Page 54

It was quiet at night, and just a few people went by every now and again. Lola whistled as she walked, with streetlights lighting her route.
She waited in front of the party hall for about twenty minutes, but when she tried to call a taxi, it didn’t work. She kicked the postbox in frustration and decided to walk. Her phone’s battery had died, so she couldn’t use the app to call a taxi. She felt like kicking herself because she had forgotten to bring the charger. If she went back into the party to use someone else’s phone, those loofas inside would surely drop her home forcefully this time and close the party. That was not acceptable. Walking until she saw a taxi seemed like a better idea.
At this time of day, only a few buses were running. If she walked long enough, she could even get to one of the nearest bus stops in this god-forsaken rich area. Rich people in the suburbs didn’t use buses.
Lola made a point to herself not to have her own child’s party at places like these that are rich.
“Hey, Macy.”
When she was walking by a dark back alley of what appeared like an old, empty building, a harsh voice behind her made her jump. Her happy whistling was cut short and fell into nothingness.
She turned around quickly and raised an eyebrow when she saw a young man, probably in his mid-twenties, with a rough appearance and tattoos all over except for the middle of his face. He was walking in a way that made him look intoxicated or drugged up, and he had a sleepy grin on his face.
Damn!
She turned around quickly and started walking quickly.
“Are you deaf? Macy? “
What was up with his “a” accent? Lola would have asked the guy if the circumstance wasn’t a little terrifying.
The guy suddenly raced past Lola and stood in front of her, blocking her passage. “Ya ya ya—Macy, wait for a minute, I say.”
She turned around and walked to the right, and he did likewise. When she tried to move to the left, he did, too, and stood in her way.
Lola screamed, but the addicted guy was puzzled for a second since it was a scream of anger, not fear.
“Get out of my way, idiot,” Lola said.
A second went by.
He didn’t move; he only smiled. “Listen, Macy,” he said slowly. “Listen very carefully—”
“Why would I?” Just get out of the path, moron. “Who stops a lady in such a way—
“Shut up!” Just shut the f*ck up! “Getting angry, he cut her off. “Now be a nice girl, Macy, which you clearly aren’t, and give me that bag of yours. Make sure it has your phone and cash in it.”
Well, here was what she had been dreading from the start. “I don’t have any cash with me,” she answered simply, which was a lie. She opened her lips to say she had misplaced her phone at the party she went to, but the guy beat her in her deception.
“That’s for me to figure out now—give me your purse that looks like it’s about to burst.”
And the purse did have a big belly because it was full of things that would save her life, like band-aids, antiseptic cream, pain meds, a sanitary napkin, sanitizer spray, wipes, chapstick, a comb, a lighter, a roll-on for mosquitoes, a notepad, a pen, a mini torchlight, some nuts, a banana, and so on. And, of course, there was her phone and a small wallet with some cash and a credit card. She couldn’t lose all of these!
There is no way somebody could take anything from Lola.
So she calmed her face and got ready.
The man seemed a little bewildered as he said, “What are you thinking about, Macy?” “Hurry up!” I have plans with my buddies.
Lola stepped back and then kicked the air between them. “Aiyaaa…”
The guy was so astonished that he took a few steps back. “What the hell!” “
Lola stopped to get her breath after all the quick motions. She hoped the guy got the hint. She wasn’t a weak girl, and if he believed she was, he was going to get injured from then on.
But her hopes were dashed when the guy abruptly sprang forward after a second lengthy blank glance, grabbed her by the arms, and pushed her against the wall behind her.
Lola screamed and struggled to get away, but the man held her tighter.
“Stop moving ya!” He pushed her hard against the wall and slipped one hand down to seize her pocketbook.
But she fought back hard and fiercely. “Let me go, you jerk!” “
Lola saw him pull out a knife from his pocket, and it was harder and harder for the guy to keep her down.
Her heart raced.
He put the knife to her throat and gave her a frightening expression. Then he started to drop his other hand to get her pocketbook, but then he noticed the rise of her bosom, and his gaze changed. His unclean, white tongue came out of his lips to lick his bottom lip.
“Well, well,” he said. “You seem like a work of art, Macy.” She tried to fight back, but he slipped his fingers down her exposed neck to grip her chest.
“You’re a f*****g a*shole!” “She yelled and pushed him away with all her might.
He stumbled back a few inches, and the blade barely scraped her neck. A line of brilliant crimson slowly appeared on her pale skin.
She took advantage of the chance she had when he was getting his legs back in balance for a few seconds.
As she screamed a battle cry, she reached inside the neckline of her dress and pulled out her dagger. Just as she was about to raise the knife up threateningly, the man hurled himself on top of her.
The sound of human flesh cutting through the air was really loud.
Lola gasped and glanced down.
The man also looked down, and his gasp was louder.
She shivered.
Damn!
She had stabbed him in the p***s.
The guy glanced up and stood there, starring at her in shock for a second before his face contorted. “F*****g hell!” he yelled in anguish. Aaaa…  You bitcha. “You crazy bitch.”
“You did it yourself, jerk. Oh my God! “She made a frown as she saw blood start to stain the front of his soiled jeans. “F**k, F**k, F**k.”  “F**k, Hell.”
“I’ll kill you!” “He yelled.
The hurt guy, who was blind with wrath and anguish, raised his fist and flung it at her face, once and then again. Luckily, she ducked each time. It was almost funny until she lost her rhythm.
When his knuckles hit her jaw, the pain that went across the side of her face made her vision become fuzzy.
She wondered whether she was losing this fight, even if her knife had finally drawn blood.
But she heard a man’s voice calling her name through the fog.
“Lola!”
The man’s weight suddenly left her. She fell to the floor, hardly awake.
A shadow hovered over her. Her blurry eyes saw the face as a flat surface with no eyes, nose, or mouth. It looked rather hilarious. Lola laughed a little bit, but she was still confused.
*****
“Ouch,” Lola muttered as she moved on the bed in the hospital’s emergency room. “Please be a little more gentle.”
Ryan moved the ice pack he was pressing against her eye. “Hold still,” he shouted angrily. “The nurse said that an ice pack would help the bruise go down quickly.”
There was a bandage over the now-clean sliver of a cut on her neck. The cut still hurt a bit.
“She didn’t tell you to hit me again with the ice pack.”
“If you’re that worried about getting bruises, you shouldn’t have tried to walk home alone so late at night—”
“Blame it on that fancy neighborhood—there weren’t any taxis on the road,” she said.
“That guy could have really hurt you!” He was angry.
“That guy got hurt worse, right in the middle.” He took off the ice pack when he saw her move up straight. “Oh, my knife!” Where is it? What if I go to the station and question them about the knife? “
Ryan grumbled. “I would strongly suggest against it,” he replied, glaring at Lola. “With great care and attention, I made them understand that you acted in self-defense.”  “I think the knife is at the station with them.” When Lola opened her mouth to say something, he quickly stopped her by saying, “No way!” They could think it’s strange that you’re asking for it. “Don’t put your hand any deeper into a crocodile’s mouth.”