It is a bizarre feeling to wake up unaware of your surroundings. But that is precisely what happened to me some ten weeks ago. When I came to my senses, I could only recall vague images from the previous night. Here I was on a strange beach. How had I ended up there? How long had I been asleep?
I began to put the pieces together as I gathered myself, groggy and unaware. It was South Padre, in Texas; where I had come for Spring Break. Saturday morning, probably around 9am. The airport...I had to get to the airport to catch my plane. I stood up with a stumble and turned to face the row of the now somewhat, familiar hotels. I felt dizzy and my body ached. The pace picked up as I began to walk a bit faster. When it started to drizzle I began to jog...then I slipped, falling face first in the wet sand. I got up and started to jog again, running faster since the drizzle had now turned to rain.
The last thing I could recall from the night before was the club I went to...and the name of it I don't even remember. All I know was that some guy offered me a hit of X, and for some reason, perhaps the earlier drinks I had; I decided to try it. I knew better than to mix drugs and alcohol, how stupid.
The hotel in the distance looked familiar...I thought it was mine. I got to the parking lot, which was pratically empty, and my urgency turned to worry. When I made it to the front desk the older dark haired lady stopped filing her nails and stood off her stool.
Oh my dear, how may I help you? she asked, likely surprised by my unkept appearance.
Yes ma'm, can you please tell me the time?"
Sure. she replied. It's eleven twenty."
Damn! I said, momentarily losing my cool.
That's okay honey, we have late checkout for you late risers. You had better get upstairs and get out of those things before you catch cold."
I informed the lady that it wasn't the checkout I was concerned about, but rather the plane that I had missed. She said that sort of thing happens every year, and that I could use the courtesy phone to call and arrange a ticket change.
I called the airline and told them about missing the plane, and asked what I could do. I was told of a change fee of $100 and a change in fare of another $200. Although $300 was not easy to come by in my life, I had to get home to make it back to class, and more importantly to keep my mother from finding out about my irresponsible behavior. When I went to give my credit card to the lady I suddenly realized that I was without my purse. Where was it? Did I leave it in my room? I had a feeling that I better call the card holder.
When I got a hold of the folks at cardholder, my worst fears were confirmed. It seemed that my credit line of two thousand dollars had been exceeded early this morning with multiple purchases in an hour time span. The agent informed me that pending an investigation, I would be responsible for only fifty dollars of those charges and that my card would be restored. But that would take several weeks. I was a thousand miles from home, I missed my plane, looked like a mess, had my purse stolen, and now it was pouring outside. All I could do was hang my head and cry.
Dr. Jo, my name is Lexi, and this is my story:
This past year I was a freshman in college, and took my first opportunity to go to Spring Break despite the warnings of my mother and classmates. I had worked hard throughout the school year with a full schedule of classes and a part time job as a waitress. A break was just what I needed to make it through the last five weeks of classes and my finals.
My mom was absolutely against the idea as she heard stories of drinking, drugs and sex. And my girlfriends in class, who had been the previous year, declined to go, instead, opting for skiing in Colorado. That sounded expensive, and extra money was not a luxury for me.
Although Mom refused to pay for any of the trip, and chastised me for going, I went anyway. I was her only child, and Dad skipped out on us when I was just six. I knew we didn't have as much as some of my friends, but she worked a lot and we did pretty well. Also, I worked damn hard to get a partial scholarship and paid much of my way through school. You would think she would appreciate that, but when it came down to it, she still often treated me like a child.
But the week had gone pretty well up until that last day. I came down to Padre on one of those trips that are scheduled by the college tour companies. I had to split a room with a girl from school that I didn't know, but Terry turned out to be pretty cool. I even met a sweet boy, Richie; who treated me very well and we spent two romantic nights walking on the beach. He was a perfect gentleman, unlike so many of the guys I had dated in the past. Although it was Spring Break, he wasn't like the other guys, only interested in one thing.
Unfortunately we had to part ways early, as he had to get back to Wisconsin. It seemed he promised his parents to spend some of his break with them. Like I said, what a sweet guy. After that last night of making out and heavy petting, we exchanged phone numbers and agreed to meet over the summer. He lived far away but I have to admit, I was hopeful that some kind of relationship might come out it.
It wasn't until that previous night, when I took that X, that everything went bad. It was against my better judgement, but everyone else was doing it, and I had heard so much about how good it felt, that I thought why not. But now I was in a bad spot, and I had no idea what to do. No one was there to help me, and there was no way I could call Mom. She would blow a gasket and I would never hear the end of it. I was alone and desperate, crying like a baby.
What's the matter?" I heard a voice ask.
I looked up to see a handsome guy that I had noticed around the hotel that week.
I missed my airplane and lost my purse and money and everything!"I said, continuing to cry.
It's ok...you just have to stop crying all right"
But...but I don't know what to do."
Don't worry, there is nothing worth crying over, hey it's Spring Break for a few more hours at least" he said as he chuckled. I'm Jeff"
I'm Lexi, thanks for trying to cheer me up. But I really am in a bad spot, and I don't know what to do"
Well Lexi, why don't we see what we can do to help you out. I wont be leaving for a while later, so maybe I can help."
I thanked him profusely, and proceeded to tell him about my morning, and what I could remember of the night. He told me to consider myself lucky I was ok and not to worry about anything other than that. It was then that I realized that I could have been beaten, or raped even, as I must have passed out on that beach for perhaps up to nine hours. That thought never entered my mind, and I realized that things could have been much worse than they were.
I have my wallet upstairs, maybe I can help you get home"
"Really?"
"Sure, the crazy thing about spring break is that it's really unpredictable. Who knows, we might even become lifelong friends or something." he chuckled.
What a great guy I thought. I was desperate, with no where to go, and he was like a knight in shining armor, making all the bad go away. Maybe he could even stop the rain.
Let's go upstairs and call, and give you a chance to freshen up.
I followed him up, and told him about my week, including meeting Richie and how we were going to meet up again this summer. Jeff said he sounded like a nice guy, and I was lucky to hook up with him here. We talked about his friends and that this was their last trip together. They had come to Padre every year, and the reality of getting a job and moving on from college was becoming evident.
When we got to his room, Trevor, one of his buddies, was sitting on the couch of their suite, with a baseball cap pulled far down his head. He looked as if he had been doing his best partying that week. I was introduced to him as he got the quick version of the story from Jeff.
Wow, that doesn't sound too cool. We will help you in whatever way we can Lexi. You must be starving after that long night. I tell you what, let me order some breakfast from room service while you freshen up. There are towels in the bathroom, and you can use whatever you need in there.....although most of it is guy stuff I guess. If you need something else, just holler and we'll get it from downstairs.
