Adam

Adam kept wandering aimlessly through the night, nagging his brain, trying to come up with an idea for his project. He had a few drinks at the pub, thinking a stroke of genius might hit him, but he had no idea whatsoever what his research should be about. The deadline was rapidly approaching and he was starting to panic. It was well past midnight already and his partner was probably fast asleep. He kept wobbling on the deserted street a bit more until at one point he suddenly stopped, as if something was holding him back, and he simply laid down on the pavement and stood there, motionless.

…

Jo finished her work late in the night, she had a lot of patients that day and she had to schedule next week’s appointments herself. Her phone had been turned off the whole day as some of her patients had scolded her for sending text messages during their sessions. ‘How rude of them’ she thought. ‘I will become the laughing stock of the practice if they find out. Imagine that, a therapist getting scolded by her patients. Ah, that’s just insane.’

Her thoughts were rudely interrupted by the sight she was seeing: a young man lying face down on the pavement. She looked at him a bit perplexed. She couldn’t quite tell if he was dead, yet she was too afraid to step closer. Eventually she inched nearer and could feel a light smell of beer. ‘Oh, he’s just a drunk. I was worried for a second.’ she said to herself. She was thinking of moving along and leaving him behind, but it also occurred to her that the man might need help or that he might be injured in some way. Nevertheless, her instinct was telling her to move along. She was so caught in her own thoughts that she didn’t even hear the other man approaching.

‘Oh my, what happened here? D...

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...ter help. Great job, young lady. We’re very proud. Now we must go before the pub downtown closes. Have a good night.’

And so, Jo and the doctor walked away, feeling better about themselves, feeling like admirable citizens who did their duty, leaving the frantic girl behind in the night.

...

‘You can get up now, Adam. They’re gone.’

‘Oh, thank God, Genevieve. They lingered around forever. What did they tell you? Did they say they actually did something? Did they lie? Bastards didn’t even check to see if I was breathing.’

‘They were more preoccupied with themselves, let’s just leave it at that. You think professor Clarke will like our project?’

‘You’re kidding, right? A staged incident in which we test the diffusion of responsibility and prove that the bystander effect is a real thing? He’s going to love it. Now don’t just stand there, help me up!’