Page 4 of Burn Me Down

“Get off of me,” I yelled. “Help!”

I saw his hand raise and winced, expecting another slap, but instead, Kent yelled and let go suddenly with such a forceful jerk that I fell to my knees.

I sucked in a sharp breath as my knees and hands hit the concrete, but I managed to look up just in time to see a man, or maybe a shadow, with an arm wrapped around Kent’s throat. I blinked, trying to rid the tears that blurred my vision. It looked like a massive boa constrictor was strangling him. Kent looked small as the shadow hauled him into the darkened alley. It was like a horror movie. One moment, they were there. The next, they were gone into the night. I knew they were still there, but only because I could hear Kent struggling to breathe and the sound of something being dragged. The scraping sound sent a chill down my spine, and I knelt there, frozen in place, as I stared at the mouth of the alley like it was a portal to hell.

“Are you okay?” A pair of women rushed up to me. I recognized one from the restaurant and nodded. It wasn’t until they helped me stand that I realized how shaken I was.

“Did you see that,” I asked, holding the side of my face as one of the women picked up my purse and the items that had tried to escape.

“No, what happened? We thought you fell and hit your head.”

“I’m not sure,” I said, and caught the look they gave one another. They thought I was crazy. I couldn’t blame them, maybe I was.

I couldn’t take my eyes off the alley. Had I even seen what I thought I saw? I did. I mean, I didn’t dream of getting smacked in the face. My stinging cheek was a definite reminder that it was very real.

“Are you sure you’re okay to drive?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I’m good, but thank you for stopping and helping me.”

“Women have to stick together. Too many creeps out there,” one of the women said. I couldn’t agree with her more.

They were nice enough to wait until I got in my car before they continued down the street. Should I call the cops? What would I say? Hi, yes, I’d like to report that I was attacked by my date, but no worries, he was dragged into the dark by a very large black shadow. Nope, I didn’t get a look at a face. Nope, I don’t know where they are now. Nope, I didn’t try to help him.

Kent was an asshole, but all I could picture was him lying in the alley, bleeding out, and me just driving away.

“Dammit.”

Grabbing my cell, I dialed 911.

Rebecca

Vi had tried to call me three times since I sent her the text about Kent and that I was waiting for the police to show up. She was taking paranoid to a whole new level, and talking to her right now would only make me feel crazier, so I let her go to voicemail as I pulled into my apartment building.

Parking in my spot, I sat for a minute, staring at the cars parked across from me. The police found the drag marks, so at least they didn’t think I’d lost my mind, but both Kent and the assailant had disappeared once they reached the other side of the alley. Gone. No signs of a struggle, no tire tracks, just gone. I was shook.

Grabbing my purse, I stepped out of the car and closed the door. The locks beeped, and I screamed when a door on the other side of the concrete pillar slammed closed. My heart was in my throat as Mr. Albert, who lived on the same floor, came into view.

“You okay,” he asked.

I laughed and played it off as no big deal. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just didn’t see you pull in and was spooked. I’m sorry. Did I scare you with my scream?”

“No, I thought maybe you fell. Did you fall? You have a pretty nasty mark by your eye.”

I stepped out to meet the elderly gentleman. “Oh this?” I pointed to my eye and waved it off. “It’s nothing, I promise that I’m good, but thank you.” I had zero interest in reliving what happened yet again.

We walked in silence to the elevator, but my back itched like there were eyes on me. I looked over my shoulder, not seeing anything move in the well-lit parking garage. Damn you, Vi, for freaking me out. She was getting to me and I called her every bad word I could think of in my head. It was probably all a part of her plan to ensure I moved in with her and Asher. Kent and the vanishing shadow man didn’t help, but I had felt like someone was watching me ever since Vi began insisting that I needed to be extra careful. As if women didn’t have enough problems with creeps like Kent without adding serial arsonists to the list.

“Goodnight, Mr. Albert,” I said, giving him a little wave as he stopped, and I continued down the hall to my apartment.

Opening the door, I flicked on the light and sighed. I hated coming home alone. At first, it wasn’t bad, but now it was lonely. I loved living with Vi and was devastated to move out when I thought I would be taking the next big steps in my life.

The keys clinked as I dropped them in the glass dish by the door, and even that little noise startled me. My eyes searched the darkness of the living room, and I immediately turned on more lights. It wasn’t like a lightbulb would save me if someone wanted to hurt me, but I was definitely eyeing the shadows more.

I would never admit this to Vi, but I missed Heathrow. He was a total demon cat, but at least when he was here and something moved in the dark, my mind didn’t immediately conjure a serial killer in the corner.

Walking down the hall to the bathroom, I checked my hands and pulled up my dress to look at my knees. Both were covered with scrapes. Just lovely. Every second I had stood talking to the cops, the more I ached. It was tempting to call out of work tomorrow. I could use a pajama day. Grabbing my phone I decided that was exactly what I was going to do and called into work and left a message. That felt good. I never took time off and I wanted to hide all day and do nothing.

“This is going to sting.” I turned on the water and got it good and hot before stripping down. It was incredible what a few years did to your psyche. It wasn’t long ago that I would’ve spent extra time in front of the mirror admiring or criticizing my body and hair, maybe my tan or chipped nails. But, lately I just didn’t like looking at myself in general. Getting cheated on did that to a person. Especially when the asshole blamed me, saying I was no longer sexually appealing after I came home from a long shift at the hospital and looked like I’d been run over by a truck.