La Sangretina

I wrote this story for my english senior seminar class. This story is about a group of college students who are studying abroad in Buñol, Spain.

“¡Papí han llegado!”

“Wow, we’ve only been in this country for thirty minutes and I already don’t understand anything.” Alexis joked as she pulled her luggage off of the bus.

“She’s basically excited that we’re here,” Chris grabbed the rest of Alexis’s luggage, “Can I help you out?”

“Sure, thanks.”

“Well well well,” Samantha playfully grabbed Alexis’s shoulders, “not only do we not understand anything, we’ve got to deal with some drama.”

Alexis playfully pushed Samantha off. We all laugh, none of us could believe that we were here.

The front door opened and the Iglesias came out with open arms.

“¡Hola todos!” Señor Iglesias paused with a funny look on his face, “Would you guys prefer English or Spanish?”

Before anyone could even think the question through, someone blurted out “ENGLISH!”. None of us were surprised that it was Samantha.

Señor Iglesias laughed, “Alright, well, welcome to the Iglesias property! We are honored to have you staying here for your-what is it?-spring semester! Now, go put your things down and I’ll give you all a tour of the property so none of you get lost. Boys, come with me. Elena, can you show these beautiful ladies to their rooms?”

We couldn’t help but blush.

❦ ❦ ❦

Later that night, after eating the most delicious Tortilla Española, we went up to our room to catch up on social media.

“Did anyone insta our dinner pic yet?” Samantha asked as she put on her pj’s.

“I’m getting to that,” Replied Alexis, “Which filter should I use, Moon or Nashville? This filter is a bit more candid, but this-”

“Hey guys! You have to come see this!”

Lauren came running into the room with her huge parka.

“Come on guys, get off your phones and move! This is so amazing!”

We slowly rolled off our beds. Samantha quickly started putting on her slippers.

Samantha looked at us, “Well, if Lauren thinks it’s a big deal, then it probably is, right?”

We put on our jackets and caught up with her.

When we opened the porch door, we were not only welcomed by the cold midnight air, but by a star-dusted midnight sky. There was no light pollution, so the sky was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.

“Am I the only one who has Untouchable stuck in my head?” Alexis asked.

“I have this tumblr quote stuck in my head,” I said, “If people sat outside and looked at the stars each night, I bet they’d live a lot differently. When you look into infinity, you realize there are more important things.”

No one said anything. I couldn’t figure out if they were trying to ponder the quote or the beauty of the night sky.

“This night sky just keeps reminding me of how lucky we are to not only be under the same sky, but in the same university-together!” Lauren exclaimed and looked up at the sky, “Look at us! We’re all here together, we all got into Boston College together, and here we are, looking at this starlit sky-together! It is moments like these that bring us closer, and I never thought we could get any closer.”

We all stared at Lauren. Then we stared at each other and smiled.

Samantha raised up her hand, which she shaped as if she was holding a glass.

“To us.”

We didn’t think this was weird, not even for a second. We all shaped our hands the same way.

“To us!”

❦ ❦ ❦

“Alright, is everyone ready to open their letter?” I asked.

“I’m so scared, I feel like I’m going to pass out,” Alexis mumbled.

Lauren put her hand on Alexis’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry, I bet you totally got in, but I bet I’m a whole ‘nother story.” Lauren started looking nervous as well.

Samantha walked in with a tray of frozen grapes and some water.

“Why are you guys so nervous? We applied to three other schools and we’re all going to get into at least one of them together.”

“True, but this is our top choice! I’m going to go into depression if I don’t get in. What if they judged me too much by my SAT score?” Alexis looked like she’s about to cry.

“Alexis!” I ran up and hugged her, “You’re a very smart girl. Plus, we haven’t even opened the envelope yet.”

Samantha walked up with her envelope.

“Alright girls,” She handed us all an envelope opener, “it’s now or never.”

We took a deep breath.

“Alright, I’ll count to three,” I said, “One...two...three!”

