While most college students were drinking beer kegs, running around in their underwear, stealing traffic cones and having anonymous sex; I was diligently working. I was studying all my textbooks and handing all my assignments in on time - in fact, I think I handed assignments in before the lecturer had even thought of assigning them. I was a psychic- assignments-hander-inner.

So no, I'd never found myself in a situation where I'd had way too much to drink and a man was coming onto me... strongly.

I brushed his hand off my knee 'accidentally' while reaching into my handbag for nothing at all. I pulled my bag onto my lap and began rummaging through it, hoping that by covering my lap, he might get the message...

Hands off the lap, buddy.

"If you're looking for this..." His voice was laced with vodka and sex. He surreptitiously pulled a shiny wrapper out of his pocket. It took my eyes a moment to adjust, but when the object finally came into focus, I gasped.

"Extra, extra large, studded and ribbed for added pleasure."

"No... no! I think you've got the wrong idea here." Wild panicky-nausea was rising.

"No wrong idea here baby," the guy leaned in again and this time, made a beeline for my lips. I turned my head and felt his moist mouth smash into the side of my face. I could smell the overwhelming stench of beer and cigarette smoke. It made me feel sick.

"What's the matter with you?" he asked. He sounded pissed off now.

"Nothing, I'm just not... I don't do this kind of thing. I'm sorry." Why was I apologizing to this awful man who was coming onto me in a bar?

He gave me the dirtiest look I've ever received in my life. "Do you really think I bought you drinks all night and listened to your sob fucking story for hours because I actually care?"

I gasped once more. I was shocked to my very core.

He made another move for my leg despite the fact that my bag was covering it. I jumped off the barstool, bumping my drink and spilling it across the bar.

"You better pay for that." He spat his words at me like venom.

"I....I..." I stumbled in my bag, looking for my wallet but when I did, he grabbed my wrist. I twisted my arm and managed to break free.

Scenes from movies in which the heroine tries to get away from the bad guy started playing in my mind and then without thinking about it, my hand found itself grabbing the tall glass of beer off the counter – it didn't belong to me – and emptying the it on his face. It splashed on him, ran onto his shirt and sprayed at least four more people standing near him. They all turned and glared at me, wiping beer off their shirts and angry faces.

"What the fuck... that was my beer." The man behind me said.

"You bitch." One of the wet bystanders said.

"I... I... I'm sorry." This hadn't exactly gone like the scene in my head. I had imagined the thing playing out more elegantly. The spray of liquid would only land on him and all the bystanders would see and rush to my aid, the bouncer might even throw the pervert out of the bar while some nearby woman commiserated with me, "All men are bastards honey. We girls gotta stick together."

A dozen angry eyes stared at me. And so I did the only thing I could do... I ran. I pushed my way through the crowd and stumbled out onto the streets. The uneven cobblestones tripped me up immediately and I fell. Red, hot pain shot through me as my knee connected with the hard floor.

I stumbled back up onto my feet, only now the world was spinning and tilting and swirling and cruelly tricking me into thinking I was falling forwards. I put my arms out in hopes of steadying my balance, but it still felt like an invisible string was pulling me forward.

I heard a noise behind me and turned. The door opened and he stepped out and looked at me.

Run. You have to run!

But my legs felt like they were unable to carry out my brain's commands. The man stepped through the door now and started walking towards me...

Run. Run. Run.

This time my legs obeyed. I ran out into the night as fast at I could. I had no idea which way to go. I couldn't even figure out if I was going up or down my vertigo was so bad.

Up a narrow cobbled street. Turn left... I think.

Up or down the stairs in front of me? Neither!

Turn right and up another small alley. Maybe?

Left again. Shit, shit, shit, be careful of all the pot plants!

But it was too late. By the time I saw it, I had already bumped into it. My leg screamed at me as the pain of a thousand thorns dug into it. Fucking cactus bastard! But I didn't stop to examine the damage, I just kept on running.

The streets seemed to be getting steeper and narrower as I went. I heard a noise behind me and turned. I shouldn't have.

"Ouch." I winced in pain as something yanked me backwards. I reached up and my hair was twisted in the thorny vines of the massive, low hanging Bouganvillia I hadn't seen.

You've got to be kidding. Even the flora on this stupid island was out to get me. I was clearly allergic to Greece and as soon as I got back to my hotel, I was booking the first flight out of this God forsaken place and back home.

My fingers frantically pulled at the trapped strands of hair. The pain was unbelievable. I yanked. Hard. I heard some disturbing snapping sounds but I was finally free and carried on darting up the alley.

