Little Red Dress by Addie Crane

Little Red Dress

            Once upon a time there was a girl named Scarlett. She was called that because of her beautiful red hair. Her parents did their best to prepare her for the real world. They taught her many lessons about being wary of strangers, watching her drink, never walking home alone after dark, and the like. She grew to be a brilliant, strong, and independent young woman and was accepted at the University of California Irvine. She found school difficult, but was good at balancing course work, friends, and her job at a local bakery.

            After one particularly stressful week, Scarlett decided to go clubbing with her friends in Los Angeles. She put on her favorite little red dress and made sure to put pepper spray into her bag. She talked to her friends the entire uber ride, happy that the school week was over and excited to dance at the club. They danced to all their favorite songs and made sure to watch their drinks. After an hour, one of Scarlett's friends, who had drank more than usual that night, was barely able to stand. Everyone decided they should get her home. Scarlett wasn’t done partying and wanted to help her friend, but wanted to stay at the club. Her friends tried to convince her to come back with them to the dorms, but she was stubborn and insisted she would be okay. Reluctantly they let her stay and she went back to dancing. Scarlett continued to drink and dance all night. At around 2am she decided to call an uber.

Since it was 2am on a sunday morning and a lot of drunk people were trying to get home rates were heavily inflated and it would have cost her $300 to get back to her college. She could not afford the cost, but it was late and knew she had to get home safe. She knew her grandmother lived in Santa Monica, but did not know how far the apartment was from the club. Scarlett looked up the directions on her phone and found out it would be a 20 minute walk. Walking alone at this time was far from ideal, but she felt she had no other choice. It was going to be hard, because she was drunkenly stumbling around in five inch heels. At least, her grandmother had given her a key to the apartment and said she was welcome to stay over any time. Scarlett knew how much her grandmother loved the cookies at the bakery she worked at in Irvine and wished she had known ahead of time to bring some with her. She messaged the group chat of her friends and told them she was going to stay at her grandmother's house close by. She set her phone to share her location with them, so they would know where she was at all times in case something happened. Scarlett started walking with her pepper spray in one hand and her phone guiding her in the other. The streets that always seemed so pleasant during the day seemed sinister. Every noise and every shadow made her tighten her grip on her pepper spray. After a couple minutes of walking a black mustang pulled up and the driver rolled down his window. She knew to keep walking and didn’t even glance at the car.

He called out to her, “Excuse me, miss it’s really not safe for you to be walking by yourself at this time”. She stopped for a second remembering all the warnings her parents had given her, but figured she could pepper spray him if he tried anything. She walked up to his window. She noticed he was wearing a nice suit with a thick wool coat and that his eyes were different colors.

“I don’t want to seem creepy. You’re just a beautiful girl,” he smiled showing his big almost blindingly white LA smile, “I would hate for something bad to happen to you”.

“I should be fine thank you” Scarlett replied starting to walk away.

“Get in. I can give you a ride wherever you need to go”

“Seriously, I’ll be fine I’m just going to my grandmother's apartment at the corner of Wilshire and South Barrington”

“I won’t force you. Stay safe” he said and then sped away.

Feeling a little bit more trusting of strangers Scarlett continued her walk. She was relieved when she reached the apartment complex and put her pepper spray back in her purse. She unlocked the door as quietly as possible hoping to not wake her grandmother. She noticed the lights were on and found that strange because her grandmother went to bed early.

“Grandmother? It’s me Scarlett. I didn’t have money to go home so I figured I would stay here. Are you okay?” She called out.

“Oh Scarlett! I’m glad you’re safe and you chose to come here. Come say goodnight to me” Scarlett's Grandmother replied from the bedroom. Scarlett put her bag down in the living room and walked into the bedroom only to find the man that offered her a ride home holding a knife to her grandmother's throat.

“What are you doing here?” Scarlett asked in shock.

“You told me the address. You weren’t going to get in the car so I drove here and knocked on every door until I found your grandmother's house. I pushed her to the ground, dragged her in here, and tied her up. She tried to fight me, but she’s so frail. It would be a shame if she got hurt” He said looking at the blade he had pressed to her throat.

“What do you want?” Scarlett asked starting to shake.

“You’re going to let me tie you up and have my way with you. If you struggle, run, or scream I will kill her in front of you. Understood?” he said smugly knowing she had no choice.

“Understood” she cried. He walked up to her and started to tie her up. She started to struggle as a reflex. He slapped her across the face. Scarlett fell to the floor and through tears watched him kill her grandmother. She let out a bloodcurdling scream. He slapped her again then resumed tying her up. Just as he finished another man ran into the room holding a gun.

“Oh my God! What happened here?” The man with the gun asked, “Step away from the girl or I will shoot”. The man who tied up Scarlett tried to reach for his knife, but he was too slow and the other man shot him in the head.

“Are you okay? Are you injured?” The man asked putting down his gun.

“Physically I’m okay. Who are you?” Scarlett asked.

“My name’s John. I live next door and I heard someone scream so I ran over as fast as I could.” He untied her and she thanked him for everything and told him everything that happened. She got her purse in the living room to call the police to report what had happened.

“Don’t call the cops yet” John said.

“Why not?” She asked suspiciously.

“I saved you because I’m a nice person. Don’t I deserve something in return?”

She realized what he meant, “Nice people don’t need anything in return…”

“Of course you’re just like every other girl. I saved your life and all I get is a thank you? I’m sick of being so nice to girls and never getting anything in return. I try so hard to be nice to girls because that’s who I am a nice guy, but girls never seem to want a nice guy” He emphasized the last two words.

“It’s not that I don’t want to sleep with you because you’re a nice guy,” she said, “I don’t want to sleep with you because I don’t want to sleep with you. I don’t owe you anything. You chose to save me and I’m grateful, but it was your choice and I don’t have to give you anything in return”.

“Whatever you put yourself in this situation. You probably asked for it”. John rolled his eyes.

“Excuse me? How did I put myself in this situation?” She asked offended.

“You’re a drunk girl in tight revealing clothes. This is your fault. You’re dressed that way so you obviously wanted attention”

“Are you serious? It doesn’t matter what I’m wearing or how much I’ve had to drink. None of my actions make what he did okay. I did not ask for this. Now get out or I will mace you” She said firmly while pulling out the pepper spray in her purse.

“Whoa why would you pepper spray me? I saved your life. I’m a good person” He said leaving. Once he was gone Scarlett called the police and they escorted her back to her dorm safely.