Everyone tore open the envelope like they were opening a present on Christmas day.

There was silence. No one breathed for a couple seconds.

“Oh my god, I got in,” Alexis stood up, “I GOT IN!”

“I did too!” Lauren stood up and hugged Alexis.

“Holy crap,” I started running around, “Me three!”

“Me four!” Samantha did a little dance and joined the hug, “Oh my god girls! We’re going to Boston College together!”

We started cheering, jumping around, calling our parents, and hugging each other all at once.

While that was all happening, I had to sit down, because I couldn’t believe that I would be spending another four years of my life with my three best friends.

❦ ❦ ❦

We’d only been in Buñol for a couple of days and my Spanish had already improved ten fold. Elena was helping me out and unlike my Spanish teacher back in junior year, she didn’t ostracise me when I said something that didn’t make any sense.

“So, we are going to Mariano, which is the best tapería in Buñol. I had to make reservations because Mariano is always super busy” Elena pointed at the city, “Does everyone know what a tapería is? Oh just kidding, we’re here, so you’re about to find out.”

The place was packed. People were gathered around the bar watching a soccer game.

As soon as we sat down, Elena convinced us that she knew the tapería’s special dishes and she ordered for us.

“So I see that the jocks are already getting comfortable,” Alexis snickered.

We all looked towards the end of the table. Andrew and his friends were letting some guys we’ve never seen before sit at our table. One of the men looked down towards our end of the table and winked at Alexis. Chris didn’t seem so happy after that.

“Just so you know girls, Spanish men can sometimes be a bit too friendly,” Elena advised us, “but don’t take it personally.”

I didn’t realize how hungry I was until our food came. Next thing you knew, I was stuffing my face with croquetas and chorizos. If those men weren't turned off before, I’m sure they are now I thought.

But they weren’t. In fact, moments later, the men pulled up their chairs towards our end of the table.

“Hello, how are you girls?” The man who said it was quite a hunk, and he flashed me a smile. I felt my stomach flip, but I managed to only slip in a smile.

Another man tried to start a conversation, “So, do you girls go to Boston College too?”

Elena gave the guy a look and said something under her breath to him. They were speaking Spanish so quickly to the point where we couldn’t understand them.

“¿Señor, puedes darme la propina?” Elena asked the waiter with a passive-aggresive look on her face. The waiter seemed to get the message and rushed toward the cashier.

“You girls are leaving so soon? But we were just having fun!” Joked the hunk.

“Well, we just came over here to talk because we’ve never seen women as beautiful as these four.” The man looked at Elena, “Can we at least have a photo? It will only take one minute.”

We took the photo. When the men asked us for our numbers, Elena gave them a look and they left.

❦ ❦ ❦

Later that day, we got back to the Iglesias property. After talking for a while and having our merienda, we got back to our rooms and we fell asleep.

That nap should have felt like the best thing ever, but it didn’t because minutes later, Elena came into our room. I knew she was not from the United States, but I was very sure everyone knows to knock before entering, am I right?

“Hello, I’m sorry to wake you guys up,” she had this worried look on her face, “but Chris says he wants to have an-¿Ah, como se dice?-emergency meeting.”

Confused, we staggered out of our beds. Getting out of bed was a struggle, but I realized that there might be larger struggles ahead of us.

Right when we got downstairs, everyone was already sitting in the living room, waiting for us.

Chris waited for all of us to sit down, then he cleared his throat and started to speak.

“Alright guys, first let me apologize for interrupting your afternoon naps, but this is actually really important. I need you guys to close your eyes for me, but don’t fall asleep again.”

Everyone chuckled.

“Raise your hand if you have not seen your passport since we’ve gotten back to the Iglesias.”

Oh my gosh, once I thought about it, I haven’t seen my passport since we’ve gotten back! At the time, I thought that I just left it in my room, but I always kept it in my backpack, and the last time I checked my backpack, it wasn’t there!

