"Mister... Please, understand my situation as well. As much as I wanted to pay you, I really don't have even a single penny with me right now."
Syra pleaded with all earnestly as she tried to make the old man see some sense. Yet her plea only fell on deaf ears.
"NO! Give me your money or I swear I will make it sure that you will spend the rest of your dear life inside the cell."
"Sir, please. I'm begging you. Please give me some time. I'll look for Aunt Caroline and once I found them, we will pay you back right away. If you want even with interest on top of that."
Syra bargained but the other party was really a tough nut to crack
"NO WAY! I am certain that you are just trying to dope me exactly like how that filthy wench mother of yours had done to me before. If you guys think that I would fall for the same trick again, you are all wrong! HUH! I am not a pushover!"
"But sir, believe me. I honestly don't have anything in me to pay you."
Syra further reasoned out when she suddenly noticed the change in the other party's reaction
"Oh, sure you have..."
The old man said as he gave Syra a once over from head to toe and stared at her with an obvious salacious intent on his eyes.
"Don't you dare get near me! I swear, I'll scream! I am a loud screamer! Very very loud..."
Syra's voice was already quivering at that time when she sid that as she slowly back away one step after another
"Oh, baby. You don have any idea how much I love screamers. I prefer them over moaners."
The old man said as he stuck his tongue out creating a perfect picture of a lecherous old hag. Then he slowly approached Syra who was now trembling from fear.
"I SAID STOPPPPP!!!!"
The young lady gathered up all her strength and threw one of her slippers towards the salacious old man. That hit him straight to his face which in return gave Syra a window of opportunity to escape.
She ran as fast as her feet could take her not daring to look behind her for fear of seeing the old man chasing and catching up with her.
-----
The poor girl no longer knew where exactly to go or where she was.
She was lost.
She had been running and running with no specific direction; wandering along the street half-mindedly with nothing in particular in her mind. To the point that she no longer realized that the sun was already on its way to the western horizon.
When the night arrived, dark clouds started to congregate again. The weather was just as bad as how her birthday was to her that day.
"Sure, heaven! Bring it on! Rain on me... Pour me all you've got there and show me how much more miserable my life could ever get! Rub it on my face! Damn you!"
Syra continued to walk around to look for a temporary shelter from the rain for she no longer had anywhere to go. There was certainly no way she would be brave enough to come back to that house. Considering that the dirty old man, landlord of hers, might still be waiting for her return.
It did not seem that he was joking though when he said that he would sue her for the debt and she knew well enough that no amount of pleading would work on him.
Just that short encounter with the old man alone was enough for Syra to see that the other party was certainly not a good Samaritan. So going back there was definitely out of her options.
Going to the police was not exactly a good option for her either. Since it was not as if she had proof on her claim if she went there and decided to tell them that the old man had tried to harass her.
It was not like the other party would just admit to it readily, in the first place.
"If I tell him on the police now, he could just turn the whole situation against me instead. He could easily deny my allegation with a straight face then report me on them in return that I owe him a big sum and I was just trying to run away from my responsibilities. In the worst-case scenario, I might even be the one to end up behind the bars tonight."
Syra weighed the possible pros and cons of her decision and she came up with that conclusion.
Due to her being distracted, she failed to notice that she was already on her way to crossing a narrow bridge.
The rain was pouring so hard as well, which made it harder for her to navigate properly in the dark and see past her nose.
'BOOM!'
All of a sudden, a deafening sound of rumbling thunder echoed in that depressing night.
"Holy Molly!"
She exclaimed as she jumped on her feet.
The sound was so loud and sudden, not to mention that it was also frightening which as a result, almost shocked Syra out of her wits.
She was caught off guard and due to that she lost her balance
"W-wa- wai-WAIT! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
Before she could even do something about it, Syra already fell on her feet with her face planted on the ground
"GEEZ!!!!"
She frustratingly picked herself from the ground and showed away her long brown wavy hair that got stuck on her face. Yet before the girl could even start lamenting on her new misfortune, she saw from a distance that there was someone attempting to jump off the bridge.
HE WAS COMMITTING SUICIDE!
"NOOOOOO!!!!!!"
Syra picked up her face and ran in the other party's direction as quickly as she could. Her conscience would not allow her to rest easy if ever she witnessed someone end up dying on her watch. Even though that man's poor life choices did not have anything to do with her in the first place
"HOLD ON! Don't you dare let go of my hand, you stupid bastard!"
She said in frustration as she tried to pull the man upwards. It was a good thing that Syra was able to arrive at the crucial moment and was able to get a hold of the suicidal man before he could even completely fell off the bridge.
"Whatever problem you've got. You have no right to kill yourself! All of us were having our own worries. Killing yourself will not gonna solve any of your problems!"
Syra continued to preach to the other party who was just probably around her age. At the same time, she was also trying her best to pull the man to safety.
However, the young man was just simply too heavy for her that she was already starting to lose her footing. The man's weight was pulling her down instead of the other way around!
"This is not good!"
Syra said through her gritted teeth but never did she thought about letting go of the other party's hand.
With every piece of her remaining strength, Syra stepped back a little before going back at the edge of the bridge again, and borrowing strength from her own momentum she tried her best to propel the man up.
But in the process, Syra also completely lost her own sense of balance. The moment she was able to successfully pull the man up, she fell on the bridge in exchange.
She tried her best to stop herself from falling but to no avail. Before she could even do something to save herself, Syra found herself descending on a free fall
"Is this how am I gonna day??? Why do I have to be a damn loser even in my time of dying???"
That was all she thought to herself before she closed her eyes and waited for her demise.