Enemy Beloved

17 | the masked man

Rose walks away with her umbrella covering her from the heavy rainfall to call our driver. I look around me and notice the lack of people. The road is empty because of the rain and I find myself standing alone on the pavement.

I pull my coat closer around my body. It is chilly out here and the nighttime is making everything look eerie. After debating for a moment, I decide to follow behind Rose. It is better than standing here alone and risking my safety.

I am about to step down from the pavement when I feel fingers curl around my wrist. I try to yank my hand away instantly but the person slams a gloved hand over my mouth and nose, squeezing tightly. The shopping bags drop from my hand, along with my purse and umbrella, as I try to pull his hand off me. My nostrils are blocked and I am not able to breathe.

The attacker drags me with him and I open my mouth to bite him but his glove is thick and my teeth don't hurt him at all. The man pulls me further into a dark alley with only neon boards lighted over our heads.

No, no, please don't be a rapist.

He pushes me against a wall and I get a good look at him. He is dressed in all black and his face is covered with a white Arlecchino mask. He is tall and lean, standing over at a height of six feet probably. I am about to scream at the sight of him when I see something silvery glinting in his hand.

A knife.

The scream dies halfway as he lifts it and brings it down in one go. I somehow manage to roll my body from between the wall and him just in time. The knife hits the wall behind me, brick dust crumbling to the ground at the impact.

I fall to the ground and haul myself to a sitting position as the attacker looks at me. He lunges forward again and this time, I manage to grab a stone from the ground and throw it on his face. He grunts when it hits his forehead and is distracted for seconds as he holds his head between his hands.

I take his momentary lapse of attention as a chance to run. I pull myself up and sprint further down the alley. Fear ripples through me when I hear his hurried footsteps following me. Biding my time, I hide behind garbage cans and building cracks as I keep progressing further down the alley.

My stomach cramps and my heart feels like it would freeze in my chest as terror seizes me.

"Help!" I scream when I reach a dead end and have nowhere else to go.

The attacker stops for a second and looks around him, probably to see if someone heard me. But to my ultimate misfortune, no one seems to have due to the sound of the heavy rainfall.

The attacker turns to me again as I search for something to defend myself with but there is nothing here. He takes a step forward, the steel of his knife shining when the neon lights fall on it.

"Stop!" I shout at him, raising my hands over my head. "Please don't do this. What do you want?"

He takes more steps forward and I find myself backed up against the wall, completely at his mercy.

"Please..." I cry. "I don't have money. My purse...I dropped it there...I have nothing to give you..."

He reaches closer and to my astonishment, extends his other hand towards me. I tremble violently as he touches a gloved hand to my cheekbone. It is rough and makes me whimper.

"Please...let me go," I beg him, squeezing my eyes shut when he moves closer.

He slides his hand down my body, resting it on my hip.

"I'm sorry," he murmurs, his voice sounding muffled due to his mask. "I'm so...sorry."

He moves the knife close to my face and pushes a strand of my wet hair away from my eyes, tucking it behind my ear.

"So...beautiful..." he continues in an obscure voice. "So...unfortunate."

"Please..." I request, clasping my hands together. "Please...let me go."

My tears, mixed with the drops of rain, travel down my face and he touches his thumb to my lips.

"I don't want to do this," he murmurs again. "I don't want to...kill you. Please forgive me."

I stare at him, confused at his words and too stupefied to move when he lifts the knife over my head.

Oh, God! I'm going to die.

He lashes toward me and I wait for the impact, shutting my eyes, but it never comes. I hear faint grunts instead and the sound of something being hit over and over again. I breathe heavily, afraid of what might be happening.

When I open my eyes, I find a familiar figure tackling the attacker to the ground. They are engulfed in a brawl and the person has a knee pressed to the attacker's chest. I recognize him immediately.

Vaughn is here.