Thanks man.
So the story… the dumbest thing I did while I was there. I was at a bar drinking with my family when I noticed my phone was at 5%… I was incredibly tired and didn’t know there were chargers available so I did the irresponsible thing and called for an uber in a huge town that has a rep for crime with a phone that was about to die.
Before leaving I spoke to the girl I was staying with. She wrote her address on my hand and gave me her keys. The key to the main door and both of her apartment keys. Soon the uber arrived and off I went.
It was an uber pool. People are actually pretty cool out there. The second guy got in saying “ah this is an uber pool?” He seemed to bee in a good state of mind. “Ah, who is this guy?” He and I hit it off pretty well. Like some variant of automatic fraternity. It was probably the booze. His stop came up first. He actually didn’t need to travel far. After he left I started talking to the uber driver.
My destination was a bit farther off. Hyde Park. Her and I had a good chat. More about her than about me. She had a mild accent. Some asian influence. She was quite pretty, but that’s aside from the point.
It was evident she had no idea where the address was. I was moderately worried, but also not too concerned. Her GPS should have gotten me close enough. The only complication was that my phone had died by the time I got there. Sure enough she did drop me off on the wrong street. I was looking for the 5212 and all I saw 5200 and 5230. She had already left.
There I was. More or less blacked, out scanning the surrounding environment for any god damn clue that might indicate what direction the apartment complex I had only seen once might be. Luckily in between the 5200 and 5230 I caught a clear sight of the number “5212”… I took off through the driveway that laid between the two streets. The uncertainty of my location passed as the building came into view. I recognized the road and how the cars were parked on it. I was only a block off luckily. I actually didn’t see anyone out there at the time.
I made my way into the building, found her apartment. Went in and that was it. Lights out. I got a much needed 7 hours of sleep and awoke at 2 am.
I laid there for a couple hours pondering over this girls existence. I knew my phone was dead but I didn’t see it as any issue. I was unable to tell my family members and her that I had made it back safely, but it was already 2 am.
I kept lying there, waiting for the door to open. Then at around 4 am it clicked. “Oh, ■■■■! I have her keys.”
Then about half an hour of panic set in. I was sure she either just went to a friends or was out in her car outside. I ran out there and started looking for her car.
Couldn’t find it.
Then I decided I’d try to use her laptop to send her an email and try and get in contact that way. The laptop was dead so I started looking around her desk for its charger. Found her phone charger instead.
Powered up the phone. Had 9 messages. I called her, no answer, called again and she picked up. “I’m so glad that you’re alive out there.” Or something along those lines she said.
She was at a friends, but she had also been drinking and the smoking after her shift ended. She needed to sober up. I messaged my family to let them know I was fine.
Well skip to the end. Eventually she gets back to the apartment around 9 am.
I felt terrible. This girl has been studying constantly all year and working in that bar. Her semester just ended and due to march madness she had 2 very demanding days off work before she could finally enjoy her break. She should have been able to finally come home to a blank slate with at least a week’s work of rest in sight, but on her arrival she found herself locked out of her apartment. It was more or less both of our faults, but mainly mine… Got to lay there between 4 and 9 feeling like a dumbass, pouring over the whole ordeal. She’s a reasonable chick though.
Was pretty reckless and dumb though. I’m used to kansas towns that are 20 square miles with virtually no crime. In that drunken state I threw out all the rules and mucked ■■■■ up for spell. Least I made it to the apartment in the first place though.
Lesson learned. When visiting the city, always, always, always keep your phone charged.