The Riders of Girona

I finish filling up my car when I notice how chilly the evening is turning. I grab a jacket from the backseat and head towards the convenience store when I notice two women coming out of it.

They appear young, early twenties, perhaps even younger than that. They walk directly towards me. Feeling uncomfortable, I step aside to let them walk past me, but then they turn and stop right in front of me.

"Hi, mister," one of them says with a noticeable accent, "could you give us a ride?"

The other girl smiles. A beautiful and apparently innocent smile. Both girls are well dressed and wearing makeup, as though they are going for a night out. They look very attractive.

"That depends," I reply. "Where are you going?"

"Which direction are you going, Mister?" the first girl asks.

"I asked you first," I reply. "Tell me where you are heading and I'll tell you if I can give you a ride."

"Ok. We're going to Zaragoza."

"I'm going to Lleida."

"That's ok. We have a friend who lives in Lleida. We can go with you and then go to Zaragoza."

"They are pretty far from each other. You know that, right?"

"Yes, but it's ok. Lleida is on the way to Zaragoza."

I ponder for a minute. And I look directly at them as I think about my options. I want them to know I'm willing to give them a ride, but I also have my suspicions. 

When the silence becomes too uncomfortable to endure, I gesture them to enter my car. 

"Ok, I'll give you a ride then," I say.

What harm can there be in giving two young women a ride, I think. In fact, they are the ones who should be worried about asking for a ride on a gas station. Moreover, my male brain tells me there could be an opportunity here. I'm not much older than these girls, so who knows what may happen. I mean, I've heard stories of guys who gave ride to travelers and they ended up going to parties and even hooking up.

But my fantasies soon vanish when we start moving. The girls say nothing to me or to each other. They stay busy tapping on their phones. The first girl, the one who seems to be more talkative, sits beside me.

"So," I say after turning the volume of the radio down, "aren't you girls afraid of hitchhiking in these parts?"

"No," the first girl says.

"Really?"

"We can look after ourselves."

"I know I would be afraid. I'm a man and I would. I thought for a woman it'd be even worse."

"Well, we come from a place that's very dangerous. We would never ask for a ride there. But here… here is different. It's a lot safer here."

"I understand. And what are your names?"

"I'm Maria," the first girl says.

"I'm Letizia," the other says almost at the same time as the first.

I find it odd that they don't ask my name, but I let it go.

"Are you going to a party?" I ask.

"No," Maria replies with her eyes glued to her phone.

"You two appear to be dressed for a party."

"We like to dress like this." Letizia says.

"Ok. And what do you do in Girona?"

"We work."

"What kind of work?"

"We work in a shop. A clothing shop. You know, fashion."

"Could you turn the heat, Mister?" Maria asks as she raises her eyes and leaves her phone on her lap.

"Sure. It's getting cold now," I reply.

"This is a nice car," she says while looking at the dashboard.

"Yes, I like it. I bought it last year."

"What kind of car is it?"

"You mean the brand and model?"

"Yes."

I tell her the brand and the model of the car. She then suddenly gets quiet and looks out the window.

"I especially like the color. All black," says Letizia, still looking at her phone.

"Well, it's not really black. It's dark grey," I say.

"Oh, ok."

The ride continues pretty smooth from this point on. We all seem to be less nervous and the conversation goes well. We talk about work, we tell each other childhood stories. After a while, Letizia lays her head on the seat and appears to doze off. Soon after, Maria does the same on the passenger seat.

When we arrive in Lleida, both girls suddenly wake up and appear agitated. Maria quickly reaches for her phone. Letizia moves her head continuously, looking through the windows. At some point, the girls look at each other and gesture something that I can't properly see, due to the darkness inside the car.

"Are you girls ok?" I ask.

"Yes, of course," Maria replies.

Letizia now has her body twisted as she appears to be searching for something through the rear windshield. Then she quickly turns and fixes her sight on me. During this time, however, I can see Maria glancing at the side-view mirror.

There is definitely something going on, I shudder. Part of me tells me that everything is ok, and this is only happening because of my suspicious nature. But when I think of all the little strange things that happened since I met these girls, I decide to be more confrontational.

"What are you girls doing?" I say.

"Uh, nothing," Letizia replies.

"Where do you want me to drop you off?"

"It's just ahead. Two more minutes," says Maria.

I see a white car behind me. Two males inside. Perhaps they are following me. Or are they? There is just one way to make sure.

I start speeding up. We are in a local street, but I don't care. I go really fast.

"What are you doing?" Maria shouts from the passenger seat.

"Stop! Stop!" Letizia screams from the backseat.

I make a hard turn and then stop the car. A few seconds later, I see the white car turning on the corner. I speed up.

I do this once more on another street and again I see the white car following me.

"You can leave us here," Maria says.

"Yes, this place is ok," says Letizia. "We are very close to our friend."

"I'm not stopping here," I tell them.

"Why not?" they ask as they look at each other.

I don't answer. They keep asking me to stop. They say if I don't, they will call the police. When I'm close to my apartment, I see someone left the garage door open. I enter and quickly close it with my control.

The two girls look at me in panic. They appear to be very scared, but now they are not saying anything.

I leave the car and run upstairs. I knock on my friends' door. It's not late, so they must be awake. The door opens. Two are in the living room. I hurriedly explain what is happening. They understand exactly what we have to do.

We get ourselves sticks and pipes and go down the stairs. 

We find the girls trying to open the garage door. They startle when they see us coming. One of my friends goes insane and starts screaming at them.

"What are doing!?" he shouts. "Are you trying to rob my friend!? What are you planning!?"

As he screams, he hits his stick on the metal parts of the garage door. This is incredibly loud. The girls start sobbing and begging us to let them go.

My friends want to keep doing this. They want to scare the girls so that they never do this again. However, afraid that the noise may be too much for the neighbors, I decide to put an end to this.

I open the garage.

Before it completely opens, the girls are already running. To my surprise, I see the white car parked in the middle of the street. The two men are waiting outside. My friends and I look at each other. Without a second of hesitation, we storm towards them.

The girls scream and run away from the scene, along the sidewalk. 

We also shout. We don't care about the neighbors anymore.

The two men enter the car and flee the scene. 

We still manage to hit their car with our sticks and pipes once or twice. I manage to break one of the rear lights.

The car stops. The driver makes a sudden movement, as though he is trying to get off the car. 

If they have a gun, it will be the end of us.

None of us thought about this possibility.

We run.

They also run.

Speeding away.

The girls are left behind.

The car with only one rear light working disappears on the next corner.

We enter the building through the garage door.

I go to my friends' apartment. We laugh. We keep looking out the window. No sign of the girls or the car.

We drink beer.

We'll be talking about this for months.

Luckily they didn't have a gun.