Myriam and Amba's Mid-Night Journey

"You're joking, right?" Amba asked as she looked at Myriam in disbelief.

"No, why would I be joking about such a thing? It's not like I'm gonna sneak out of my room, climb over the garden wall and go to some dance club or something," Myriam replied with a smile.

"But...but...but..." Amba stammered. "What if you get caught? What if someone sees us? What if we get raped?"

"Raped? Who's going to rape us?" Myriam laughed.

"We're in Scandinavia! The women are as hot as they are tall and the men are just as tall and handsome! They don't need to rape girls, they can get them any time they want!"

"I don't care how good looking people here are, I'm still scared! Look at this place!" Amba said as she looked around the dimly-lit streets of the town.

Myriam laughed again and said, "How long have you been living in Lebanon? This is nothing!"

Amba didn't say anything for a moment. She just kept looking around and trying to see through the darkness that surrounded them. Then she said, "I'm from Beirut so I've seen it all before."

"Really?" Myriam asked her with a laugh. "So you've been to Dahieh then?"

"That's where we live." Amba looked back at Myriam and smiled sheepishly. "Okay fine, I've never seen anything like this before but that doesn't mean that I should go to some empty street at night."

"It's not going to be empty for long," Myriam said as she pointed towards two figures walking towards them.

The two girls quickly hid behind a parked car and watched them approach. The girls noticed that both men had military uniforms on and one even had a gun hanging from his waist belt.

The girls could hear them speaking English but they didn't understand what they were saying so they waited until they were gone before coming out from their hiding place. The girls knew that there was no way that anyone in this town would recognise them unless someone called the police about people who were roaming around at night dressed in black cloaks with their faces covered by scarves.

They knew that someone would call the police because there were no other reasons for someone to be out on the streets after dark wearing cloaks unless they were criminals themselves or on their way to commit a crime or other misdeed. The ladies knew all too well about cloaks because that was what people wore when it was too cold outside and they had to keep their head covered to avoid getting sick because of the harsh weather conditions of these northern countries.

The girls walked down the empty street alone without any fears because they trusted each other and knew that they could overcome any dangers together. They walked past stores and houses until they reached a corner store that seemed open despite being dark inside since there were lights shining through its windows.