One thing you can count on when in America is that eventually any good deed you do will blow up in your face. No matter how long it takes, fate will rear its ugly head and thrash out at those who call themselves good and just human beings.
I've only been an adult for seven years. Four years in college. A fifth attempting to get a masters, before that bitch started nonsense, getting me convicted for something I didn't even fuckin do…
Though, I shouldn't put the complete blame on her. It was my fault for putting my trust in people.
Three months turned to a year in a concrete box. Then another scraping myself from the bottom, until this very faithful day.
I don't know what motivated me to cut through that alley. I had just been fired from my dead-end job at the gas station, the only people that would take in someone with my legal record. But they got sick and tired of my sorrow I guess, got someone else that could stock the small shelves even faster.
So, I started walking back to my hole in the wall that I call my sorry excuse of a home. Maybe I can spend what little I have left in my savings for a bagel and a little something off the street, give myself a good high before the real dread sets in.
I haven't tried that before, but there's a first for everything. Though, if you looked at me now, at my disheveled baggy clothes and disgusting long hair, you would be surprised. God, I would kill for a nice refreshing bath. But the best I could do in my current state is go jump in the river, and drown while I'm at it.
I decided to take a short-cut through a certain alley.
In all the stories I've seen, nothing ever good comes from an alley. So I usually just avoid them, especially for all the things I've noticed that happen in the dark parts of this town. But, for some reason, I chose this day to wander down the sketchy path I was thrown onto.
I think all this as I am walking along the shadows cast by the janky buildings. I hear the yelling and cursing that I usually hear emanating from these dank passages. Nothing too out of the ordinary. Usually some brothers or drug dealers hanging around or extorting some helpless fool of all they have.
The cursing this time was coming from a trio of wannabe brothers, rich kids that think they have it tough, acting up and roughing up those in lesser communities. This time, it seems they've got a duo of high schoolers wrapped up in their make believe
"Just give them your pocket cash, and they'll fuck off," I half-heartedly whisper under my breath, "those nobodies don't even know what it means to really live in this hell of a world"
With a surprisingly wimpy voice for his synthetically gruff appearance, "Hey you pasty-ass bitch, how 'bout we see how much fun we can have eh?" says one of the hoodlums
"Don't touch me!" yelps one of the high school girls
"Shut up! Or else you want me to mess up that pretty face of yours," says another wannabe
Finding an opening between the three men, the silent girl dashes between the trio of pre-occupied boys, scampering past me. What a great friend she is.
This is none of my business. It's not worth it for me to get involved
The third boy, seemingly the leader with his half-assed beard, nods towards the other two to corner the remaining girl.
As I pass them, I am close enough to see them more clearly. The trio of dicks are wearing baggy pants and blue bandanas, with the "leader" wearing a purple one, probably their sign of a leader in their game of make believe.
The girl is wearing a uniform, must be part of a Catholic school or private school or something, or one of the rare public schools with a strict dress code. She's got short blond hair and brown eyes. She's cute, but too young for me. She reminds me of Grace when we were in high school.
She looks pleadingly at me as I pass. I can see the fear in her eyes. I hope nothing happens to her
It isn't worth it
Finally, the leader speaks. "Hey, if you make any more squeals out of those plump lips of yours, you're gonna regret it!"
She lets out another whimper, but softer this time. He probably brought out a knife or something
It is not worth it
Click
That's not a knife, this is America after all
No, I am not getting shot for this… Fuck, she really does look like Grace
I quickly turn around, taking my phone out of my pocket to dial 911. Shit, of course I didn't charge it
Stuffing my useless phone back into my pocket, I start wrapping my tie around my knuckle, a weird addition for a gas station uniform. But at least it's something.
With the best adult voice I can muster, I yell at the boys,
"Oi! The hell you think you children are doing? Get the fuck away from her!"
Boy number two responds, "We're just having a little fun old man, why? You want to join in or something?" He says with a voice crack
"Shut up Michael! Just keep her there, I'll handle this," snaps their leader
He swivels around, now facing me, a gleaming silver revolver being carelessly swung around. Seeing me eye it, he whips it back around to me and aims it sideways towards my head. Of course, I instinctively flinch
"Oooh, it seems Mr. Homeless is a pussy," gesturing with the revolver as he speaks "You're gonna turn around and leave so that we can have our fun with this cunt, you dig me?"
I've dealt with people like this before, I probably was this person when I was younger.
What the hell am I doing?
"Listen kid, put away daddy's toy, and leave this poor girl alone. You don't want me to make you listen"
I try to crack my knuckles intimidatingly
"You think that's gonna scare me grandpa? You with your fuckin sorry excuse of a man, at least I'm somebody. So shut the fuck up! You don't want me to fuckin use this do you?" The boy in front of me screams at me, brandishing the revolver
Why the hell did I think my cringy line would work anyways?
