A few summers ago, I had the opportunity to study abroad in France. To say that it was an amazing experience would be an understatement. I absolutely loved it. For this trip, myself and ten other students from my University, including our accompanying professor, would spend the month of June in Toulouse. But before our classes started, we would spend four days in Paris exploring and having fun. I didn’t speak a lick of French going into this trip, but by the end, I would have learned quite a lot. This was because I never missed an opportunity to talk to someone. You’d be surprised by how much you learn a language by simply trying to speak to people in that language! I met so many people and had so many unique experiences because of this. We all did. However, there are times when someone you come across might be a little too eager to make friends. There are times when you have to know where to draw the boundaries. Our last night in Paris was one of those times, and thinking back on it, we were lucky, because things could have gone so much worse.
After arriving at Charles de Gaulle airport and getting settled in our hotel, we set out to explore the city. Over the course of those four days, we saw Musée d’Orsay, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower and the Champ de Mars, Versailles, and Notre-Dame (from a distance, as this was right after the fire), and of course, enjoyed the amazing food the city had to offer. We had more gelato and macarons than I could count. It was a great time. However, I had also wanted to take a tour of the Paris Catacombs. Unfortunately, time was a concern and I didn’t want to be out in the city alone without cell service to communicate with the others.
On our last day, after dinner, some of our group decided to turn in for the night, to prepare for tomorrow morning’s train ride south to Toulouse. However, six of us, including myself–we’ll call the others Natalie, Dan, Ari, Maria, and Oscar–felt the night was still young. Besides me, everyone was under 21, and since France’s drinking age is 18, they wanted to make the most of it. Overall, we wanted to enjoy Paris as long as we could. Besides, we could just sleep on the train tomorrow.
We headed off, hopping from bar to bar until around 10:00pm, when we found one the girls liked. It was on a small, narrow stone brick road, lined with other small restaurants and bars, their outdoor seating areas filled with people. Inside, we found ourselves a round table and got drinks. I didn’t realize it at the time, but one of the girls, Natalie, had been dropping hints on me the entire trip, and through my complete obliviousness, I had inadvertently “rejected” her and made her upset. As callous as it sounds, I wasn’t really too concerned. I was having the time of my life.
While I was waiting for my beer at the bar, a tall boy who looked roughly our age came up to me. He had curly brown hair and thick stubble. “Are you American?” he asked.
“Yeah…” I said, chuckling. “How did you know?”
“Come on, my friend,” he replied in a matter-of-fact kind of tone. “The way you look, the way your friends are acting over there, it is very obvious. Everyone here can tell.”
I laughed, slightly embarrassed, and we started up a friendly conversation. I found out that he was a student at Paris-Sorbonne University, and worked in the Métro during the summer. At least, that’s what he said. After a few minutes, we had become friendly enough that I invited him to our table. He seemed very excited to meet everyone.
Introducing himself as Hugo, he was an instant hit. Especially with all three of the girls in our group, who seemed immediately drawn to him. He was simply magnetic in the way he spoke and carried himself. His face seemed almost fixed in a warm, inviting smile, which showed off his nearly perfect teeth. Of course, the French accent certainly gave him charisma points. Natalie in particular was hooked. She almost never took her eyes off of him as soon as he sat down. After everyone introduced themselves, we began talking about our trip and what we were doing on our study abroad semester. We talked about the U.S. and all the stereotypes associated with it, which brought laughs amongst everyone.
Hugo became the life of the party, even offering to buy our whole table drinks. At one point, Dan and I even sang along when a song in English happened to be playing, which amused Hugo. Natalie was laughing the hardest at all of his jokes, even flirtatiously grabbing his arm and brushing his shoulder, though we weren’t entirely sure if it was because she was tipsy or if she was actually into him. Hugo was well enough aware and bought her more drinks, mainly Moscow mules, whenever she asked. He would just say, “of course, Mon Chou,” and pull out another euro banknote from the seemingly endless supply in his pocket. He offered us his cigarettes as well, thought it came as a surprise to him when he found out none of us were smokers.
In one instance of attempting to produce another euro note from his pocket, he accidentally dropped something else out, the sound of a plastic material smacking the wooden floor of the bar. Ari was sitting next to him, and upon hearing the sound, reflexively looked to see what it was. As Hugo leaned over and reached down to retrieve the object, Ari quickly looked back up.
Eventually, after hearing about our time in Paris and the places we had visited, Hugo asked us if we had been to the Catacombs. I told him that while it was something we would be interested in, we simply never got around to it.
“Oh that is too bad,” he said. “This is your last day too. And the last tour ended hours ago.”
