Safe

It's alright, Jane, it's alright. You're safe. Maybe if I kept telling myself that, I would end up believing it. Nothing wrong with a little optimism, even though it was hard to come by these days.

I tried to pick up a little speed. But I was already walking as fast as I could. I didn't want to run home, it was stupid to feel so scared. But I couldn't help it.

I cursed myself for my pride. I should've accepted Teddy's offer to drive me home. He worked at Mc Donald's with me, and seemed like a nice guy. But I wasn't stupid, I knew he wanted to get into my pants, and I wasn't about to let him. He was, what, ten years older than me? And fat. And nothing but trouble, as far as I could see. Besides, even if I had been attracted to him, I couldn't imagine getting into a relationship in this time of my life.

And god, how I hated my life. I hated my job, most of my co-workers, the clients… I hated this city, I hated my apartment, and most of all, I hated walking back home every night. The lights always flickered in a sinister way, and this was a bad neighborhood. Certainly not a good place for a girl to be walking around on her own at night. So far, I hadn't had any problems, but I knew it was likely to happen someday. My sister used to live here, I moved into her apartment after she finally found something better. She used to tell me how scared she was to be outside in this place, after the sun set. But for a long time, nothing happened. Months. She started to let down her guard, thought she had been a little paranoid. Then, something bad happened.

It would happen to me one of those days, I knew it would.

I wasn't so scared, usually, though. But it had been a weird couple of weeks.

The first body had been found in a dark alley, a few blocks from where I lived. He had been dead for a while, his body had been drained of its blood, his throat torn to shreds. The second guy had been found in a dumpster, in the same state. Just a few houses from mine. The murders hadn't stopped, there had been at least half a dozen by now. All in my neighborhood. There was a psychopath on the loose, and he could be my neighbor for all I knew.

I decided that tomorrow, I would let Teddy drive me back here. I would take the creep over the psycho.

I wasn't far from my apartment now, just a few streets. I kept my eyes on the ground, walked close to the walls. I nervously tucked a loose strand of my blonde hair behind my ear. You're safe, Jane. Everything's going to be okay.

I couldn't help but notice that the shutters were all closed. The streets were empty, the silence was deadly. No one would come to help me if I ran into trouble. Even if they heard me scream, they wouldn't dare to do anything. Because people did not help each other, here. Never.

I was so close to my apartment, I was in the same street, so close – then it happened. I froze when I heard a low growl, terrifyingly close to me. I turned around slowly, and something jumped at me. I didn't even get a look. I seemed to be a man, but it didn't move like a man… all I could glimpse was a flash of white – were those teeth?

I was pinned down on the hard pavement, and cried out as my head hit the floor. It was certainly the head injury which messed with my memory from this point, it was – that's what the doctors told me, and nothing would make any sense otherwise.

I was already hurting from my fall, but that was nothing compared to the white-hot pain I felt in my neck. I fought as hard as I could, but I had never been strong or athletic, and there was a weight, a stone-cold force keeping me where I was. There was nowhere I could run. I tried to scream, but no one would come to help me, no one, no one, I was alone… But I yelled anyway, I cried out in agony as what felt like knife-sharp teeth bit into my neck, tearing it up savagely, like an animal, and drinking up the blood avidly.

I had no idea of for how long this torture lasted. Probably seconds, or maybe a minute, but to me it was centuries.

Suddenly, the terrible weight which crushed me down just vanished. I had my eyes tightly closed, and I didn't open them; I was half unconscious, and barely heard a little of what was going on. But it all sounded like a strange, strange dream, so I supposed I had passed out already.

I thought I heard fighting. Men shouting. The angry growl which had terrified me earlier, which had probably terrified all the previous victims of the murderer.

I thought I heard an angry, low voice, a man, but I couldn't make out what he said. Only at one moment, I was sure he called out, with worry seeping through the aggressivity: "Watch out, Sammy!"

But then everything went quiet. I started drifting away, I think at the time I was convinced I was going to die. Until someone quietly kneeled beside me. I felt strong arms lifting me up, holding me protectively against a firm chest. Then the same rough voice grunted something like: "Come on Sammy, she's not a baby… let's just get this over with, we need to get going." Unconsciousness was nagging at me, waiting to take me away, and I didn't know if I was going to wake up, I didn't know if I wanted to. It seemed like the man carrying me was walking, but I couldn't be sure without opening my eyes – that was too much of an effort. I was about to give in when I heard a soft voice, barely more than a whisper: "Don't be afraid. You're going to be just fine. You're safe now." There was a pause, then the man repeated with a hint of sadness: "You're safe."

I think I managed to slightly open my eyes, then; it was just an instant, but it was long enough to meet his, and have them forever printed in my mind.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

When I woke up, I was in the hospital. The man had been right, I ended up fine. Barely a month later, I was back to normal. I moved away from this neighborhood, though, as soon as I could. From this town, actually.

All I could find out was that two men dropped me off at the hospital.

The police never catched the killer, but the murders mysteriously stopped after the night I was attacked. No one believed me when I talked about what I saw, and the doctors were certainly right – after all, they know better than I do. But my instinct keeps telling me I didn't make any of this up, and that those two men, whoever they might have been, were the ones to thank for the end of the killings. I never got a chance to thank them, though. I never knew what they looked like, who they were, even if they were real.

But it didn't matter that much, after all. Because since that night, I never felt scared again. Every time I got anxious, I took a deep breath and remembered those beautiful hazel eyes. I couldn't have made those up, could I? They seemed so real. They were real to me. Then I heard the soothing voice again. Don't be afraid. I wasn't. I wasn't anymore.

You're safe now. You're safe. I had been told that before, but for the first time in my whole life, I believed it. I truly believed it.

I was safe.

…..

Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed this! Please leave a review to tell me what you thought, or to point out any mistakes I may have made! Thank you for reading!

Alice