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Chapter 1

“Help,” I screamed, my voice echoing through what seemed to be an endless alley. The echo seemed to pierce my soul with fear for I knew that no one had heard my cry, my plea. I had been running for what felt like forever and I was gasping for air, my breath was coming in almost painful raged gasps. I needed to get away, my life depended on getting away from the man who was chasing me; the man who was looking to ruin my life. I couldn’t believe that I could be experiencing the last few moments of my life and that scared the shit out of me. I had always imagined that I would die peacefully with family and loved ones gathered around me. I imagined that I would slowly be lifted towards that proverbial light and into eternal bliss without pain.

My chest heaved as I took hollow breaths. Tears were streaming down my face and I could taste their saltiness as they reached my lips. Their taste served as a reminder of my fear, not that I needed a reminder, my fear was very much a reality that needed no reminder for it was a potent emotion. I had been plagued with fear since this whole incident had begun. Beads of sweat covered my body as I continued to run. Hearing his footsteps moving quickly behind me kept me motivated. I couldn’t let him catch up to me.

“Help me!” I yelled again, hoping that this time someone would hear me and come to my rescue. I had no such luck. Once again, my voice echoed through the deserted alley. Fear ripped at my heart again. It was like a ripple effect because I felt it run through my entire body, it seemed to take over all of my senses. I truly believe that it was my fear, mixed with adrenaline, that kept me moving at such a rapid pace. Never had my body been subjected to such a grueling, painful regimen. I ached but I knew I couldn’t stop, I couldn’t even hide, he was too close to me for me to have any opportunity at attempting to conceal myself. Breathing was becoming painful and I needed to take a rest before I passed out. I could feel the exhaustion beginning to creep up on me, attempting to engulf me in its arms. I wasn’t going to last much longer, I knew that much.

Suddenly, a cold chill passed through me and I attempted to wrap my arms around my exposed body. I shuddered thinking about how close I had gotten to being raped only moments before. This man had attacked me from behind while I was walking down the sidewalk, heading home and he pulled me into this alley where he ripped my shirt open, exposing my bra. He fondled my breasts before he ripped my skirt from my body. When he went for the buckle of his belt, I knew that I had to act, it would be the only chance that I would get. So I kicked him, I kicked him hard. He lost his balance and fell off of me. I got up and took off running. I never once looked behind me but I could hear him following me, feel him staring at me with his cold, uncaring, evil eyes.

“Help,” I chocked out again, only it came out barely a whisper and the voice I heard scared me, it didn‘t sound like mine; it was weak, hurt, scared. I was beginning to think that this alley was never going to end, I had been running down it for so long. Hope was quickly dissipating and my stamina was being tested. Did I have it in me to keep going? My mind wandered to my life, to everything that it held. My sister was the first person that came to mind. She needed me. Our parents had died only months ago and I was the only one that could take care of her. She needed me, I repeated to myself, she needed me. Suddenly, my running, my trying to escape wasn’t about me any more, it was about her.

My body experienced a sudden rush and I acted upon it, forcing my body to move faster. My eyes were scanning the area, hoping for something, anything that I could use to either protect myself with or hide in, I found nothing. Then in the distance, I saw movement. There were people there. I had to get a little closer because I didn’t trust my voice after my last plea for help, I wasn’t sure if it had the power to make it to them. My feet were pounding the pavement hard and I could hear his footsteps still, he wasn’t going to let me go. If he caught me, he was going to kill me and I knew it.

“Help!” I called when I was closer to the people I had seen. They didn’t seem to hear me because they were walking into a side door. No please, I pleaded in my mind. Please don’t leave me out here. I need your help, you’re the only ones that can save me now, you‘re my last hope.

“HELP!” I screamed with all of the energy that I could muster as I kept running. The last man had heard my scream this time and he stopped and looked in my direction. He said something to someone on the inside and started to jog towards me. Thank god, I thought to myself, this was about to end. We reached each other quickly and I grabbed onto his black t-shirt, tears streaming down my face.

“He…. He, that man.. He tired to rape me,” I chocked out as I saw one of the other men that my savior was with run after the man that had been chasing me but had now turned in retreat.

“Shhhh, it’s okay, we’ve got you know. We aren‘t going to let anything happen to you,” the man assured me. I felt my knees go weak and I collapsed onto the ground. “Whoa, are you okay?” my savior questioned as he kneeled down to pick up my exhausted body.

“I’m so weak,” I whispered. He nodded.

“We’re going to get you inside and we’re going to call the police okay?” he stated to me. I nodded my head, tears running down my face.

“Where’s Joel?” one of the men who was with my savior asked. Joel must have been the man that had went after the guy who was chasing me. Bless his soul. He didn’t even know me but he took off after the man who had tried to hurt me. He didn’t even hesitate, he just went after him.

“He went after the guy,” my savior replied.

“What, is he fucking nuts?” the man questioned as my savior walked passed him, with me in his arms.

“No,” my savior answered as he laid me down on a couch near by. “He just wanted to make sure that he didn’t hurt anyone else.”

