Witness
I knew exactly how Lisa was feeling. I had been there before, I knew the heartache... though for some reason I couldn't feel sorry for her. He was one of those guys that your mother always warned you about. Despite the pleading and warnings, she ignored them. I looked at my friend. I saw the pain in her eyes. She said that she loved him, that HE was the one. How wrong she was. When she had turned up at our doorstep at three in the morning, pale faced, and bruised, I could hardly contain my anger.
She said that there had been a heated arguement and he had hit her. She had told him then that it was over. Only cowards hit women! She said that his face reddened with anger, and that's when he said it. I'll never forget it. If I can't have you then noone will! Those words rang in my ears. Lisa was terrified and had fled. I was the strongest one she knew. We have been friends a long time, and besides that, we were flatmates. He had threatened her and it scared both of us. Since he had hit her, who knew what he was capable of doing? Nothing happened for a month and Lisa's emotional heartache had finally started to heal, and that's when we heard the horrible news. He was a member of an organization known as "The Foot". It was a band of ninja thieves from Japan, and the leader was simply known as " The Shredder". It certainly explained a lot. We knew that he was into the martial arts, and wasn't exactly a saint, but a ninja thief? It certainly had puzzled us. I started to find it weird when he used to rock up to our apartment covered in cuts and bruises. He had said that it happened during 'sparring', but I wasn't convienced, then there were the phone calls and the paging at all hours. We had found out that he was one of the leaders and dangerous. He had been very moody just before the incident, and it turned out that they had been busted by the cops again after another fight in the city. The fight had been plastered all over the tv and newspapers. For months after, we saw nor heard from him. That's when the letters and the phone calls started. Both Lisa and I were so terrified that we eventually moved.
Things had finally started to settle, and tonight was the night. It was Lisa's birthday and a bunch of us from uni were going out, apparently a new club/bar had opened in Greenwich Village to great reviews and we thought that it was going to be fun. The others would meet us later, and I had told Lisa and Trina to meet me somewhere near by as I had a self defense class and it finished at 9pm. We thought that we'd eat before going. Trina had suggested pizza as there was a great place only a block from the club. Ever since I had been mugged the year before, I was paranoid. I cringed at loud noises and shadows, even glances from strange men freaked me.
I looked to Lisa and Trina who were across the road and waved. Lisa looked so happy and I was glad. She deserved to be happy instead of scared. The creep she had dated was out of her life. Noone should go through the pain of a messy break up, but the sad thing is so many of us do. I looked both ways before I was about to cross only to be stopped by a truck that was taking his time. When it had finally passed, they were gone. I stood there for a second stunned. Where the hell were they? I finally crossed the road and looked about. They were definitely gone. I heard some muffled voices and I spun around. The sound had come from an ally that was a few shopfronts down. Fear struck me and I tensed up as a horrible feeling washed over me. Oh shit! It had to be him. It had to be Sammy. I slowly walked to the alley - I know a stupid thing to do at night, but I had to know if Lisa was there or not.
My palms broke out into a sweat as I rounded the corner. My eyes widened in horror as I saw Sammy lowering Lisa's limp body to the ground. I screamed. She had to be dead! I slowly started to back out when suddenly he looked up and made a hand signal to the other two.
"Get her, silence her!" I turned and ran the other way. He had recognised me, and now he wanted me too. I felt something heavy from behind and I fell foward as I was tackled to the ground. I quickly turned onto my back and started to struggle. I did try to clear my mind as my instructor had told me but I was terrified. I didn't want to die. I bit his hand as he tried to muffle my screams of help.
"Bitch!" he yelled as he struck me and I yelped. He pulled a knife, and as we struggled I felt a sharp sting on my right arm. That's when I felt the adrenalin and anger kick in. I managed to get my feet under him and with all of my strength I launched him into the air where he landed on the other guy who had been watching us and encouraging my attacker. I quickly scrambled to my feet and ran down the street, constantly looking behind me. The other had recovered quickly and had started to catch up. My arm was throbbing and I could feel the blood on my arm. As I rounded another corner, I looked behind again. When I looked back, I just managed to see four figures in front of me with trenchcoats and hats. I couldn't stop in time and I plowed into the four of them. We all landed in a heap on the ground, the pizza they were carrying was now everywhere. I looked into the eyes of one of them. They were full of fury.
