Prevention

Chapter Three - Alley

James

Anne slightly ahead of him, James turned into Ball Alley. He wasn't really quite sure why it was called Ball Alley, most believed it was because of the odd wide round area halfway down the narrow corridor of walls, or because of the kids that would hang out there in summer and kick a football about. The alley itself was quite long, With two house-widths on both sides of the wide round area.

James and Anne walked down the long first stretch, neither bothered to make conversation as ironically, there was too much to say. They were about half way along when suddenly Anne stopped.

"FUCK! Ow, shit, Ow!"

She was shouting and hopping around, it was dark but James could clearly see she was clutching her foot, as that seemed to be the area causing the problem

"Anne?! Wh- The fuck? Are you not wearing any shoes?"

"YES i'm not wearing any shoes, thanks DIPSHIT. Ow, fuck, I think there's some glass in my foot"

Their were about a million witty responses James could've retaliated with, but it was clear that Anne was in pain, and he would be if he didn't start helping.

"Fuck, um, right. Piggyback"

"What!?"

"Piggyback, i'll carry you to the round area where the shitty light is and pull it out or something"

Anne opened her mouth to respond when she realised this was possibly the best idea. She hopped up to James as he turned away and hopped up onto his back. There was just enough space for her legs either side of him, but her weight was messing with his balance and James stumbled a few times, causing her legs to get painfully crushed into the hard brick wall.

"OW. Careful you knobfaced stupid-"

James ignored her, he had enough of a job carrying her and figured with a glass shard in her foot insults were the kindest thing she could say at the time. He stumbled into the round section. It was quite a wide area, with probably enough room for a car to turn round in, newspapers and litter were strewn around the edges of the brick wall. There was a dim light hanging from a metal hook high above the ground which had been placed there by the council after they had got bored of constant complaints due to the pitch black darkness causing accidents. It was a cheap old thing and often failed to work, James breathed a sigh of relief to see it working tonight. He gingerly pushed some bags against the wall aside with his foot, and lowered down so Anne could hop off him and sit down, so he could inspect the damage.

The light was behind James so he cast a shadow, but he could clearly see the green fragment of glass that had stabbed into Anne's foot. It was a large shard but James couldn't tell how deep it was, but by the fact Anne could fully control her foot he could guess it hadn't reached muscle. He looked up to her.

"I'm going to have to pull this out, okay?"

She just nodded at him. He pulled off his jumper and handed it to her, he figured she'd need to clench her fists on something. Instead she bit down on the sleeve, which he realised was a much better idea as it'd stop he biting her own tounge or the like.

"Okay, on 3, 1..."

He pulled on two, knowing it'd catch her out but wouldn't be as bad due to her suprise. She screamed into the sleeve, her fists clenched white and half-flailing. James had expected resistence, but only felt a slight tug as he pulled the shard out. He was relieved to see there was only a tiny amount of blood on the corner of the fragment, and pressed a tissue to her cut, to stop any bleeding that was to come.

Anne had stopped screaming and opened her eyes to inspect the damage herself, she whimpered a few times when the tissue rubbed the cut but otherwise handled the pain okay. James looked at her.

"Are you okay? Are you going to be able to walk?"

"I... I dunno. I guess i'll have to see by trying"

He began to help her up, sliding her back against the wall, when there was a voice behind him

"..Fuckin'... Fuckin' didn't even think i'd fuckin' notice did'cha? Fuckin'.. thought I was stupid din'ya? Silly whore, you make so much fuckin' noise when you fuckin' talk, jeesus"

Anne supported herself, eyes widened, as James turned around, to see Daniel swaying unsteadily behind him. They'd been so caught up in removing the shard he hadn't even noticed Dan approach. James turned to his old friend.

"Dan, mate, are you okay? Anne got some glass in her foot but she's okay, we're going to see Farah.."

He could see it was pointless. Dan reeked of alcohol and weed and was muttering to himself along. His eyes suddenly widened, as if to see James for the first time

"You fuckin'.. Mate you are, my fuckin' girl that is. Bullshit goin' to see Farah, Bullshit, you fuckin'.. Fuckin' around with 'er aint'cha, fuckin' my girl, My girl that is. Mate you are, fuckin'.."

Anne stepped forward, stepping as gingerly as possible on her hurt foot

"Daniel, babe please, he's telling the truth, we're just going-"

The sound of the slap reached James before he even saw it. Daniel had backhanded Anne across the face, she stumbled back and smacked her head against the wall, then slid down it, there was no blood but she'd been knocked unconscious, a red mark already appearing on her face.

"DANIEL? WHAT THE HELL?!"

"FUCK YOU. MY FUCKIN' GIRL THAT IS"

Dan stepped back, unsteady, and James got ready to run, but Dan could tell

"Na-a-ah mate, Nah, your not goin' anywhere you fuckin' cheat, fuckin', getting what you deserve you are."

And then he got the knife out of his pocket.

TO BE CONTINUED.