‘Can you wait here while I find my friend?’ I asked the cab driver as we pulled up near Lucy’s location.
He rolled his eyes but he nodded his agreement.
‘Thank you. I’ll be back as soon as I find her,’ I said as I handed him a fifty.
That seemed to satisfy him and he smiled. ‘I’ll be right here.’
I grabbed my purse and jumped out of the cab as I looked up and down the street for any sign of Lucy.
I dialed her cell but it went to voicemail. The neighborhood wasn’t a great one. The street was full of boarded up storefronts. I saw an alleyway and ducked inside it. If she was here, then she’d be hiding. Then I heard a scream. I ran in the direction of the sound until I found her, pressed up against the wall by a huge man with his hand around her throat. I saw her phone in pieces on the floor beside her.
‘Hey!’ I shouted. ‘Get your hands off her!’
He turned and glared at me and I ran towards him, the adrenaline coursing through my body. He slapped Lucy across the face with the back of his hand and threw her to the ground.
‘Stay out of this lady,’ he said as he advanced towards me. ‘This is between me and her.’
‘The hell it is,’ I spat. ‘Now leave her alone and get out of here before I call the cops,’ I said as I unlocked my cell.
He moved faster than I’d expected him to, grabbing my phone, he threw it against the wall and it smashed into a hundred pieces.
Shit! What was I going to do now? I’d taken some self-defense classes at college, but all I could remember was what to do if you were attacked from behind. This guy was huge and suddenly his hands were coming at my throat.
‘Lucy! Run!’ I shouted as he made a grab for me. I ducked out of his way and he stumbled forward giving me time to shout to Lucy. ‘There’s a cab in the street. Run to it. Tell him to call the cops.’
By this point, Blake had regained his footing and he grabbed me by the throat, squeezing the air from me as Lucy ran past us both with tears streaming down her face.
She would see the cab. Then they would get help.
I could hear Blake shouting at her to stay where the fuck she was, and then I heard her.
‘Alana. There’s no cab here,’ she wailed.
I tried to turn but Blake held me firmly.
‘The street is empty,’ she cried.
Suddenly, I remembered the first rule of self-defense – always go for the nut-sack. I brought my foot up and kicked Blake in the balls as hard as I could.
He let go of my throat and doubled over, clutching his groin in pain.
I turned to Lucy. ‘Run!’ I screamed at her and she stared at me for a few seconds, her eyes wide with shock and fright. But then she started running.
I did too, but Blake was back up and running after me. He grabbed me by the hair and pulled me backwards, and then he slapped my face.
His face was purple with rage and his anger was making him clumsy. I ducked away from him again and he lunged at me, but all he could grab hold of was my purse. I shrugged it loose and ran into the street, screaming for help at the top of my lungs.
There was no-one around, but Blake didn’t know that for sure.
I looked back at him as he stood still in the alleyway, deciding whether I was worth getting arrested for. He obviously decided that I wasn’t and he took my purse and ran the other way, which was fortunately in the opposite direction to Lucy.