I can see behind him that boy #1 is whispering something to the other who's shaking a little, frantically looking around. This probably isn't where they imagined things going.
I can see the girl flinch as they tighten their grip around her wrists as I start to take a step forward
Bang
"Don't even think about it, you fucking queer"
He's using some pretty big words, things are escalating more than I thought
What the hell am I doing?
I can hear the girl yelp at the loud sound, both boys letting go of the girl and starting to back up
"What the fuck are you doing Ryan!?" Boy #1 yelps as the leader whirls around
I take my full step forward
"Shut up Trevor! I thought I fucking told you my name was Richie, not what that fuckin bitch of a mother gave me!" The leader yells, whirling the gun towards his now cowering friend.
I can see his hand start to tremble as he grips the handle harder. This is getting bad. I have to do something
Mustering all my strength, I run and tackle the one with the revolver. As I collide with him, I jolt the arm holding the gun upwards
Bang
The one called Trevor falls to the ground, as the other boy rushes over to him, helping him up. They scamper out of the alleyway. The girl still sits there, petrified
I try to wrestle the gun out of his hand. I manage to get on top of him. I don't notice his other hand feeling around for something.
There is a sharp and sudden pain, a warm trickling runs down my neck as he stabs something into me. I release my grip on him and I fall backwards.
I'm able to get my bearings and sit up. He's starting to cock the gun again. I take out my phone and try throwing it at him as I get back up on my feet.
It hits him in his chest. I take the brief distraction to try tackling him again. As I make contact with him once more, I hear another bang as I fall on top of him
A searing pain swells in my gut, a numbness emanating and growing throughout my body
He pushes me off of him and starts scampering out of the alley way
Fuck, I just got shot didn't I?
The girl yelps as she rushes over, turning me over and cradling my head in her lap. I can see tears beginning to run down her beautiful face. It's a crime to make a pretty girl cry, maybe I should go back to prison.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she breathily says between gasps of air. "Thank you so much for saving me, I… I… I don't know what I would of done without you"
Using the strength I have left, I try to sound strong while coughing up blood, "No problem. I was just in the right place, right time. Hehe," I say. It's painful to speak. I can start to hear sirens in the distance.
This girl, why is she still here? why is she staying by this nobody
She starts caressing my face with her shaky hands. Her lips are trembling, tears still rolling. No way she's crying for me, right?
"Don't worry, help is on the way mister, stay with me! Please! What's your name?"
"Heh, that doesn't matter lovely, I'm just a nobody; but thank you I guess"
I can feel it, my time is getting near
The sirens are pretty close now, it's getting a little hard to hear. The pain is also starting to become faint, my time must be getting close
Fuck, there's so much I have to regret: I wish I could see my friends one last time, even if they don't want to see me
I wish I could see my family
I wish I could say sorry to Grace, who this girl reminds me so much of. I wish I could apologize for whatever reason or thing I did to disappoint her, for her to feel she had to dig me into a hole, to dig me through the system as pay back
I feel I'm about to go. I'm so sorry girl to do this to you. I wish I had the strength to get up, I don't want to traumatize you by dying in your arms. Just let me go, please.
But there is a part of me that wants to thank you, if I can be even a little selfish. It makes things a little less painful I guess.
I can start to hear bells ringing as things start to get white. Maybe there is a heaven, and this is their call. I guess I have nothing else to do.
Everything goes white
Then everything is dark, an all consuming nothingness, a void
But there's a distant light, rushing towards me
I can still feel a little pain, but it's weirdly different now
The light gets brighter and brighter and brighter, the bells banging more and more. It's almost deafening
Suddenly, I'm in a wooden cabin. There's a few people around. I got shot and almost died, you couldn't have taken me to a hospital?
I can hear some muffled voices, it sounds like nonsense to me. There are two men and a woman standing over me.
As my eyes adjust, I can begin to see things more clearly. They seem like cosplayers or something. One guy is wearing a wizard-like robe and the other what looks like a sword on her hip. You couldn't have brought me to some actual professional looking people? One of them looks like they're an elf or something.
The man in the robes starts to make a concerned face, speaking that same gibberish. Then a voice above me responds
I look up, my head feels weirdly heavy.
I see that there's a naked woman sitting right behind me, cradling me. Though I'm not completely against it, this doesn't seem like the time. The women behind me grabs me and lifts me up, fuck she's strong! But the proportions seem weirdly off
As I look down at my own naked body, my mind seems to be stuck buffering in surprise
What the fuck? Am I a baby?
Wait… Was I just reborn or something!?