As I walked down the pockmarked and deformed footpath, I started singing under my breath to the music pumping out of the headphones stuffed into my ears, not actually concentrating on the music.
I continued to act normal as I knew that the guy from across the street had started to follow me.
Why me, out of a few odd million he just had to choose me didn't he? I thought, thoroughly annoyed that every city was like home and someone just had to follow me. I decided to do something about him and swung a left into an alleyway between two office buildings. Following this alley I came to another street, this one wasn't as populated as the one I'd just come from but it looked safe enough, I stepped into the middle of the street and looked both ways, searching for a place to hide...nothing.
I knew it was a stupid idea at the time but that alleyway looked safer than being stalked in an open space, now I'm standing in the middle of a derelict street with a perverted stalker on my tail and the shadows are now becoming darker by the minute.
Let's face it Em you're in the middle of a street that looks like hell itself and you're being chased in a city you know nothing about with no friends around for at least 1000 kilometers, the panicky childish part of my brain said.
Oh shut up, this is not helping us out of this you know, replied the cold calculating side.
I regularly have arguments with myself; I try not to do so aloud as I get funny looks from those passing by. I heard footsteps approaching from behind me, I spotted another alleyway across the street, and I briskly walked over to it careful not to break into a run. I scampered into the dark, menacing alleyway to find it a dead end and the footsteps had caught up with me again. Trapped, trapped like a wild animal. I had nowhere to go, the footsteps were rapidly approaching I took two deep breaths and turned around to see the guy from across the street standing at the end of the alleyway.
I carefully placed my bag down on the ground, straightened up and saw the perverted guy still standing there but now he had a malicious grin on his face and an army knife in his hand. He stood rock still; I slowly started to walk towards him, taking carefully calculated steps, never staying too long in the same place.
“In a hurry to go somewhere, darlin’, like my place for instance?” the man said smirking, he too had started to walk forwards,
“Nope not goin’ nowhere charming, but you might if you’re not careful,” I replied flashing him a mischievous grin, I stopped halfway in the alley; he still had a few meters to go before he reached the middle. I slowly moved my wrists making the knives that where lurking there slide down into my hands, keeping my body as still as possible as the man came slowly towards me. The knives were a present from Tory, the friend that trained me in self-defense.
“Why don’t you come for a walk with me darlin’, ya know keep me company for a wee bit, it’s getting a trifle late, wouldn’t want you to get jumped now would we?” he said with mock concern as he closed the gap and stood before me,
“No of course not, just let me go grab my bag and I’ll join you,” I said turning slowly as if I was actually going to go get it, I was waiting for him to try to stop me but to my surprise, he let me go get it. He had seen through my plan and grinned at me, he motioned for me to walk forwards, I had no choice but to go and get my bag, I sheathed my knives as I went thinking that I’d take my chance later. As I reached the back of the alley to where my bag was, I noticed that the guy was watching me through the corner of his eye as he was looking at the alley wall as though he was interested in it, and was standing right behind me, making sure that I didn’t try anything. I was trembling, I’m scared out of my wits at the thought of going with this guy, I remembered something Tory had said to me when we were training,
Fear and pain exist only in the mind; if you banish them from your mind then you are truly invincible. I thought this was a load of bullcrap at the time. I was telling myself that there was no pain, no fear when I realized how right she was.
Tory my friend, you should be a bloody philosopher I thought with a smile,
“Nice and easy darlin’ no sudden movements or I might have to take drastic action,” the guy said warningly, I nodded and slowly bent down pretending to adjust the strap on the bag.
“You got a name precious?” he asked, absently touching himself as he looked at me with a leer.
“Yeah, it’s Tash,” I lied, still focused on the strap. I was really just checking my knives to make sure that they were sharp and ready, not using my real name in case he got away.
“Such a pretty name for a pretty girl, I’m Tyler,” he said like I had asked him for it.
He stepped forward and lent down. I took my chance and swiftly went into a semi-crouch, punching him in the groin as I went, the knives suddenly appearing in my hands, the motions so fluid that they only be achieved with months and months of practice. Tyler appeared not to notice my punch as he was half way down, his arm stretched out to grab me when I lashed out, stripes of red appearing as if by magic on his arm. His eyes bulged and he jumped back and went into a defensive crouch, one hand holding his knife the other in front of his face protectively. My heart was pounding as we circled, feet shuffling so that we didn’t trip over the uneven ground. Tyler lashed out, taking me by surprise. I felt the coldness of the blade slice through my skin, leaving a gash easily five centimeters long across my forearm. I gave Tyler a look that would kill. He smiled, proud of himself for scoring a reaction from me. Adrenalin suddenly kicked in, taking over any rational thought; the ‘compassionate’ side in me was replaced by a cold hard killer. Tyler noticed my change in attitude and saw in my eyes nothing but one complete, consuming thought.
Kill.
