Lending a Helping Hand

I guess I would consider myself to be a helpful person. I don't see me as being better than or more helpful than anyone else, I'm just someone who knows what it is like to need help and either have no one be willing to help or no one around to offer it. So most of the time I try to be as helpful as I can.

I am discovering that this is not always easy. Most times when I offer my help I find that I end up getting more than I bargained for. Sometimes my generosity leads people into thinking that they can now depend on me for everything and it doesn't take long before I begin to regret my decision to help them in the first place. Other times my willingness to help is misread, causing people to think that I must be plotting on them or up to no good, after all why would someone who looks like me try to help someone who looks like them.

Then there are times that I reach out to help someone and I find myself in trouble. This has happened to me far more times than I care to admit, but there is one time in particular that is forever etched into my memory.

I was in the military, stationed at the Presidio of S.F., CA. At the time I was working the late shift. It was boring work and most of the time I would find myself consuming large amounts of Coca Cola to help keep me awake. The soda didn't always work, I would just get a quick sugar rush and then end up passing out on my keyboard leaving me with a temporary tattoo of the home row keys on my forehead.

One night while I was dozing off...I mean hard at work, I was jolted by the sound of someone screaming. I listened intently for a moment to see if I would hear it again but I didn't hear anything. It was about 2:30 am and I figured that the soda was getting to me and I went back to work. I had just started typing when I heard the screams again, but this time I could tell that it was a female and she was clearly screaming for Help!

I got up from my desk and went to one of the windows, I couldn't see anything but I could hear the screams coming more frequently and they sounded very close. I didn't have a clue what was going on but it sounded like someone was in serious trouble. I tried to look out of one of the other windows but I still couldn't see anything. I grabbed a flashlight and I headed outside.

I had no idea what I was going to find once I got outside, but I charged out there anyway. I was just coming around the corner of the building when I could hear the screams again. I looked up and there just behind my building was a car coasting slowly. It was swerving and zig zagging and it appeared that there was some sort of struggle taking place inside the car.

I guess the driver saw me or my flashlight because the car began to accelerate in my direction, passed me and then ejected a half dressed female out of the passenger side while the car was still in motion. It was one of the craziest things I had ever seen. The person just lay there for a few seconds before jumping up and yelling obscenities at the driver, who sped off with tires screeching leaving her there. I stood there watching her as she stood there watching the car drive away, it was an awkward moment. I was tempted to just turn around and tiptoe my way back inside, because it was clear to me that this was an illegal transaction gone bad and as I stated earlier when you stick out your neck to help sometimes it becomes more that what you bargain for.

Before I had a chance to sneak off however the young lady turned around and saw me standing there. She was a mess! Her hair was messed up, her face was bloody and she only had one high heeled shoe on. I realized that I was staring at her, I caught myself and then quickly asked her if she was okay. By now she had started crying. I told her that I could go inside and call the police for her...but she began limping in my direction begging me not to.

I told her to at least let me call the paramedics since she was injured, she tried to talk me out of that as well. She asked if she could come inside and use the bathroom to clean herself up. I agreed. My plan was to call the police while she was in the bathroom. I took her inside and showed her where the bathroom was. After she went into the bathroom I ran down the hall to call the police before she came out. I explained to the police what had happened and told them that the young lady needed medical attention as well. They assured me that officers were on the way.

Just as I had finished talking with the police, a fellow soldier who had heard the commotion came to investigate. I told him everything that had happened. He sat and waited with me for the police to arrive. We stepped outside for just a moment so that I could show him where everything happened. While we standing there talking we noticed what looked like a wallet and a purse on the ground. We began walking in the direction of those items when we saw the police pulling up.

The police pulled up in front of us and hopped out of the car. I was about to approach them and talk to them when they ordered me not to move. I told them that I was the one who had called them on the phone, but they began insisting on seeing some identification. The soldier who was with me reached for his pocket and the police drew their guns. The solider froze and said "I only have a wallet...no gun!" After some fast talking the police finally accepted that I was the one who called them and then asked to talk to the young lady.

We went back inside to get her. She had not yet come out of the bathroom, and I was worried. I got the impression that the police didn't really believe me as they didn't even bother following me to get the girl. Maybe they thought she was just a figment of my imagination, and my imagination was running wild with me by then. The entire time that I was walking down that hallway I was praying that she was still alive in there because after the way the police were just treating me I knew that I was really going to be in trouble without that girl alive to tell them what really happened.

I approached the bathroom door and knocked on it. No answer from inside. I called out "Are You Alright in there?" No answer. I announced that I was going to open the door...still no answer. I began slowly pushing the door open and continually announcing that I was coming in (which was kind of ironic anyway seeing that she didn't have much on to begin with) Still she didn't answer back.

I was almost afraid to look inside, and my mind was running a hundred different possibilities of what I was going to find in there and none of them were good. I ignored the mental images and pushed the door open some more and slowly peeked my head inside. At first I didn't see anything. I pushed the door open further and there she was...part pacing part limping in a circle. She was talking to herself oblivious to the fact that I was calling her. I didn't want to yell and startle her, so I raised my voice just a little bit "Excuse me..."

She heard me this time and she stopped pacing. She was standing in front of the mirror and when she saw her reflection, she perked up and said "Oh there you are!" and she began having a conversation with herself. Having no success with getting her out of the bathroom, I summoned for the police who were still down at the other end of the hallway. They made there way to the bathroom and I took them inside where the young lady was. Once they began trying to talk to her I backed away and left her in their hands. Eventually the paramedics arrived and they got the young lady to leave with them. The police apologized to my friend and I for their hastiness and hostility.

Once the police had left and everything quieted down I sat down and went back to work. I noticed that I didn't need anymore caffeine to keep me woke as I was still soaring from the adrenaline of witnessing a crime and almost being shot.

It wasn't funny at the time, but now it is one of those things I look back and laugh at. Sometimes I wonder if given a second chance to do it over would I go outside and investigate, or would I just call the police and tell them I heard screaming. Knowing me I would probably do the same thing all over again.

I never found out what truly happened with that young lady that night, but I hope and pray that she received the help she needed. As for me I still try to be as helpful as I can..but I think the next time I hear someone screaming for help..I might just call the police and let them deal with it...then again maybe not.