On Your Own in the City

You found yourself at the store front of a ‘Guns And Ammo’ and couldn’t help but look in and smile to yourself. Good job Alex, you have found your savior, but ooh what one to choose? You hear the bell ring on the door and you snap out of your talk. Some people walk out and you then head in and start to look at the cases holding riffles, pistols, BB guns, and magazines. “Hey Miss is there anything I can help you with”, said a middle aged man who was slightly balding on the front. “Yeah, um, I need a small gun that’s pretty light”. “Hmm, all right I have something you might like then” he say as he walks to a case to the right of you and takes out his keys.

The bell rings again and you look over to see a man in a blue jacket and pants with a yellow shirt underneath. He’s got his sleeves rolled up so their quarters now. He’s got bushy hair and he is gorgeously tall. He walks over to a case on the other side of the store without even glancing over to you and the owner.

You look over towards the man and look back to the owner. So Little Lady, you know how to use one of these here or are you just looking for a friend”? “I’m used to them, I used to go hunting when I was younger with my dad”. ‘Mm, really well then I’m not worried about you then”, and he chuckled. “Yeah”, you breathed a little laugh, “well how much does it cost”? “Hmm, well for you and since your such a pretty lady I’ll give it to you for two hundred thirsty six”. “And I’ll throw in some ammo”. “what do ya say”?


Spike was listening carefully to the whole conversation and trying to grasp as much about you as possible. The man quit talking to you for a moment and yelled on over to Spike. “Hey man, can I help you with anything over there”? Spike just waved his hand over his should, “Na I’m good, just looking”. He didn’t turn around and just kept browsing the store in the back corner, slowly making his way towards the two of you casually.

‘Okey then, just ask if you need anything”. No reply. Just a nod and a mhmm. The owner looks back to you, a smile on his face. “Okey now where were we, oh yes, it’s two hundred thirty six dollars’. “It really is in nice condition you know”, he walks over to his register. “I think it would go with you just wonderfully’, he kind of giggles and chuckles to himself. ‘You acknowledge him with a snuff/laugh. “I don’t think I can afford it, I only have about sixty five dollars left and I’m gonna need to eat and stuff, so”. “Don’t say no more miss, I’ll just keep it here for you until you can come up with the money now you hear me”. He grinned and slipped the gun from my hand and walked back over to the case. He fumbled with the keys and looked up to see the man in blue walking out of the store already. “Hey, sir, I can help you now”, he shouted! The man just strolled away. “Hm, must have not heard me”, he said to himself. ‘Bing’, “Hey miss, is that it”, he shouted again as you walked out of the stores door. “Yes, thank you”. “Yeah anytime, now you come back when you have the money now, this gun here is just right for you, you know” he called. You chuckled and nodded as you walked away to let the door swing closed.


You walked, and turned to your left going against the crowd. Passing store fronts and groups of people, some talking on cell phones others listening to radios or playing checkers on the sidewalk.. You passed an alley with the tall man from the store in it. You look to your right to get a look at him. Your shyness not bleeding through at the moment because you figure he can’t see you through those thick gorgeous locks of his. Right? ‘Probably not’.

You kept walking but turned your head to look at him as you went by. He was propped up against the wall with one leg against the bricks. He was smoking a cigarette and had his head down so you couldn’t see his eyes.

Wow, he’s nice. Mmm, I wonder what, “What”?! A man slipped past a crowd and grabbed your arm and yanked you out of your daydreaming. “Alex Gruma, your coming with me”. The man that you had bumped into before on the street was now holding onto your arms and reaching for his gun. You pulled away trying to escape from his grasp. When that did not work you resorted to voicing your opinion. “Hey, let go”, you said defensively as you pulled away only to have his hand grow tighter. “Stop it that hurts, I’m sorry I ran into you earlier I wasn’t watching but let go of me”!, you frantically said. “Lady you ain’t going anywhere but to the box house”. He chuckled, stand still and we’ll be on our way. ‘LET GO OF ME”, you yelled at him. ‘Pssh’, he talked into his microphone. “Ya, Mike I got her, out” “Really man, great get going now cuzz I’m freaking hungry, over”.