“Yeah, it sucks,” Ari said, though from her tone, she wasn’t all too concerned. “Well, maybe next time.”
“The catacombs are fantastic, I think you really should have gone.” Hugo was suddenly transfixed on the topic, now that he had brought it up. “I love it. Imagine, a city of the dead, under our feet. Hundreds of kilometers of tunnels, much of them unknown.”
“No way dude,” Dan had probably had a drink too many…several drinks ago.
“Sounds spooky,” said Maria. “Maybe you should take us next time we’re here!”
“Why wait?” Hugo paused, his voice suddenly slowing down. “Why don’t we go tonight?”
“What do you mean?” Ari asked. She could handle her liquor, and now she had suddenly sharpened up. I think we all knew what Hugo was implying, though none of us were willing to say it out loud.
“I mean, we visit the Catacombs. I can take you there. Think of me as your personal tour guide.” Hugo’s smile never left his face.
“Yeah totally!” Dan shouted.
“How?” I asked. “They’re closed. And most of the tunnels are restricted.”
“Mon ami, trust me,” Hugo said. “I go down there all the time. Me and my catacomb friends. We know the tunnels. We know how to get in. There are secret entrances all over the city. No one knows about them but us.”
By now my friends and I were looking over at each other nervously, not sure of what we should do.
“That’s very interesting, Hugo,” Oscar said facetiously, trying to hint at him to change the conversation.
But Hugo continued, “You will see it’s true. Trust me. Tonight we’re having a party down there. Lots of people! We have music, drinks…you want rosé? We have rosé! We have weed, ecstasy, blow, all of it.” He looked down at Natalie, who was curled up under his arm. “You want to come, Mon Chou?”
“I do,” Natalie said, grinning. By now she was very drunk.
Hugo turned to the rest of us. “See? Your friend wants to come.”
“Yeah, I don’t think so,” Ari said, her voice more stern.
“Come on,” Hugo said.
“No, I think we’re good,” said Ari.
“But Natalie wants to come, do not ruin the night for her,” Hugo smirked.
“That’s just too bad,” Oscar added. Because he wasn’t much of a drinker, he kept his composure.
“It will be fun!” For whatever reason, Hugo was very persistent. “You will get to meet my friends. We will all be friends.”
“No, I think it’s time we call it a night,” I said. I really hoped Hugo would not try anything.
“The night is still young!” Hugo stood up, pulling Natalie onto her feet with him. He pointed to a door in the corner of the bar room. “There is a secret entrance to the tunnels in the basement of this bar. The owner knows me. He will let us in.”
“Hugo, we have to get up and catch the train tomorrow,” said Ari, sighing.
“You will have time! Just come, stay with us a few hours.” Hugo smirked again. “Are you afraid the police will find out? They do not know the tunnels like we do.”
“We’re tired, buddy,” I said, trying to keep the situation from escalating. By now I was sweating. The night this time of year was already hot, and combined with the stifling atmosphere of the bar, it was unbearable. “We had a great time, but we need to go.”
“Natalie, come on,” Ari gestured to her. The two had already developed a strong friendship over the past four days.
Natalie turned to Hugo. “I think they want me to go.” She began pulling away from Hugo, but he subtly pulled her back.
“Non, Mon Chou,” he said to her. “Come with me. I will take you back in the morning.”
“She has to go.” Ari’s voice was stern now, almost as if she had suddenly sobered up.
“She can speak for herself,” said Hugo, his smile finally beginning to falter, his façade melting away.
“Hugo, it was nice meeting you,” Natalie said, no longer her flirtatious self. “But I have to go with them.” She tried to pull away again, but Hugo maintained his grip on her arm.
“Let go.” Oscar’s voice pierced through the noise of the bar. He glared at Hugo, darting his eyes left and right, non-verbally telling him that it wasn’t a good idea to pull something like that in a crowded place like this. Hugo’s smile was completely gone now. He fixed his eyes on Oscar, slowly loosening his grip.
He turned to Natalie. “Looks like this is where we part. That is too bad.”
“Yeah, sorry,” Natalie replied timidly.
“Come on, we’re going back to the hotel,” said Ari.
“Where are you staying?” Hugo asked.
Natalie began to reply, “Oh, we’re at the–”
“Natalie!” Ari stopped her, grabbing her arm. “Don’t.” She yanked her away, leading her out of the bar.
“Night-night, bud,” Dan waved at Hugo, in his stupor, oblivious to what was going on.
