Pretty soon it became obvious that no more taxis were coming back. The few of us who were left called around the local taxi firms, but we weren’t getting any luck. It was late Friday night, the busiest night for pubs and clubs, and it became obvious I’d have a long wait. People started to walk off, deciding to go to taxi ranks in town. I looked around, still half-drunk, and thought I didn’t fancy just hanging around waiting there, so I started to walk home.

The route home was along a long road with shops and very few houses. Of course the shops were shut by then and the road was pretty empty. The only people I saw were groups of lads walking in the direction of town, while I was heading away from it. I walked pretty unsteadily along, cursing my shoes. I’d taken a taxi to McCullough’s, not thinking I’d be walking home. My heels seemed to catch every gap in the paving stones and I had to watch every step I took so that I didn’t twist my ankle. The night was chilly and I pulled my jacket tightly around my chest.

I could see a man coming toward me and moved closer to the edge of the sidewalk to let him pass. He looked up at me and grinned, then said, “Hello.” I didn’t respond, but kept my head down and hurried on and I heard his footsteps recede, then the sound of him kicking a plastic bottle from the sidewalk onto the road.

Then the road was quiet, the streetlights dimmer and more infrequent. There were few houses along this stretch. On one side was a park, quiet now, of course, and pitch-black beyond its railings. On the other were shops and offices, all of them closed. Few had left a light on so I hurried from lamppost to lamppost, realizing it had been years since I’d walked home down a dark road on my own. I tried to remember the rules I’d learned as a girl: I didn’t walk too close to the buildings, in case someone dragged me down an alley. I didn’t walk too close to the parked cars alongside the road in case someone was lurking there. I didn’t put my headphones in. I was on high alert. My house key almost scarred the palm of my hand, I was gripping it so tightly.

Then I don’t know what happened, but suddenly I felt strange. My skin prickled and my ears strained to pick up cues. I straightened my back and walked a bit faster, while I tried to work out what was happening. And then I realized. I felt someone was there.