A crowd of people was forming around you and looking on. Hey, let the lady go yelled a hidden face from the audience. Yeah!, came an adjoining voice. “Listen up people’ said the man, “This ladies a bounty head so shut the heck up and go back to your own business”. “You’ve got the wrong person, let go of me, I didn’t do anything wrong I’m telling you”! You shouted at him. As the people started to disperse muttering to themselves the man smoking walked by.



“Hey, hey you, you in the blue with the hair”, you shouted. “You were just in the store with me, I didn’t do anything wrong, tell him I didn’t”! The man just kept walking, and only put a hand up to wave your talking away. “Hey”!, you yelled as he strolled on ignoring you and the man.


“Now that that’s over lady, I’m gonna cuff you and were gonna get going. “NO”!, you yelled frantically, and kicked him in the balls as hard as you could at the moment. “Ooohh”!, yowled the man as he crumpled to his knees in agony and pain. “Sorry”, you say in your head to him and somewhat mutter as you run ahead towards your apartments street. His form was curled up on the sidewalk into a small ball and writhing back and fourth cussing as you ran from the caotic scene.


SPIKES POSITION:::::::

You hear a yowling scream of pain coming from behind you and quick foot beats running. Thump, thump, thump. Obviously this person runs hard and loud. ‘Sorry’ was the only word you heard as the girl ran past you up the street. “Hm”, and you chuckled. The girl was now some yards ahead of you, so you took off at a sprint after her. Bumping into people along the way, and not even bothering to apologize you slipped between the rest of the crowds a bit faster than her, even though you would have to admit she was giving you a run for your money. ‘Dammit she’s fast’.


You ran into an alley one ahead of the one you needed just incase he was following you. You could wrap around the back of the buildings and get into your building you thought. You turned a tight corner and ran past some garbage cans and dumpsteir to your right. Making it to the back of the building jumping through some weeds and tall plants and making it up the right side, only to hear steps running up the back side of the building again. The swishing of plants was the only thing to make you go any faster.


You rounded the front corner of the left side of your building and turned right and made it to the door. Luckily it was slightly ajar and you shot in and shut it. Jumping a few steps in the process you made your way to the second floor and slipped on a mat outside of one of the rooms on the right trying to get to yours. A door opened and shut downstairs and you heard a running around and then it stopped. You stood silent for a moment, to scarred to breath.


SPIKES POSITION::::::::

Dam, now were is she. She’s in here somewhere.

You looked around and slowly started to move up, praying to god that the floor didn’t squeak. You didn’t know if it would or not but either way you had to be quick about this. You could see your room from were you were, as you slowly pushed your right arm up, and then your left. The floor felt gritty against your palms as little pieces of dust, hair, and dirt grinded into your skins surface. You slid you bodies legs up and your feet hit the floor silently and you quickly slid to your room. The number 230 never looked better in your life you decided as you opened and shut your door; and thanked the lord that you had one that didn’t squeak.

Spike slinked around the downstairs floor unknowing that you were above him. “Dammit, I could swear she’s in here”. Squeak, creak. The floor boards by the steps were creaking as someone descended them. Spike rushed from the middle of the hall and to the side of the stairwell as he pressed himself up against it closely. A musty smell enveloped him as a few sparse cobwebs slid into his face from their home on the old wallpaper he was against He breathed slowly, and swiped his hand up in one quick motion and silently spit in disgust. ‘Arr nasty cobwebs, damn bounty hiding, Arr!’ He wasn’t going to take another chance of this bounty getting away.

He made a move as the last step was descended and jumped behind her and locking his gun in place making it ready to fire said. “Hold it right there Alex Gruma” The girl stood there. Stiff as stone, hands and arms pointed strait down making no attempt to grab for a gun or a weapon what so ever. “Excuse me”? Questioned the voice in a shaky and feeble tone. “Huh”, said Spike as the girl turned around. She was about the same age, maybe a little older and shorter, but dammit, it was the wrong person. “Dammit, your not her are you”, said Spike exasperated. He sighed. “Umm,... No sir, I’m not may I ple, please, please be going she coughed out as she turned and sprinted the other way screaming a bit as she ran out the door and into the sidewalk and eventually to the crowded streets.

As the cry grew more distant, Spike let out a puff of air.”This job sucks”, he stated blandly as he walked towards the steps and ascended them.