"You stupid bitch! Watch were you're going... what the hell?" He looked to my arm. Our eyes met briefly, then I looked back and they were getting closer. I tried getting to my feet, but my head throbbed and my vision had started to swim.
"I'm s..s..sorry.. here" I reached into my pocket and crabbed my cab fare, pressing the twenty dollar bill into the palm of his hand. I managed to stand up, but just barely. I think that shock had started to set in. My hands trembled, as I tried unsuccessfully to run. I fell flat on my face. I turned around to look at the four figures. They had vanished, leaving behind two empty pizza boxes and a pavement covered in splattered pizza. I looked on helplessly as the two ran up to me and yanked me to my feet. I struggled and managed to get free for a second. I raised my knee and planted it firming into one of their groins. He yelped as he doubled over in pain and fell to the pavement in extreme pain. I turned to the other one and I saw him crab something from his belt. I started to back away in horror, as I realised that it was a blade. Almost tripping over my own two feet, and using the shopfronts as support, I managed to take a few steps back, before the shopfront ended and gave way to an alley. I fell back onto my wrists and gasped at the pain. With my eyes firmly on him, I started to push myself back, away from him. Tears flowed down my cheeks as I realised that this was it. The guy broke out into a smile as he raised the blade, his arm in a perfect striking position. I closed my eyes and held my breath and waited for the pain to hit. After a second, I realised that it wasn't going to happen. Something had happened. I opened one eye and peered at him. He was there, the blade still in his hand, but he had hestitated. Was there something going on that I had missed? Then he turned toward me and pounced. I screamed as I saw a flash of the blade. KLUNK!! I heard the noise and looked at my attacker puzzled, he was on his back, some distance away. The blade was embedded in the ground by something that looked like a giant fork. He grunted and got up again. But this time I had managed to get onto my feet and I looked up to see him charging toward me, but he never made it.
"Bonzai!!!!" I saw a flash of green, and he was again on the floor. He got up. We were not alone. I saw a shadow and a hand was placed on my shoulder.
"Hey take it easy, we're here to help, sorry about the disappearing act.. we had to be sure" I turned and looked at the kind stranger. He was wearing a trenchcoat and fedora. He had his face to the shadows, so I couldn't tell what he looked like, but I didn't care. These people had just saved my life. My legs gave in and he caught me before I hit the ground. He helped me up and lead me outside the alley.
"But what about ..." he raised his hands to silence me.
"Don't worry about him, Raph and Mikey, er... my brothers will take care of that creep, you're safe now..." Another stranger approached him and whisphered something into his.. er.. ear. When I heard "Foot" being mentioned I looked up.
"Be careful, he's ninja, there's two more around...ahhhh" I yelled as I felt something pierce my thigh and I fell to the ground. Sammy and the other one were now in front of us. I looked at my bloody thigh, then to the ground where I saw something that looked like a star. That was it! My anger rose and I lost it. The pain faded as I thought of Sammy with Lisa. To the amazement of the two kind strangers and the two creeps I got to my feet. Before anyone could to do anything, I bent down and picked the star up off the floor and threw it at Sammy as if it were a frisby. He hit the pavement and the star embedded itself in the telegraph pole behind them.
"You murdering son of a..." I started to walk toward the two.
"Hey back off, you're hurt!" One of the strangers said as he dragged me back. I looked straight at the stranger in front of me.
"He's a murderer, what are YOU gonna do about that?" I spun around as I heard someone cry out in pain. A fight had began. One of the four strangers was on the ground, I blade to his throat.
"Mike!!!" The two beside me yelled. I saw the other pull out two fork like weapons.
"The girl for your friend" Sammy called out as he moved the blade closer to Mike's throat.
