My Painless Addiction (#Wattys2017)

Chapter 10

I shoved my hands into my pockets as I began to walk away from the alley. Jack didn't have any supplies ready yet and apparently there had just been a check and the law was lurking around being a bitch.

It had just been a day since......well yesterday, when Palestina had left. She was out of my life and I was out of hers. Technically.

I knew I had been wrecked and intent on vengeance but that talk which we had was a mind opener. It helped me think and rationalize. I had felt angry which was the only reaction I could express then. But because of what?

Betrayal and sadness. One person who I had let into my life for the first time, decided that she didn't love me enough. And that hurt. More than I thought it would.

But essential, or the toxicity of the relationship would have consumed us both in its wrath.

Just as I turned around the corner, I was pushed back by a man and before we knew it, the momentum had us both on the ground, groaning.

"What The Fuck!!" I muttered as I winced when I slowly tried to sit up. I had rammed into the concrete pavement and as far as I could make it, my left side was going to be terribly bruised.

It was certainly a shock, but then the man who had shoved me had fallen on his front, only to scramble away and start running.

"Asshole." I mumbled and picked myself off the ground and breathed out.

I was just beginning to walk when I heard a shrill scream pierce the air and my eyes shot up to find the source. It was just plain screams, no words for help or anything, just someone shouting their lungs out.

My head thronged with the sound and I sighed as I closed my eyes.

I contemplated on whether I had to walk and find the sound or just turn away and take another route back to apartment. But my car was stuck over there. I could have Jack get it back for me or just let it stay there until I come back in a couple of days. But I had to get around to college too.

Now what?

I shook my head and I began walking as fast as my body would allow me with a painful left side and I could hear the screams getting closer. I would get this over with as soon as possible.

As I walked, I told myself, if it was too much trouble, I would walk away. Not see or say anything but just walk away.

The screams began to get more panicked and a bit more muffled and I  quickened my pace. I reached the place and I was met with a rather disturbing sight.

A man, probably in his forties, clearly just someone who wanted some attention forcing himself on a girl, who was trapped between his gait and the wall of the alley.

I stood rooted to my spot as the girl screamed out and her vision found mine. The girl tried pushing off the man, who had his disgusting arms around her waist and he tried to get her to remove her shirt.

Heck No!

I didn't say anything as I ran to them pausing for flinging a hit when the vermin, turned around at the last minute and caught me straight in the jaw and I fell to the ground, the second time today.

"Get out." He spat at me and the girl seemed too shocked to move.

Seriously, what the absolute FUCK!!

I lifted myself off the ground and tried again when he caught my fist and decided that it would be great to twist it. I grit my teeth in pain and I kicked out, placing my foot on his stomach. He went on to hit the wall and I could see that he was getting riled up. He wished for some fun tonight and I wasn't making his wish come true like some fucking tooth fairy.

The guy came back at me but this time, I was ready. By the time he swung his arm, I had ducked and I rammed my shoulder into his chest, hopefully, knocking the breath out of him. I pushed him up against the wall and punched him, getting him hit square in the jaw as he crumpled to the ground.

He quickly reached out to hit me with a brick and he did, as the stone pounded against my knee and I lost my balance. He quickly grabbed hold of my ankle and he tried twisting it when I detangled myself and kicked him in the face, getting the pleasure of having broken his nose.

He screeched and held his hand to his nose to stop the blood but he was too occupied and dazed.

He was a bit too hurt to think and the next thing I knew, was me, taking the girl by her hand, and running from the place. I had to get away from there and get the girl away too. To someplace safe and my pain hardly bothered me right now. The girl was no less than a runner and she easily kept her pace never slowing down. Probably due to the adrenaline and fright.

I reached my car as I let go of the girl's wrist to unlock the door and we scrambled in and I started the ignition.

I pressed down on the accelerator, not paying much attention to the speed limit.

All I could think about was getting away.

The city lights began to dim and flash as my car sped along the roads, getting illuminated only when we passed under the streetlights.

After a few minutes when I had myself down from all the rush, I asked, "Are you all right?"

Only to be met with silence.

I guess she hasn't yet recovered and I faced her to have another shock.

It was the girl from Literature, the one who I had been bothered about since I saw.

She was the one getting mishandled.

She was the one who was screaming

She was the one who I got out from that dark place.

She was the one I had been puzzling my head about.

She was the one who questioned me.

She turned her head to meet mine as I pulled the car over to the side of the road. Her eyes always blinking in a poor attempt to keep her years at bay as I stared at her eyes and she looked into mine. The pain and fear in her eyes was evident and I felt myself go rigid as I felt the adrenaline again.

This was going to be a long night.