“Alright, put down your hands and open your eyes.”

We all looked at each other.

“So, believe it or not, everyone raised their hands. Obviously, you can’t get back to the U.S. without your passports, but rest assured, we-”

Everyone started talking at once. Brandon called up his parents and stepped out of the room.

“AS I WAS SAYING,” Chris shouted, “the Iglesias have already contacted the police and I have already contacted the Study Abroad department. They are dealing with the situation as we speak, so please don’t stress over this, we will find a way to help you guys get back to BC. Are there any questions?”

Like always, no one raised their hand.

“Okay then, you guys can go.”

As we were leaving, we started talking amongst ourselves.

“How on earth did our passports get stolen? We were huddled in a group the whole time, we would have noticed if someone pick pocketed us.” I said while I was frantically texting my parents.

“Well, you can’t underestimate pickpockets,” Alexis replied, “I’m just trying to think-”

“Hey Alexis,” It was obviously Chris, “can you think of anywhere where the pickpocketer might have stolen our passports? I can’t think of anywhere.”

I knew Chris was lying. He had a 3.9 GPA and he couldn’t come up with an answer to an obvious question. He just needed an excuse to talk to Alexis.

“Well, we did go to that souvenir shop, then the bullring, and the tapería. There were a lot of people at the bullring, so maybe we were pickpocketed there.” Alexis replied.

“Alright, I’ll contact the faculty at the bullring, thanks! And if there’s anything I can do to help you, don’t be afraid to ask me.”

“Okay, thanks.”

When Chris left, the awkward tension left as well. Samantha gave Alexis a funny look.

“What? He was just being nice.” Alexis walked ahead of us and into the bedroom.

❦ ❦ ❦

“So, as you guys know, we are going to participate in La Tomatina!” Elena announced,  "La Tomatina takes place once a year on the last Wednesday in August. This is the world’s largest food fight, and this will probably be the only time in your lives that you will get to throw tomatoes at each other!”

While Elena kept going on with her interesting facts, and while Andrew and his friends kept asking stupid questions about the rules (such as “are there going to be any hot shirtless Spanish women throwing tomatoes at each other?”), I zoned out, thinking about where our passports could have gone. I knew Chris told us to not to worry about our passports, but I can’t help it.

“Basically, if you just walk two more blocks, you will get to La Tomatina. I will be on calle Islas Baleares making my paella if anyone needs me. Here are your tickets, have fun!"

We didn’t have any trouble finding the festival because there were thousands of people on the street. Everyone was dressed in swimsuits and had goggles on (so that’s what I forgot). People were blasting Spanish rap music from their stereos and drinking.

“How do we know when the tomato fight starts? Sorry, I totally zoned out.” I admitted.

“Someone has to climb to the top of that pole and grab that piece of ham.” Lauren told me.

A couple of minutes later, someone started climbing up the greasy pole. The whole crowd started cheering the brave soul on. When this brave soul reached the ham, the largest food fight I had ever seen ensued. People were throwing tomatoes at each other left and right and before you knew it, the sidewalk was completely covered in squashed tomatoes.

“Hey Taylor!”

I turned around and I was greeted by Samantha throwing a tomato right in my face. The impact kind of hurt and it took me a couple seconds to get back into focus.

“You’re gonna regret that,” I yelled.

I ran toward the tomato truck and grabbed a tomato. Being that I used to be the captain of my high school’s varsity cross country team, I had no problem catching up to Samantha, who was obviously trying too hard to get away from me. When I caught up to her, I grabbed her with my left arm and I smashed a tomato on the top of her head. I smeared it everywhere on her face while she was screaming and laughing at the same time. When I let go of her, she turned around and also smashed a tomato into my face.

I sprinted back to the truck to grab more tomatoes. As I was running over, I heard Samantha scream at the top of her lungs and suddenly stop. I inferred that Alexis and Lauren scared her, so I didn’t look back and I kept running.