"I think not" a female voice came from behind and we all turned around. My heart jumped into my throat as I saw Trina and a very battered Lisa. With them was a female and four men. All were dressed in black.
"You were warned Sammy" the female said. I looked to Sammy. From the expression on his face I could tell that he was scared.
"Back of Karai or he gets it." At the mention of the name, I saw the trenchcoat figures backoff. Karai frowned and raised a hand. With amazement I saw Trina leap into action. She did two tumbles before landing infront of Sammy. Before he could act, she struck out a foot and kicked him in his jaw. He flew backwards onto the pavement, the blade falling from his hand. Trina went into a low foward roll, picking the blade as she rolled by it. She held the blade in her hand as she stood over him.
Karai's sights turned to the other creep who was with him. He kneeled before her.
"Please... Lady.... I..."
"Tonight you have dishonored yourself. Get out of my sight, this instance!" He stood, bowed then ran off. The inital shock had worn off and the pain came back. I fell to the pavement as my legs gave in.
"You okay?" one of the friendly's asked.
"Hurts... bad" I managed to say. The guy nodded. We heard Karai raise her voice and we looked up. Trina now held the blade at Sammy's throat.
"You were warned. Now you will pay!" She raised her hand and struck Sammy in the temple. His eyes closed as he slumped to the floor. Two of the of the males in her group stepped foward and dragged him away. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I looked up. It was Lisa.
"Hey girl" she said softly. I looked at her bruised face and smiled. She wasn't dead! "Just thank god that Trina's a member of the Foot. They had been watching him for a while..." her voice trailed as I saw the guy closest to me get up.
"Karai?" She turned around.
"Leonardo?" He nodded, then both of them bowed to one another. "That was your brother he had?"
"Yes..." both of their heads turned as sirens where heard coming down the street. One of the guys came up to me.
"Sorry, but we gotta go dude"
"Thank you" was all I managed to say before the four strangers and the Lady Karai disappeared, leaving Lisa, Trina and myself to explain things to the police. I never did see them again, but I had heard rumors that they were around, watching.
The End
I knew exactly how Lisa was feeling. I had been there before, I knew the heartache... though for some reason I couldn't feel sorry for her. He was one of those guys that your mother always warned you about. Despite the pleading and warnings, she ignored them. I looked at my friend. I saw the pain in her eyes. She said that she loved him, that HE was the one. How wrong she was. When she had turned up at our doorstep at three in the morning, pale faced, and bruised, I could hardly contain my anger.
She said that there had been a heated arguement and he had hit her. She had told him then that it was over. Only cowards hit women! She said that his face reddened with anger, and that's when he said it. I'll never forget it. If I can't have you then noone will! Those words rang in my ears. Lisa was terrified and had fled. I was the strongest one she knew. We have been friends a long time, and besides that, we were flatmates. He had threatened her and it scared both of us. Since he had hit her, who knew what he was capable of doing? Nothing happened for a month and Lisa's emotional heartache had finally started to heal, and that's when we heard the horrible news. He was a member of an organization known as "The Foot". It was a band of ninja thieves from Japan, and the leader was simply known as " The Shredder". It certainly explained a lot. We knew that he was into the martial arts, and wasn't exactly a saint, but a ninja thief? It certainly had puzzled us. I started to find it weird when he used to rock up to our apartment covered in cuts and bruises. He had said that it happened during 'sparring', but I wasn't convienced, then there were the phone calls and the paging at all hours. We had found out that he was one of the leaders and dangerous. He had been very moody just before the incident, and it turned out that they had been busted by the cops again after another fight in the city. The fight had been plastered all over the tv and newspapers. For months after, we saw nor heard from him. That's when the letters and the phone calls started. Both Lisa and I were so terrified that we eventually moved.
Things had finally started to settle, and tonight was the night. It was Lisa's birthday and a bunch of us from uni were going out, apparently a new club/bar had opened in Greenwich Village to great reviews and we thought that it was going to be fun. The others would meet us later, and I had told Lisa and Trina to meet me somewhere near by as I had a self defense class and it finished at 9pm. We thought that we'd eat before going. Trina had suggested pizza as there was a great place only a block from the club. Ever since I had been mugged the year before, I was paranoid. I cringed at loud noises and shadows, even glances from strange men freaked me.