My heart was racing hard now. Too hard. My breath was catching in my throat and I felt like I couldn't get enough air into my lungs. My body was giving up... I couldn't run any further. I backed up until I was resting against a wall. I was hot and sweaty and the cool wall felt good against my skin. I looked down the alley and there was no sign of him. I'd managed to lose him, at least.

Relief washed over me as I slid down the wall and sat. I focused all my energy on my breathing and my pounding heart, willing them to both slow down.

Get a grip Jane. Breathe!

Slowly, after some very focused deep breathing, my heart rate started to return to normal. But I felt very far from normal right now. As the loud silent pounding in my chest calmed, I became aware of the pain in my leg. I reached down and touched it. It felt warm and wet.

Blood.

I was bleeding from the small wounds where the cactus had savagely attacked me. My head also hurt, my scalp felt like it was stinging. A sense of total hopelessness started to wrack my entire, already sore, body. The shock of the man in the bar and the drink in the face incident triggered an Ah-ha moment; my life was falling apart before my very eyes and there was nothing I could do about it but sit back and watch as one catastrophe opened the door to invite the next disaster in, which in turn paved the way for the next tragic event to unfold. It was as if someone was playing a sadistic game of Dominos' with my life. In total misery, I dropped my head and held it between my shaking hands.

These kinds of dramatic emotions weren't me, at all. Maybe if I was more adept at expressing them I would feel better now. Maybe if I could throw something, or kick or punch and scream. But that wasn't my way. My way was to take them and turn them inside where they had obviously grown and fed off each other like a cancer. And now, no amount of suppressing could keep them down. They were out and they were rushing around with the destructive force of a hundred hurricanes.

And the dominant one was pain.

I felt so alone. And that's when it hit me...

Where the hell was I?

Lost. Panic! It was 2:00 AM and I had no idea where I was or in which direction my hotel was. North, South, East... where? How do you hail a taxi here? Where was the main road anyway? If I had a smart phone I could click and have an Uber here, I could Google map my way home- but I didn't. Something else I was cursing right now.

A tiny thought started to penetrate the panicky haze. There was only one thing to do.

"Call me, call me now and have 2:00 am sex with me, in an alley, now! Sex. Now."

"God, shut up!" I said out loud. Great, now I was responding to the imaginary voices in my head as well!

I pulled my handbag off my shoulder and started to rummage. I found it at the bottom, bent and slightly crumbled...

With shaky hands I started to dial the numbers. Maybe he wouldn't answer? It was late and he probably had some hot, naked, watch-wearing chick in his bed next to him, so why would he leave her to drive out for a total stranger in the middle of the nig...

"Hello." His voice sounded sleepy and sexy as hell.

"Um... hi... it's..." I managed.

"Jane. Are you okay?"

"Yes, I mean, no... I'm not sure." My voice crackled and a betting man would have put money on me bursting into uncontrollable girly sobs. But I knew better. Even when my life was falling apart and I was completely lost, I still couldn't cry. I actually wished I could cry right now, I imagined it would be a massive relief. Cleansing.

"Where are you?" it sounded like he was moving around now.

"I don't know. I'm lost. I don't know how to get back."

"Ok, look around you, what do you see?" I could hear more movement and a door shutting.

I scanned my surroundings, everything looked the same here. White washed walls, white washed houses with little blue door and cobblestones and...

Something caught my eye. There was a dustbin up the hill at the top of the alley. I ran for it and that's when I saw Dimitir's cardboard arm sticking out of it.

"I know where I am. There's a chemist just around the corner, which is across the road from a travel agent, and I'm in a small alley behind a restaurant. I think it's called Zorbas'."

"Stay where you are, I think I know the place." I could hear a car starting now and a small sense of relief started creeping in.

I stayed sitting on the floor for ages. I wanted these intense feelings out of me. They physically hurt. I closed my eyes and squeezed them together hard. I started to try and will myself to cry.

Cry Jane. Cry and let it all out. I opened my mouth and let out loud crying sounds, "Waaa-aaahhh-waaa, waaaa." But the sounds weren't inspiring the tears to come. It just wasn't working. A sudden noise made me jump up.

"Who's there?"

"Jane. Don't worry, it's me." Dimitri stepped into the light that gave him a glowing God-like halo.

"Are you okay?" he asked. All I could do was shrug. He walked closer and his eyes scanned me up and down as if he was taking stock of the creature that stood before him. Then, without warning, he reached up and I felt his hand on my head. He pulled away and held a piece of bright pink Bougainville up between his fingers.

"Thanks." I said faintly.

"Hey, you're bleeding." In one swift movement he was kneeling on the ground examining my leg; I felt a warm hand come out and touch it.