As I was grabbing some more tomatoes out of the truck, someone threw a tomato onto my back. I turned around and saw the two guys that took a photo of everyone at the restaurant. Even though they were covered in tomato juice, it didn’t take me that long to recognize them.

“What’s up?” One of the guys asked me.

The hunk threw another tomato at me. I thought they were just trying to flirt with me, but they threw that tomato at me too hard to be considered friendly. I started backing away from them.

The hunk grabbed my arm. His grip tightened and he started twisting my arm.

“Let go of me!” I yelled. I kicked him in his crotch. While the hunk fell on the ground, groaning in pain, I ran off, faster than I had run in a very long time.

I only stopped running when I was convinced that I was safe. I collapsed onto the sidewalk, feeling very relieved. However, this wave of relief soon turned into a wave of anxiety when I started wondering where the rest of my friends were.

Before I knew it, I was running back to the festival, faster than I had run when I was trying to get away from those creepy men.

When I got back to where I was fighting with Samantha, I started calling everyone’s names.

“SAMANTHA, ALEXIS, LAUREN, WHERE ARE YOU GUYS?!? PLEASE ANSWER ME!”

I was answered by someone throwing a tomato at my legs, I turn around and see that it was Alexis.

“Care to challenge us? We’ve already slayed half the festival.” Alexis bragged. Lauren laughed.

“No, have you seen Samantha?” I asked.

“No, why?”

I froze in horror. What if that scream wasn’t really a battle cry, but a cry for help?

“Um, I know you guys might think I sound crazy, but I think Samantha is in trouble. We need to find her, now!” I told them, “You two go that way, I’ll look around the street Elena’s working at, and we’ll meet back at that pharmacy in an hour.”

We all went our separate ways. I started running through the streets, calling Samantha’s name. As I ran around a corner, I found myself five feet away from a black van going at least fifty miles per hour. I had to leap out towards the sidewalk to get out of the way and I barely made it. Well, that was suspicious.

I started running the same way that van came from. Before I knew it, I reached a dead end. I found a jacket and a backpack on the ground. It didn’t take me long to figure out that these were all Samantha’s things. It also didn’t take me long to realize there were streaks of blood on everything.

I started trembling uncontrollably, then sobbing, then screaming for help. Next thing you knew, a couple was running towards me.

“¿Señorita, estás bien?”

“Oye, creo que ella solo habla Inglés.”

“Eh, can we help you?”

I showed them Samantha’s jacket while I was still trying to catch my breath in between sobs. The couple looked at each other in horror.

“Señorita, where did this come from?”

“My friend, I don’t know where she is, I haven’t seen her since La Tomatina began, please help me!” I begged.

“We’ll call the police.”

“Esto no es La Tomatina, es La Sangretina.”

“Thank you,” I sobbed, “Thank you so much.”

A few minutes later, an ambulance, a police car, and a forensics team arrived. The policemen took me to the police station, where I was reunited with my friends. We couldn’t stop sobbing and hugging each other for at least fifteen minutes. I bet we looked like complete idiots in front of everyone at the police station, including the rest of the Study Abroad group.

We were stuck at the police station for at least an hour. After two hours, I was fed up. I wanted answers and I was determined to find them. I spent the next ten minutes looking at a city map. As soon as I figured out where to go, I told Lauren that I was going to go back to the alley. Lauren told me to be careful and I left when no one was paying attention to me.

It didn’t take me very long to find the alleyway. The forensics team was gone and so was all of Samantha’s stuff. I looked around the alley for something, anything, that could help me find Samantha.

I couldn’t find anything. Frustrated, I collapsed onto the ground. I was expecting the cobblestone sidewalk to bruise my butt up, but I landed on something else. I looked underneath me and found a culinary magazine with a bookmark inside it. I flipped open the page and found a note inside.

Do you want to have your friend back? If so, come to the Carrefour. She is in the closet by the frozen food section. There is only one Carrefour in Buñol, so you won’t have any trouble getting there.