You had managed to breath normal again. Tired from your little sprint you had won and the near death experience you considered it was. You went to your bathroom and slid the door shut slowly and quietly. You made no movement or noise but just looked into the mirror. Your image was a bit fuzzy in the old glass but you could see a stronger you than you had ever imagined before. You admired your features and frowned at what you thought needed improvement.

Obviously the man from earlier thought you were just perfect the way you were but you cringed and that made you want to vomit.


Spike crept up the steps just as silently as you did. Walked the hall even more silently and stopped in front of room and door 228. He looked both ways and thought. If she’s up here she has to be in one of these. There’s no way down except for the stairs and not way she jumped a window if there’s buildings on the left and nothin on the right to fall into. She’d be dead if she tried that right? Dammit she better be alive for all this!.

As he stood there analyzing the decisions to be made he heard a noise from ahead. A soft voice that was muffled by doors and the walls. “Well gotta go in sometime”, he says as he walks the three more steps towards what Is your apartment.


“Uggh, why can’t someone cute and nice notice me”. “Not some nasty disgusting gross pig, stomach Mexican who wants to rape me for all I’m worth”! You heaved your hands up in the air to make it more dramatic for yourself. “Then I would be able to get out of this place and situation”. I could live with them and sleep at their nice house or abode”. “Hehe abode, I made a joke and no one listened or was here”. No one was there. No one would see her over dramatic hand gestures. Would they?

Your thoughts wandered to the sheet strung across your window for some ‘protection’. You imagined that if they weren’t there you would be open and on display for many ill mannered Mexicans and Porte Ricans; or whatever ethnic groups or people lived around here.

At the moment your mind slipped into re-thought, Your door was slammed open. First thought that entered your mind was the man from before coming to get what he wanted, but as fast as that thought came, it was replaced by logic and reason. It was the man who was chasing you. ‘Freaking idiot’ you screamed to yourself through a voice that could not be heard. ‘Dammit, he was going to come in here and you had no freaking way of getting out...Alive..’ you thought. It was your only thought as you moved unknowingly to the window.

The window reminded you of the Shining. When the little boy slides out it down the snowy slope and the mom doesn’t fit. Well you’re the mom and you don’t want to open the dam window and make dam noise.

But you do and you manage to slowly slide it with chipping white paint falling to the sill ledge, but when you look down there is no way in hell your jumping down into ‘nothing but concrete and stone with weeds mixed in’.

Unsure what your next move was going to be you slid into the wall next to the door. You knew what it had to be but you were frightened of doing it actually. ‘If I go, he’ll catch me probably. No don’t think like that. Okey I have to go. He’s going to check in here and if so I’m so screwed over. Well no matter what I am, NO stop thinking like that, what the hell just go!’ You slid over to the right side of the door so if it were to open you would be behind it. You entertained the thought of actually hiding behind the door when it swung open but you had already seen enough movies to know better than that.


You saw him. He was standing there. Gun raised and eyes alert. The first second that you made a move to open that door he would be on you. ‘The kitchen’ you thought. ‘Once he goes into the kitchen I’ll make a run for it’. You breathed heavily. You weren’t panicked and breathing erratically before or anything but your chest heaved heavily as if bricks or weights were on it.

Spike walked around. Shot glances at corners and walls. It looked like no one had lived here for a while. At least not a tidy person. Dust hung from the ceilings cobwebs, just like the ones on the downstairs steps wall. Grit caked the floor and scratched as he walked on it. He slowly made his way to the kitchen figuring there wasn’t much places to hide in this empty room. One step... Two step... Three step.... Four... He was in the entrance to the kitchen of the dead. Grossed out he stuck out his tongue and let down his gun. ‘God dammit, and a girl lives here, I swear I thought they were supposed to be freaking clean’! He say unwashed dishpans, towels and egg cartons. Shells and sour milk cartons oozing from sitting in the midday sun to long. Spiders had taken up a residence inside the half opened refrigerator door. The sink was clogged with hairs that still emitted from the drain and cardboard boxes that had had some rainfall had dried again and shriveled slightly were littering the right hand corner.


