Then she had met Charles at one of the office Christmas parties. He had just joined Stark Industries as the Chief Marketing Officer for the Future Tech division and he was intelligent as well as charming. They had hit it off at the party and though she was reluctant to get involved with a co-worker he had wooed her incessantly and she had finally fallen for his charms. The thought of Charles brought a fresh set of tears began flowing down her cheeks. She bit back her sobs and looked at her watch – a gift from Tony for her birthday – and checked the time – 12.30am. She took out her phone and found that there had several missed calls from Charles and a message asking her where she was. She deleted the message and his number from her phone as she began sobbing again.
She must have fallen asleep, because the noise jolted her awake. It sounded like someone was arguing. Amii propped herself up on her elbow and peeked over the back of the bench. She saw two bedraggled men under a street lamp arguing over what looked like a woman's handbag. One of the men was yelling at the other to hand over his cut of the loot and that he needed a fix before he lost it completely. Amii looked around and realized she was alone in the park and that if the men realized she was there, she would be their next victim. Her heart was pounding as she contemplated her next move – should she risk it and make a break for it? Should she stay hidden and hope that the men went away? Right at that moment her phone rang – "shit, shit, shit" she cursed under her breath as she started digging into her handbag searching for it.
One of the men said "Hey, wait, do you hear that? There's someone else here". "It might be the cops, let's get outta here", said the other. "No, if it was the cops they'd have busted us, its not the cops, and it looks like the sound is coming from that bench over there. Com'on let's go, take a look".
Amii had managed to silence the phone, but she realized that the men had gone silent. She risked a peek and saw them heading towards her, keeping to the shadows on each side, there was no way she could make a run for it now. Amii had taken martial arts lessons and was a blackbelt in Taekwondo and Jujitsu, but the first rule she had been taught was to avoid conflict when possible. She heard the soft flick of a knife on her right and knew the men were armed. As adrenalin kicked in, she decided to face off her attackers and quietly removed her heels, and gripped them tightly, ready to use the spiked heels as a weapon.
The two men were almost upon her when she jumped out from behind the bench and attacked the man closest to her, she kicked him in the gut and hit him in the face with the heel of her shoe. The other man tried grabbing her from behind, but she stamped on his foot and punched him in the nose. The first guy came at her with the knife and she managed to dodge him, but the second guy tackled her from behind and she went down, crashing into a bush. She felt a burning sensation on her cheek where the branches had scratched her and there was a deep throbbing in her right hand where several splinters of wood had poked into her palm. She grunted as the man kicked her in the stomach and knocked the wind out of her. He kicked her again on her ribs and she heard something crack as the pain blinded her. She curled up in agony, clutching her midsection and screaming, but the man mercilessly kicked her again. Pain racked through her body as she felt him grab her hair and twist it while pulling her up "Oh, youse gonna get it now, missy," said the guy with the knife, "Bobby here don' like bitches who put up a fight. Youse broke his nose, he gonna carve you up for dat." The second man took out a nasty looking hunting knife and began to approach her while wiping the blood from his face. Amii realized she was in bigger trouble than she'd anticipated, and she could feel her heart pounding in her throat.
She suddenly remembered the watch that Tony had given her, it had a button she could press in an emergency, and Tony had promised her that help would arrive within minutes. She pressed the button just as Bobby put the knife at her throat and said "Ooh, look whatcha done, bitch, you ruined my face. I'm think I'm gonna cut up that pretty face of yours but first hand me your stuff…that necklace looks like real gold, as does that watch. Com'on now, give it up quickly, and I might just spare you". "Hey Bobby", said the second man, "look at the money in her purse! This is gonna get us enough meth for a week!" "What's a classy broad like you doin' in this part of town, eh?" said Bobby as he snatched her chain and the watch "That's some fancy perfume" said Bobby as he put his broken nose on her neck and sniffed. Amii felt a shiver go down her spine as Bobby ran his fingers down her arm and said "Hey, Jonesey, looks like we got ourselves some classy pussy tonight…ha ha ha…let's have some fun before we cut her up, eh". Amii did not really believe in God, but at that moment she began praying with all her might that the button worked, she was in really big trouble now.