❦ ❦ ❦

We were dominating the dance floor, dancing together and singing Party Rock Anthem at the top of our lungs. Alexis must have requested fifty songs. Lauren started a congo line. Samantha and I were dancing together. Who needs a guy to dance with when you’ve got your best friends?

“Hey girls,” I laughed, “We’ve been dancing for the past hour, I need to sit down, these heels are killing me.”

“Same,” Samantha replied, “Lauren?”

We grabbed some punch and sat down with the wallflowers. I could feel people staring at us in envy, wishing they had friends as good as mine.

“I can’t believe we actually won a homecoming game,” Samantha said.

“Yeah, the quarterback actually scored a touchdown.” I replied.

“I wonder what the football team is doing right now?” Lauren asked.

“I don’t know, I bet they drove off to the homecoming after party.” Samantha laughed.

“Or they’re flirting with Alexis.” I replied, glaring at Brandon. At first, I thought they were just making small talk until Brandon grabbed Alexis’s arm.

“Well well well, doesn’t Alexis get all the boys?” Samantha chuckled.

“No wait, she’s actually trying to get away from him,” I stood up and started walking towards them.

“Let me go!” Alexis exclaimed. She was trying to twist her way out of Brandon’s grasp, but he only tightened his grip.

“Just what do you think you’re doing?” I pushed Brandon, but he only pushed me harder. I fell on the floor-hard.

Brandon started putting his hands up Alexis’s dress. Alexis screamed.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, someone punched Brandon in the face. Brandon fell on the floor, blood running out of his nose. Alexis slipped and fell.

“Are you okay Alexis?” Chris helped Alexis up, “I’ll teach that guy a lesson!”

The teachers started breaking up the fight. Brandon and Chris were escorted to the office.

“Hey! It was Brandon’s fault! Chris just saved Alexis from being molested, Chris didn’t do anything!” I told a teacher.

“Well, he did just punch a student and we just want to make sure that he stays safe. We saw the what happened too, we know he didn’t do anything.” The teacher replied, “You girls should go home, I think you all have caused enough drama tonight.”

Lauren called up her mom, asking her to come pick us up. Her mom seemed to have gotten the hint that we wanted to get out of here because she arrived five minutes after Lauren called her.

“Do you girls need me to order some pizza?” Lauren’s mom asked. We all nodded.

“I don’t know about you guys, but my feet are killing me!” Samantha threw her heels across Lauren’s room.

“Yeah, I think I’ve had enough Homecoming for tonight,” I joked. But no one laughed. There was just silence, “Alexis, if there’s any way that we can do to cheer you up after what-”

“It’s fine, I just need some rest,” Alexis replied, “I’m going downstairs to get some water.”

“Same” Lauren followed Alexis downstairs.

Everyone went downstairs except me and Samantha. Samantha was sitting on Alexis’s reading nook looking out the window. Then, she looked at me.

“Thank you,” Samantha paused, “for protecting Alexis tonight.”

“Oh, it was nothing,” I replied, “I mean, what are friends for?”

Samantha stood up and walked over to me.

“Because of what you did for Alexis tonight, I have full confidence that you would save any of us if we were in danger.” Samantha hugged me. She didn’t break off the hug. I didn’t try to either.

“PIZZA!”

We broke the hug and ran downstairs.

❦ ❦ ❦

I had stomach cramps from all of the Paella I ate for lunch, but that didn’t stop me from running all the way to the Carrefour. In fact, the pain motivated me to run faster.

I hid behind a shopping cart so I could take a minute to calm down.

If I walk into that store like a normal, civilized human being, I will be able to find those bastards, turn them into the police, and save Alexis.

Once my heart rate reached a normal BPM, I grabbed a shopping cart and walked into the store. There were a lot of people shopping today for some reason, which really helped me blend in with the crowd.

While I was pretending to shop in the frozen food section, I looked for the closet Samantha was supposedly trapped in.