"It's nothing, just a scratch." I pulled away quickly.

He stood up and locked eyes with me. He looked more serious than I had ever seen him look before. "What happened?"

I shook my head, which I shouldn't have done as it felt suddenly very woozy again. "It's a sshhlong story." I was aware that I was slurring now, which was very undignified.

"I have time." He stepped towards me and then in a move that almost made me squeal out loud, he gently took my face between his hands. "Jane? What happened?"

"Can we jushhst..." I stopped and moved my tongue around in my mouth in an attempt to moisturize it, "Can we just go." I managed to say without slurring this time.

"No. Not until you tell me what happened." He was looking at me with such focus and determination that I knew I wasn't going to get away with not telling him.

"It's just... there was this guy at a bar and he.... He was...nothing hectic, anyway, I ran out and he followed but I managed to lose him so it's totally fine. It's nothing."

"Nothing?" the word came out so loudly and firmly that it caught me off guard and I flinched. "I'd say that's something. Which bar?" Dimitri reached for my hand and started pulling me. "Come show me who it is."

I bucked against him. "No, no leave it. It's fine. Just drop it. It was nothing... really."

But Dimitri looked unmoved. "Which bar Jane?"

"Please." I begged. "Please...I've already caused such a scene in there... please Dimitri. Please."

The hard look in his eyes seemed to vanish now and he was looking at me with something that looked like empathy – I hoped it wasn't sympathy.

"Fine. I'll leave it."

Relief washed over me. "Thanks."

"Come." He held his arm out towards me. I stared at it. Was I meant to take it? I hesitated for a moment and then he looped his arm through mine and started walking again. I was secretly glad for it. The spinny vertigo feeling wasn't entirely gone yet and I stumbled ever so slightly.

"I've got something that will sort that out immediately." He flicked his eyes towards me with a slight smile

"Rid of what?"

"Have you ever had a cup of Greek coffee?"

I shook my head.

"It will sober you up in less than a second."

I felt a sudden stab of shame. What did he think of me? That I was some drunken tart that got herself lost in the early hours of the morning. I hardly ever drank. I couldn't remember the last time I'd been drunk, and I don't think I've ever been like this!

"I don't do stuff like this. I'm really sorry I woke you up." I said as we rounded a corner.

"No problem. I told you to call if you needed anything."

"I doubt you meant this."

We continued walking and I couldn't remember the last time I'd walked arm in arm with someone, especially a guy. It felt nice. I reminded myself quickly that this was less boyfriend-y and more to keep me from falling on my face. Still, it was nice.

We finally reached his car and climbed in. I was so relieved to be going back to my hotel and as soon I was there I was booking the first flight out of here. I hated Greece. I wasn't going to find my father here. I just wanted to go home. My thoughts drifted off, and for a moment I was back home in the safety of my familiar four walls, standing firmly on my laminate wooden flooring and getting ready to spend the day working in someone's mouth and...

"Jane, are you sure you're okay?"

Maybe it had something to do with the safe confines of the car that made me start opening up.

"I'm fine. But I'm really glad to be out of that place. I should have known, there were so many glaring signs when I arrived. I should have known the place was fishy... Literally." I laughed at my stupid joke.

"Literally?" Dimitri repeated.

"Yes, there was a giant, hideous fish on the wall behind the bar. The whole thing's probably my fault anyway... I should have seen it coming. The guy was totally dodgy."

"Dodgy?" he echoed

"Yes."

"Like?"

"Well, firstly he was totally sunburnt... and I don't trust people that don't wear sunblock. It smacks of irresponsibility."

"Sunburnt?" Dimitri repeated as he made a sharp turn up a road that looked like one we'd already driven up.

"Yes, completely and don't get me started on that terrible earing!?"

"Earing?"

"Revolting golden loop in his ear." I glanced over at him.

Dimitri made another sharpish turn and everything looked familiar again.

"What a douche bag, I mean who the hell wears a full blown suit and tie to a casual seaside bar?"

"Full suit, hey?"

My elbow knocked against the side of the car as Dimitri made another sharp turn, and started driving up a street I know we had already been up. He suddenly came to a sharp stop outside the bar and turned to me.

"Hey, what are we doing here?"

"Nothing, just need to ...." He didn't finish his sentence and simply jumped out and walked towards the bar muttering something. I leaned out the window to hear was saying.

"Sunburnt...earing...full suit." He whispered under his breath before turning back to me, "Wait here, Jane!" he sounded cheerful.

Oh shit! The realization hit me. Was he going to go inside and beat the guy up? I sat in the car and stared at the door in utter horror.