“What if he gets hurt Benji?” Benji, so that was my saviors name. I smiled weakly, Benji had saved my life. I would forever be in his debt.

“He’s not gonna get hurt,” Benji assured this other man. “He’s probably on his way back now since he was able to chase him away.”

“Police are on their way,” yet another man called. I didn’t have the energy to look to see where he was standing or what he looked like. Benji nodded and kneeled down beside the couch and looked at me.

“Are you okay? What happened?”

“He tried to rape me,” I whispered. “He just grabbed me from out of nowhere as I was walking down the street.”

“Did he hurt you?” Benji asked, scanning my body for bruises.

“No, I escaped before he could.”

“That’s good,” he replied. He moved to take off his hoodie with the word ‘MADE’ scrawled across it and handed it to me. “Here, put this on.”

“Thanks,” I replied, slowly sitting up. I slipped the warm hoodie on, and wrapped my arms around my legs which I had drawn to my chest.

“I’m Benji, by the way,” he stated sweetly.

“I’m Angela,” I replied, he smiled.

“The guy with the purple hair, the one that called police, his name is Billy,” Benji stated as he pointed to the man standing on the other side of the room. I turned my head to look at him, he smiled weakly and nodded his head. “And this is Paul,” he said as he pointed to the other guy who was standing near the door where we had come in, I guess he was waiting for the other guy, Joel, to come back. He smiled when I looked at him.

“Thank you for helping me,” I stated. “I don’t know how much longer I would have been able to keep running. It was getting hard to breathe.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Benji stated. “I’m just glad that I heard you before it was too late.”

“Me too.” Suddenly there was a knock on the door and Paul quickly opened it. The man that had ran after my captor entered. He bent over, putting his hands on his knees, to catch his breath.

“Man that fucker could move,” he said with a slight laugh.

“Joel, what the fuck do you think you were doing?” Paul questioned, obviously very concerned about Joel‘s safety. “He could have fucking killed you.”

“Hey I wasn’t just going to stand there and let him get away,” Joel barked, slightly angry. “I thought that maybe I could catch him and hang onto him until the police got here.”

“How’d you loose him?” Benji asked.

“He was just moving too fast,” he replied, standing up straight. “Is she okay?” he asked looking towards me.

“She seems okay, she said that she got away before he could do anything to her,” Benji said, telling him what I had just told him moments before.

“That’s good,” Joel said. “Are the police on their way?”

“They’ll be here at any moment,” Billy replied from the corner of the room. Only seconds later, we heard a banging on the door, it had to be the police. Paul opened the door to allow the two uniformed officers into the room. Benji stood from where he had been squatting to greet the police.

“Is this her?” the officer asked as he motioned his arm towards me. I looked up at him, then at Benji, who answered.

“Yeah.”

“Ma’am,” one of the officers said coming to take the squatting position beside me that Benji had just been in, “I’m officer Rodriquez, and I’m going to have to ask you a few questions about what just happened. You think you can answer them?”

“Yeah,” I answered softly.

“What’s your name?”

“Angela.”

“Last name?”

“Peterson.”

“Alright Ms. Peterson, can you tell me what happened, using as much detail as possible.”

“I was walking down the street, a couple of blocks away, I was going home when all of a sudden I felt someone grab me. I tried to scream but he had covered my mouth with his hand and he pulled me into this alleyway. I screamed again when he took his hand off of my mouth but he didn’t seem to care, I guess we were too far from the street for anyone to hear me. Then he ripped open my shirt and he touched my breasts,” I said with a slight blush of embarrassment creeping onto my face, “Then he ripped off my skirt. When he went to open his pants, I kicked him because I knew this would be the only time he wouldn’t have his attention completely on me. When he fell off of me, I took of running and I kept running until these guys stopped to help.”

“Were you able to get a good look at him?” Officer Rodriquez questioned.

“No, everything happened too fast,” I replied regretfully. “Sorry.”

“It’s alright Ms. Peterson,” officer Rodriquez assured me.

“I saw him,” Joel announced. Officer Rodriquez and his partner both looked at Joel. “Benji, my brother,” he said pointing towards Benji, “heard someone scream and he called into us. He went to help her and I chased after the guy. I got a good look at him before he turned to run away.”

“You really shouldn’t have gone after him son,” the other officer said sternly. “He could have had a weapon and could have hurt you or even killed you.”

“I know I shouldn’t have gone after him officer but I didn’t even think, I just went after him, I guess I figured that I could catch him and hold him down until you got here,” Joel explained.

“I’m going to need you to come down to the station so you can talk to an artist so that we can get a sketch of the man you saw,” Officer Rodriquez told Joel, he nodded. Then officer Rodriquez turned his attention back to me. “You’re going to have to come down too so that we can file a report and call someone to come and get you.” I nodded reluctantly, not really wanting to move. I just wanted to lay on this couch and forget about everything that had just happened to me. Benji extended his hand to me. I looked at him, I think he could tell that I was apprehensive about going down to the station. I could see it in his eyes, but he still kept his hand extended until I took it.