While I pretended to be focused on picking up and dropping in frozen Spanish foods into my cart, a man was also shopping in the same section as me.

On my first look, I didn’t recognize him. When I took a double take, I had to avert my eyes.

I turned my shopping cart around and calmly started walking to the next aisle. When I got there, I hid and made sure the two men couldn’t see me.

I found a gap in between two cartons of linguini where I could see what was going on.

The two men were having a conversation, but they were speaking Spanish too quickly for me to understand.

Then, the hunk opened the door. Samantha was inside the closet. She was tied up to a chair with blood running down her face. She was sobbing and trying to scream, but she was so gagged up that there was no use in trying. Am I really the only one who is noticing this?!?

I was shocked. I curled up into a little ball on the floor. I never knew how it felt to have a person’s life in your hands-until now.

Because of what you did for Alexis tonight, I have full confidence that you would save any of us if we were in danger.

And this was no ordinary person, this was one of my best friends. This was Samantha.

I have full confidence that you would save any of us if we were in danger.

I couldn’t control myself anymore. I was so angry. I started walking into the men's line of sight.

Samantha saw me. Her eyes got really wide and she started screaming and squirming even more. The men noticed where she was staring.

“¡Oye, es la Americana!”

I took off.

The men were catching up to me. People were finally starting to notice that there was a problem.

While I was running, I saw a shopping cart and I rolled it into my pursuer.

I took off again and I somehow ran into the hunk. I started screaming before he put his hand over my mouth. When he put his hand over my mouth, I bit his hand. He screamed and let go of me. I started running, but he grabbed my leg and I fell to the floor. I started screaming again.

“You’re mine señorita!” He laughed.

“¡Oye, déjala solo!” One man threw a box of cake mix at the hunk, but that wasn’t enough to knock him out. Then, someone else smashed a bottle of wine into the hunk’s head, and the hunk crashed onto the floor and he was completely knocked out.

I ran out of the store and I didn’t look back until I got to the police station, where I knew I would be safe.

❦ ❦ ❦

“Taylor!” Alexis ran up to me and hugged me, “I thought you were dead!”

“Yeah, where the heck did you go? You had us scared to death.” Lauren joined the hug.

I sat down. It took me a couple minutes to be able to say something to them.

“Where’s Elena?” I asked.

“I think she’s still making paella,” Alexis told me, “Do you need me to call her?”

“No it’s fine, is Andrew here?”

“What do you need Andrew for?” Lauren burst out.

“Where is he?”

“He’s smoking outside with his posse.”

I walked out of the police station. It didn’t take me long to find Andrew, who happened to be drenched in tomato juice.

“Hey babe,” you could tell Andrew was so high right now, “what’s up?”

“Hey, is it true that you can speak Spanish?” I replied, trying to not choke on the fumes.

“Yeah.”

“Can you help me translate something?”

“And what would I get in return?”

I wanted to say ‘a sandwich’, but I didn’t want to lose my translator.

“Please.”

Before we walked into the police station, I stopped Andrew.

“Andrew, what I am going to tell you to say is probably going to scare you, but I need you to do this for me.”

Andrew shrugged his shoulders, “Whatever floats your boat.”

We walked in. A policeman was sitting at a desk, filling out some paperwork.

“¿Hola, cómo puedo ayudarles?” The policeman asked.

“Okay, I’ll tell you what to say in little bits,” I told Andrew, “My friend, Samantha, has been kidnapped.”

“Nada pasó a mi amiga, Samanta,” He repeated.

“I ran over to the Carrefour to find her.”

“Yo soy una tonta. Corrí al Carrefour porque estaba borracha.”

“Samantha is being held captive by two men in a closet by the frozen food section.”

“Fuí a ver a Samanta y tuvimos sexo con dos hombres en un armario en el supermercado.”

“I don’t know if she’s still there, but you need to help her.”

“Traime a tu casa.”

The policeman looked furious. He got up, walked towards us, led us out of his office, and out of the police station. The doors locked behind us.