I looked to Lisa and Trina who were across the road and waved. Lisa looked so happy and I was glad. She deserved to be happy instead of scared. The creep she had dated was out of her life. Noone should go through the pain of a messy break up, but the sad thing is so many of us do. I looked both ways before I was about to cross only to be stopped by a truck that was taking his time. When it had finally passed, they were gone. I stood there for a second stunned. Where the hell were they? I finally crossed the road and looked about. They were definitely gone. I heard some muffled voices and I spun around. The sound had come from an ally that was a few shopfronts down. Fear struck me and I tensed up as a horrible feeling washed over me. Oh shit! It had to be him. It had to be Sammy. I slowly walked to the alley - I know a stupid thing to do at night, but I had to know if Lisa was there or not.
My palms broke out into a sweat as I rounded the corner. My eyes widened in horror as I saw Sammy lowering Lisa's limp body to the ground. I screamed. She had to be dead! I slowly started to back out when suddenly he looked up and made a hand signal to the other two.
"Get her, silence her!" I turned and ran the other way. He had recognised me, and now he wanted me too. I felt something heavy from behind and I fell foward as I was tackled to the ground. I quickly turned onto my back and started to struggle. I did try to clear my mind as my instructor had told me but I was terrified. I didn't want to die. I bit his hand as he tried to muffle my screams of help.
"Bitch!" he yelled as he struck me and I yelped. He pulled a knife, and as we struggled I felt a sharp sting on my right arm. That's when I felt the adrenalin and anger kick in. I managed to get my feet under him and with all of my strength I launched him into the air where he landed on the other guy who had been watching us and encouraging my attacker. I quickly scrambled to my feet and ran down the street, constantly looking behind me. The other had recovered quickly and had started to catch up. My arm was throbbing and I could feel the blood on my arm. As I rounded another corner, I looked behind again. When I looked back, I just managed to see four figures in front of me with trenchcoats and hats. I couldn't stop in time and I plowed into the four of them. We all landed in a heap on the ground, the pizza they were carrying was now everywhere. I looked into the eyes of one of them. They were full of fury.
"You stupid bitch! Watch were you're going... what the hell?" He looked to my arm. Our eyes met briefly, then I looked back and they were getting closer. I tried getting to my feet, but my head throbbed and my vision had started to swim.
"I'm s..s..sorry.. here" I reached into my pocket and crabbed my cab fare, pressing the twenty dollar bill into the palm of his hand. I managed to stand up, but just barely. I think that shock had started to set in. My hands trembled, as I tried unsuccessfully to run. I fell flat on my face. I turned around to look at the four figures. They had vanished, leaving behind two empty pizza boxes and a pavement covered in splattered pizza. I looked on helplessly as the two ran up to me and yanked me to my feet. I struggled and managed to get free for a second. I raised my knee and planted it firming into one of their groins. He yelped as he doubled over in pain and fell to the pavement in extreme pain. I turned to the other one and I saw him crab something from his belt. I started to back away in horror, as I realised that it was a blade. Almost tripping over my own two feet, and using the shopfronts as support, I managed to take a few steps back, before the shopfront ended and gave way to an alley. I fell back onto my wrists and gasped at the pain. With my eyes firmly on him, I started to push myself back, away from him. Tears flowed down my cheeks as I realised that this was it. The guy broke out into a smile as he raised the blade, his arm in a perfect striking position. I closed my eyes and held my breath and waited for the pain to hit. After a second, I realised that it wasn't going to happen. Something had happened. I opened one eye and peered at him. He was there, the blade still in his hand, but he had hestitated. Was there something going on that I had missed? Then he turned toward me and pounced. I screamed as I saw a flash of the blade. KLUNK!! I heard the noise and looked at my attacker puzzled, he was on his back, some distance away. The blade was embedded in the ground by something that looked like a giant fork. He grunted and got up again. But this time I had managed to get onto my feet and I looked up to see him charging toward me, but he never made it.