Outside, I breathed a sigh of relief. I was still feeling the tension from inside the bar. I was shocked at just how persistent Hugo was. I apologized to the others, realizing I should not have invited him to our table, but something told me he would have approached us anyway. Regardless, we were just happy to have gotten out of that situation. At least, we thought that was the end of it.
It was nearly 1:00 in the morning now, and the streets were quieter. Natalie walked with an arm over Ari’s shoulder, as she was too dizzy to keep her balance. As we made our way to the nearest Métro station entrance, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right. I was looking in every direction, occasionally glancing over my shoulder. Oscar must have noticed this, as both he and I were at the rear of the group, and gestured for me to look back. I stopped and looked, and in the shadow of a building, partially lit by an amber street lamp, was a tall figure. In the silhouette, I could see the figure had a head of curly hair. It was Hugo.
The others heard us stop to look, and were about to look themselves, when I frantically whispered for them to keep moving and pretend we didn’t know Hugo was behind us. Ari whisper-yelled a curse to him. She tried to rush us, quickening her pace and almost causing Natalie to trip. We had to get to the Métro, fast. We had to lose him before he found out where we were staying.
Ari finally spoke. “Hey guys. I have to tell you. Back in the bar, he accidentally dropped something out of his pocket. I only got a quick look but…it was a driver’s license. It was a California driver’s license. The picture on it, it looked like a woman.”
“What?? Do you think he knows you saw it?” I asked.
“I don’t know. I hope not.” Ari’s voice wavered.
“What was he doing carrying around a California driver’s license??” Maria stammered. “Where did he get it?”
“Let’s not find out.”
Several blocks down, I glanced back. He was still following us. I could see him walking at a brisk pace, while still remaining calm enough as not to arouse suspicion. As he passed in and out of the pools of light from the street lamps, I saw that he was diverting his eyes. Did he know that I saw him?
We made it to the Métro, quickly making our way down the stairs, through the turnstiles, and onto the platform to wait for the train. There was still a good crowd of several dozen people at that hour, so we tried our best to weave through them to hide. Ari, Oscar, and I continued to anxiously dart our heads toward the landing of the station stairs, hoping we would not see Hugo. In just a few minutes, the train arrived, and we rushed in, not wanting to spend a single second longer on that platform. After everyone had boarded and the doors had closed, I glanced over at the window of the door leading to the second train car.
My heart sank. There he was, nonchalantly leaning against a pole, one hand hanging loosely from a strap. He looked up, and for a brief second, our eyes met. “Oh shit!” I quickly sat down, telling the others he was here with us. They panicked. There was nowhere for us to go. We couldn’t leave—the train was already moving. Thinking quickly, Ari decided we would get off at the next stop. Our actual stop would have been the third one, but we couldn’t let him know that. We had to get off as soon as possible to figure out how to lose him.
Thankfully, that stop came up quickly, and as soon as the doors of the train opened, we rushed to get out, almost bumping into the people waiting to board. Briskly leaving the platform, we all could no longer resist looking over our shoulders, and when we did, sure enough, Hugo was there. He had gotten off as well, and was speed walking our way. Ditching the subtle act, he now fixed his glare on us, eyes peeled wide open. We rushed through the turnstiles, desperate to put as much distance between him and us as possible. Rounding a corner, we were relieved to finally see a police officer standing nearby.
However, he wasn’t just a normal officer, he was a member of the Gendarmerie, more aligned with the military rather than civilian law enforcement. We called out to him, and instantly, he turned to look in our direction. However, he only paid attention to us for a split second before his eyes immediately darted to Hugo, who had nearly closed in. The Gendarmerie officer broke out into a sprint, yelling “Police! Arrêt!”
“Merde!” Hugo hissed through his teeth as he immediately turned and ran.
We didn’t have any time to process what had happened, because as soon as the officer had run past us, more officers, all of them Gendarmerie, rushed into the Métro. Some continued ahead to aid the first officer in pursuit of Hugo, while the rest, which were a team of GIGN operators clad in body armor and carrying rifles, gathered around an inlet in the wall. That first officer had been standing outside of that inlet, and now we could see it held what looked like a service entrance of some kind. The GIGN officers stacked up, carefully testing the handle. When they saw it was unlocked, one man slowly cracked the door opened, checked inside with his rifle at high ready, and made his way in. The others followed suit.
We realized that door must have been one of the secret entrances Hugo was talking about. Not wanting to stick around, and feeling it safe to return to the platform, we took the train back to our station and returned to the hotel. The next morning as we headed off to the train at Gare d’Austerlitz, Natalie took one final look at our hotel, and let out a gasp that sounded like she had stopped breathing. There, spray painted on the front was a message reading:
“I will miss you Mon Chou”