Andrew started laughing like a madman and it was then when I realized what he did. I started walking off.

“Just where do you think you’re going babe?” Andrew pulls me into an alley across the street from the police station. I struggled to get away, but being that I sprinted two miles, I had no energy left in me.

Andrew knocked me against a wall. He was so close to me that I could smell his breath, which smelled like a cross between fish, tomatoes, beer, and cigarettes. It was probably the grossest thing I’ve ever smelled.

“W-what are you doing Andrew?” I stuttered.

He put his hands on my shoulders.

“Keeping you here until they come.”

I wanted to asked who on earth he was talking about, but then I knew.

“Wait, you mean the guys from the tapería?”

“Well, aren’t you a smart cookie?” He got closer to me, “Have I ever told you that smart girls turn me on?”

“Why are you doing this?”

“Babe, the question isn’t ‘why am I doing this?’ The real question is ‘why would I ever let five million dollars slip between my fingertips’?”

“Five million dollars?!? You made a deal with them? YOU MADE A DEAL WITH TERRORISTS?!”

“Yeah, the deal was if I helped those boys catch you, I would get five million dollars. They also said that I could do anything I wanted with you while I am waiting for them to pick you up.”

“You wouldn’t!”

“I don’t know, being that you’re one of the hottest girls on campus, I’ve always wanted to find a creative way to slip you off your feet, even if that means that I have to do it by force. Relax, I’ll make it fun.”

Andrew pinned me to the floor. He started kissing me before I could start screaming for help. He took off my pants and started running his disgusting hands all over my legs. He took off my shirt.

I tried to squirm, but he was too strong.

I gave up. I couldn’t believe that I was going to die this way.

I was such an idiot to think that I would be safe one thousand miles away from home.

I started sobbing. Andrew noticed that I completely gave up. He started taking off my bra and all that was left on me was my underwear.

“Relax, have some fun.”

I only started sobbing harder. Andrew started kissing me again and started taking off my underwear.

What on earth did I do to deserve this?

“YOU BASTARD!”

BANG.

Something hit Andrew on the head-hard.

Andrew fell on the floor, unconscious.

It was too much for me to handle.

I completely blacked out.

❦ ❦ ❦

I can’t believe that this all happened just a couple years ago.

It turned out that those two men were a part of a huge terrorist group in Europe and they were trying to find suicide bombers. Being that we are American, the terrorists saw us as their key to successfully terrorizing Madrid. Luckily, the terrorist failed in their mission.

Samantha was found in a black van. She was rushed to the hospital and treated immediately. Luckily, her wounds were minor.

I found out that it was Señor Iglesias who saved me from being raped by Andrew. When I asked him what he used to knock Andrew out, he told me he used Elena’s paella pan. Despite the fact that I was in a traumatic state of mind, I couldn’t stop laughing.

Andrew was a completely different story. Señor Iglesias sent him to the police station and the policemen called Chris. Chris was furious and not only did he call the Study Abroad department at BC, he called the US Embassy in Valencia. The U.S. ambassador happened to show up. Embarrassed by Andrew’s actions, he not only charged Andrew with attempted rape, he charged him for lying to a police officer & for negotiating with terrorists.

Boston College didn’t even try to cover up the incident. In fact, the administration at BC demanded that CNN aired this story. However, being that we were involved in a terrorist plot, BC was very surprised to know that CNN and a bunch of other major news sources had already aired the story.

My friends and I are still recovering from the traumatizing incident. However, unlike my friends, I have decided to not stay quiet about this situation. Instead, I have decided to use my story to warn others of the dangers of studying abroad. I now work in the department of safety for BC’s Study Abroad department. I travel to colleges and universities across the country, sharing my story and giving out tips that I consider vital to one’s own safety. Looking back, I know that these dangers can be prevented and I am still working on making sure that no other student who is studying abroad will ever have to go through what my friends and I had to go through.

Thank you for listening to my story.