"Bonzai!!!!" I saw a flash of green, and he was again on the floor. He got up. We were not alone. I saw a shadow and a hand was placed on my shoulder.
"Hey take it easy, we're here to help, sorry about the disappearing act.. we had to be sure" I turned and looked at the kind stranger. He was wearing a trenchcoat and fedora. He had his face to the shadows, so I couldn't tell what he looked like, but I didn't care. These people had just saved my life. My legs gave in and he caught me before I hit the ground. He helped me up and lead me outside the alley.
"But what about ..." he raised his hands to silence me.
"Don't worry about him, Raph and Mikey, er... my brothers will take care of that creep, you're safe now..." Another stranger approached him and whisphered something into his.. er.. ear. When I heard "Foot" being mentioned I looked up.
"Be careful, he's ninja, there's two more around...ahhhh" I yelled as I felt something pierce my thigh and I fell to the ground. Sammy and the other one were now in front of us. I looked at my bloody thigh, then to the ground where I saw something that looked like a star. That was it! My anger rose and I lost it. The pain faded as I thought of Sammy with Lisa. To the amazement of the two kind strangers and the two creeps I got to my feet. Before anyone could to do anything, I bent down and picked the star up off the floor and threw it at Sammy as if it were a frisby. He hit the pavement and the star embedded itself in the telegraph pole behind them.
"You murdering son of a..." I started to walk toward the two.
"Hey back off, you're hurt!" One of the strangers said as he dragged me back. I looked straight at the stranger in front of me.
"He's a murderer, what are YOU gonna do about that?" I spun around as I heard someone cry out in pain. A fight had began. One of the four strangers was on the ground, I blade to his throat.
"Mike!!!" The two beside me yelled. I saw the other pull out two fork like weapons.
"The girl for your friend" Sammy called out as he moved the blade closer to Mike's throat.
"I think not" a female voice came from behind and we all turned around. My heart jumped into my throat as I saw Trina and a very battered Lisa. With them was a female and four men. All were dressed in black.
"You were warned Sammy" the female said. I looked to Sammy. From the expression on his face I could tell that he was scared.
"Back of Karai or he gets it." At the mention of the name, I saw the trenchcoat figures backoff. Karai frowned and raised a hand. With amazement I saw Trina leap into action. She did two tumbles before landing infront of Sammy. Before he could act, she struck out a foot and kicked him in his jaw. He flew backwards onto the pavement, the blade falling from his hand. Trina went into a low foward roll, picking the blade as she rolled by it. She held the blade in her hand as she stood over him.
Karai's sights turned to the other creep who was with him. He kneeled before her.
"Please... Lady.... I..."
"Tonight you have dishonored yourself. Get out of my sight, this instance!" He stood, bowed then ran off. The inital shock had worn off and the pain came back. I fell to the pavement as my legs gave in.
"You okay?" one of the friendly's asked.
"Hurts... bad" I managed to say. The guy nodded. We heard Karai raise her voice and we looked up. Trina now held the blade at Sammy's throat.
"You were warned. Now you will pay!" She raised her hand and struck Sammy in the temple. His eyes closed as he slumped to the floor. Two of the of the males in her group stepped foward and dragged him away. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I looked up. It was Lisa.
"Hey girl" she said softly. I looked at her bruised face and smiled. She wasn't dead! "Just thank god that Trina's a member of the Foot. They had been watching him for a while..." her voice trailed as I saw the guy closest to me get up.
"Karai?" She turned around.
"Leonardo?" He nodded, then both of them bowed to one another. "That was your brother he had?"
"Yes..." both of their heads turned as sirens where heard coming down the street. One of the guys came up to me.
"Sorry, but we gotta go dude"
"Thank you" was all I managed to say before the four strangers and the Lady Karai disappeared, leaving Lisa, Trina and myself to explain things to the police. I never did see them again, but I had heard rumors that they were around, watching.
The End