Long Night

by Jennifer Cross

July 23, 2001

Mitch leaned out over the counter and surveyed the lab. It was late on a Thursday night, and most of the college students here this summer were out at the bars. There were a few devoted students pounding away at the computers, but not many. Mitch glanced at the silent printers behind him. At least those who were here weren’t printing. He hated this part of the job, and would rather be in the help desk.
Just then, Mitch heard a scream of rage from the help desk. Before he could react, it was followed by a thud, and then a howl of pain. He leapt over the counter, but was nearly run down by Sarah. He grabbed for her, but she shook him off and ran into the break room, where she slammed the door. Figuring she would be okay for now, Mitch headed over to the help desk to see what had happened.
The glassed in room held four desks, a set of shelves, and a couch. James was sitting at the last desk, staring at David, who was holding his jaw. David turned when Mitch walked in and glared at him. “That bitch hit me!”
Unperturbed, Mitch leaned against the door and raised an eyebrow at him. “Why?”
“I dunno. She just hit me!”
Mitch glanced at James, who merely shrugged. “I had my headphones on.”
Sighing, Mitch shook his head. “Look, she wouldn’t have hit you without a reason. What were you talking about?”
“Nuthin, man, we were just talking, and she punched me! I’m telling ya, she hates me.”
David was starting to piss Mitch off, but since the night manager wasn’t here, Mitch was in charge, so he had to keep a level head. “Come on. You and I are going to talk to her.”
David looked like he was going to protest, but seemed to rethink it when Mitch glared at him. “Fine.”

The break room door was still shut. Mitch pressed his ear to the door, but couldn’t hear anything. He knocked on the door and called “Sarah? It’s Mitch.”
Waiting, Mitch turned to David again. "Wanna tell me what y’all were talking about when she punched you?”
“We were talking about her exes, okay? She made some cryptic comment about one of them, and I was curious.”
Mitch suddenly figured he knew what this was about, but still wasn’t sure why Sarah would hit someone over it. Knocking on the door again, he opened it a crack.
Sarah was curled up in a ball at one end of the couch. She didn’t sit up when he opened the door, and didn’t even acknowledge that he was there. Mitch pulled a chair up and sat down next to her. “Sarah? Wanna tell me what happened?”
Sarah raised her head and looked at him. “He had no right. He had no right to do it. It wasn’t my fault.”
“Who, Sarah? David? What did David do?”
Sarah shook her head and started to rock. “Charlie. He had no right. It wasn’t my fault. I was so scared.”
“She’s nuts man.”
Mitch glared at David, then turned back to Sarah. “You’re right, Sarah, Charlie had no right to do those things to you. But why did you hit David?”
Sarah looked up at David for the first time. David took a step back from the hate in her eyes. “David said that Charlie was right for beating me.”
Mitch wasn’t sure how, but suddenly David’s throat was in his hand and David was pinned up against the wall. “The hell?!? Are you fucking nuts?!? Why the hell would you say something like that?”
David’s hands were scratching at Mitch’s, trying to get lose. Mitch released him, and David dropped to the floor. “All I said was that if she was as big a bitch to him as she is to me, then maybe he had a right to hit her.”
Mitch resisted the temptation to kick the little fucker while he was down, but only just. “You’re an asshole, you know that? You know jack shit about what happened to her, okay?”
David laughed bitterly. “Yeah, sure, and you do. Right. I forget, you’re her little puppy. You’d say anything to defend her.”
Mitch knelt down and put his face right up in David. He spoke very softly, but David felt like he should have been screaming. “Damn straight. I was there when he threatened to put a knife through her. I was there when he showed up here looking for her after she left. I was there when she would stay at work all night, just so she wouldn’t have to go back to the apartment where he would show up and bang on the door at 1 am, demanding to be let in. So don’t give me any of your bullshit. I don’t want to hear it.”
Standing back up, Mitch glared down at David for a moment. “I want you to leave. I suggest you call in tomorrow and quit. If you don’t, I’ll tell the boss just what happened tonight, and you’ll be fired.”
“The fuck? Why would he fire me when she’s the one who hit me?”
Mitch gave him an incredulous look. “You think I’m the only one who was here for all this shit? The boss had to threaten to call the cops when he wouldn’t leave because he knew she was here. And that was after the asshole threatened to have the boss arrested by campus police for hiding her. You think that he’s not going to feel justified in firing you after you pulled a stunt like this?”
David looked doubtful, but got up and left. Mitch watched him grab his stuff from the help desk and leave. Turning, he paused to take in the sight of Sarah staring blankly at the wall, crying. “He was wrong, you know. It wasn’t your fault.”
“I know.”
Mitch waited for her to say more, but when she didn’t, he closed the door to the break room and went back to watching the print counter. Just another long night.