At 24, I lived the night as if it belonged to me.
Clubs, parties, lights, loud music, laughter, VIP tables... that was my daily life. Going out wasn't just a pleasure, it was part of who I was. I felt free, confident, invincible.
In December 2018, I went to Portugal for Christmas holidays. Even far from home, one thing didn't change: the desire to go out, to live, to enjoy. Just like in Switzerland, I simply wanted to have a good night.
I found a club in Lisbon on Instagram. I called. A woman, Jessica, confirmed a VIP table for six. Everything was clear. Everything was ready. I felt reassured.
The evening comes.
I arrive at the VIP entrance. I smile. I greet security. I give my name, convinced it's just a formality.
"Your name is not on the list."
I don't understand. I calmly ask them to call Jessica. They refuse. I repeat. Again. More insistently, because I know I'm right. And suddenly, the tone changes. The looks become cold. The atmosphere tenses.
Then everything falls apart.
Words become shouts. Shouts become blows. I fall. I try to protect myself. There are several of them. Too many. And then... nothing.
Blackout.
I wake up two days later in a hospital bed. Alone. Disoriented. I don't know where I am. I don't know what happened to me. My head hurts. My face burns. My eye can barely see.
My family knows nothing. No one knows I'm here.
A week passes before the hospital manages to contact my family and my insurance. A plane is arranged to bring me home. I leave Portugal without really understanding what I'm leaving behind... or what awaits me.
At CHUV hospital, the doctors look at me gravely. They tell me that the left side of my face is fractured. That I've suffered a detached retina. And that I will most likely lose sight in my left eye.
At that moment, it's not just my eye that goes dark. It's my former life.
Months become years. Four years of treatment. Four years locked at home. Four years looking in the mirror asking myself: "Why me?"
Why a simple night out. Why a reservation. Why such violent injustice.
I fall into depression. The night, which I loved so much, becomes a painful memory. What used to make me feel alive now frightens me.
And then, one day, in the midst of this chaos, a thought appears.
What if this pain could serve a purpose? What if what I went through could prevent someone else from living the same thing?
I understand that I can never erase that night. But I can give it meaning.
I call my friend Jonathan. I tell him everything. The fear. The anger. The injustice. And above all... the idea.
Jonathan is a software engineer. Where I had experienced the problem, he had the skills to build the solution. Very quickly, we understood that this idea could become something concrete, useful, powerful.
Together, we imagined, designed and developed every feature.
Every detail was born from a real need. Every option was designed to avoid misunderstandings, secure reservations, protect customers and facilitate the work of clubs.
This is how NOCHE APP
Today, my story is no longer just a tragedy. It's a mission. A fight. A promise.
That no night out should ever break a life again.