Chapter 1: Injured man in the Alley

"Good night,Mira"

Alexandra waved goodbye to her coworker as she made her way towards the path that led to the bus stop. She checked the phone on her phone and saw that it was five minutes past nine.

"I need to hurry home before the wicked lady locks me out" She muttered under her breath as she clutched the strap of her bag closer to her shoulder. Alexandra always tried to get home early because her landlady gave a curfew but today,the restaurant had lots of customers making them close late.

Alexandra is a twenty-one year old graduate of international relations but due to some circumstances,she works in a little end family diner. She lives alone after her parents cut off ties from her after she refused to marry an old man who they insisted she marry.

"Music to calm my nerves down" She said but decided against it as she was in a dangerous neighborhood and it was advisable to be on guard. Alexandra flinched with every sound she heard.

A news story came out last year that a young woman was killed along this path which made her stop taking this path until five months ago. Alexandra had refused to leave her room out of fear that the killer was out there but after several tries by the police to find the killer, everyone forgot about the case and everything went back to normal.

On getting to the bus stop,she sat on the bench as she waited for a bus. She unlocked her phone to see several calls from the electricity company and a few from her neighbor,Mara. She's been getting calls from the electricity company because she was still owing her electricity bills and she didn't have money to pay yet. They had cut her power supply and she knew that it would cost a lot to connect it back.

She called Mara but received no response. "She's probably sleeping"

She sat on the bench waiting for a bus but the only one she had seen was already full. She contemplated walking home but that was a good thirty minutes walk from the bus stop. "Why today?" She groaned as she stood up already feeling sore from sitting down.

After waiting for a few more minutes and noticed no sign of a bus,she picked her bag from the bench as she made her way down the street home. "I guess I'm walking home tonight" She said out loud but regretted it as her voice pierced through her ears. Her home was a straight path down but it was very far. She scanned her surroundings with each step that she took, the constant fear of what was in the dark nagged at the back of her mind. She held her phone tightly in her hand as she put her Coworker, Mira on speed dial just in case something went wrong while clutching her bag tightly to her shoulder.

She was walking down quickly and then stopped when she heard a faint grunt. She thought it was in her head and wanted to continue moving but again she heard another grunt. She moved towards the source of the sound hesitantly, knowing that it was stupid to move towards a dark path but curiosity got the best of her.

Her heart was beating against her chest and for a moment she thought that it would break through her heart cage. She stopped trying to convince herself that it would be better to be safe in her bed than here but the grunt reached her ear breaking her resolve. "I'll just satisfy my curiosity, maybe someone is in danger and needs help" She said to herself as she walked further down the path. The cold air caressed the exposed part of her skin which was not covered with clothing and she immediately regretted leaving the house in a sundress.

She took slow steps towards the low grunt as her heart got louder each second that passed. The dark abyss of the night enveloped her as she walked. She strained her eyes in the dark trying to make out any movement as she got closer to the sound. She turned back when she didn't see anything but stopped as she heard another low grunt followed by a sharp intake of air.

She took slow steps towards the direction of the sound and finally saw the silhouette of the body on the ground. Turning on her phone's flashlight, she saw a man hunched over clutching the left side of his stomach as blood seeped through his shirt staining his shirt a deep crimson color.

Her eyes widened as she took in the sight before her. She quickly rushed to him, kneeling beside him as she stared down at his face. She was confused as she didn't know what to do. Beads of sweat trickled down the man's face as he squeezed his face in pain. He took painful gasps of air into his lungs. "Can you hear me? Are you okay?" Alexandra asked in concern.

The man raised his head staring at her straight in her eyes. His handsome features are hard from the pain. "Oh no, I feel fucking amazing" He said,his voice filled with both irritation and pain. She was surprised at why he was mean but she ignored him and picked up her phone from where she kept it.

"You're hurt but you still have a little strength to be sassy… I'm calling 911" She said as she dialed the number on her keypad. She was about to press the call button when the man dragged her phone from her hand and threw it on the floor. He was so fast that she didn't notice it coming even in his injured state.

"Don't call 911 or anybody, just get me out of here" the man said leaning his back on the wall behind him. Alexandra was tempted to slam his head on the wall. She glared at him before picking her phone, noticing that half of the screen was blind.

"You broke my phone and you're going to pay" Alexandra not minding that he was an injured man. "What happened to using our words?" She asked,her voice cracking slightly from frustration.

"I'll pay for it,get me out of here" He said as he stood up slowly, using the wall as a support.

"This phone was our only source of light" Alexandra said as she tried to turn on the flashlight on the good part of the screen.

The man released a throaty chuckle as he stared down at her. He leaned against the wall as he took slow breaths. "I fucking said that I'll buy you a new one, don't you get that part" he said, irritation evident in his voice. "So call a cab right now"

Alexandra was tempted to leave him here to bleed out but the promise of a new phone made her keep her mouth shut. "You're lucky that I need a new phone" She said in head as she managed to turn on the flashlight of her phone.

"It will be better if you go to the hospital, don't you think?" Alexandra said as she helped him out of the Alley. "I'm not a doctor so if you leave your injured state in my hands, you'll probably bleed out"

" Look, I'll handle that… just help me out here" He said, trying to stop himself from lashing out at her. She grunted under her breath before leading him out of the Alley onto the road. Alexandra wondered what he was doing by this time of the night with a gunshot wound and no phone to call for help. She thought about taking a stranger to her house but her kind heart couldn't let her abandon an injured man on the road.