who he was, and then leave. He had all the self-control in the world, but he knew nobody else did. They didn’t know Ruth. They didn’t care who Ruth was to Ryan. All they knew was a human walked in the door, and she wasn’t going to be walking back out.