The split second his gun lowered and his eyes no longer seemed menacing you took this as your chance to flee. To flee was the most stupid thing you had ever done in your life. Door ajar and your body slipping out you dashed for the entrance that seem to be calling for you. The door was to the right and it looked like a bright light. Like you had just died and were ascending to heaven above it was your savior, your caller, your..

You didn’t make it far enough, or quick enough to put it flatly. “Hey, You, Stop right there”! “HEY YOU DON”T YOU HEAR ME I SAID STOP”! You scurried; You ran; You had to get out. The stairs took only seconds as your feet flew down them in a pitter patter of noise and ran strait through the hall way with the man on your heels.

Spike holstead his gun again. He didn’t want to shoot. He really didn’t but if she was seriously going to make it this hard. Obviously she had to be somewhat dangerous to have that large of a bounty on her but come on this was ridiculous. He reacted so quickly to her little get away that he was on her tail in a flash.

Being somewhat fast you sped up even more. You knew that if you were both in the open then there was no possible way for you to win this. He was just to fast for you to try to outrun for long. You took the short lead you had and used it to your advantage. He was yet to come out of the building but in a mer number of seconds he would be shooting out the door like a volcano erupting.

You merged into the crowd to the right and spotted a large blue gray dumpsteir that was peeling of it’s old paint layers to show a gray dingy metal that was probably rusting out on the bottom.


The idea seemed like a life line. It was calling to you just like the door had, and if you were going to take it you were going to need to do it now or you were caught.

So you ran to the front of it. It took you no time to place your front hands onto the cold dingy metal that seriously smelled like your kitchen you assumed. Heaving yourself over the side, you then landed atop three black plastic garbage bags with a silent grunt and didn’t move a muscle.
You had peep holes that were to your advantage. One just small enough was right to your left, since the back of the dumpsteir was to the right of your building and on a store front of a old strip. Your head faced the right side of the dumpsteir and you back was not leaning up against anything. You looked out your rusted hole. Nothing. You held your breath though as The man came running past you at top speed. You had been dead on with the time, you hadn’t had a second to spare.


An hour had to of passed you assumed, due to the level of people fluctuating and slowly dropping and going down so you took a chance. You poked your head out of the dumpsteir ever so slightly trying to be as unnoticeable as you could.

No man that looked like the one that was chasing you appeared out of the small groups of people. No man jumped out to hold a gun to your head. And no man tried to take you to the police. You still didn’t sigh a sigh of relief though. You still had many things to sort through. The first one was to get back to your apartment you had to be beyond careful. You had to be a ninja or something. You needed to disappear from sight and sound and not come back till this had all washed over.

‘Ha, yea right, disappear and not be seen. Impossible. I need food, I need sunlight. Well I could go without that I guess but I have to get food then’...

You thought this all as you silently swung your legs over the rims of the metal bucket you called your protection for a few hours. You looked around you. You had waited till there was only a small group walking by and no one even bothered to give you a twitch of an eye.

You were glad though. The less that people saw of you the better. And right now you needed a change of clothes and time to contemplate ‘what next’?


You stood at your door. Never more happy to see those numbers except for a time only hours ago that turned out to be horrible and rotten to the core. Never the less you opened it by the turn of the handle. You had assumed that some one was kind enough to close the door to keep out intruders when you were gone. ‘Maybe someone does care’, you thought silently.

You slid nonchalantly into the rooms and closed the door behind you.

Musty air greeted your nose and your look fell upon dusty footprints on the wood floor. And tiles in the kitchen. The were large enough feet so it meant he was tall, but that you already knew that. You assumed that he was handsome and you knew he was the man from the gun store and the alley. Not to mention he also walked past you when the other man had your wrist and then chasing you after you got away from him. ‘Beautiful idiot’ you thought dreamily. ‘But why, not now? I can’t think this’. The thoughts flew from your mind in a fleeting second. You were back at your new home. Again.

No, no, this man you were positive was not with the other one. He was on his own. He had to be. ‘He had made no real address to the man who had me. He hadn’t been by the other man. Just somewhat stalking me now that I think of it.. Oh, my am I that dunce. Really?.. Ya ..No, I’m not. I’m just to silent and shy and just don’t realize things because I don’t want to be wrong’. ‘I’m just so stupid’!

You convinced yourself that that was the reason. It sounded stupid to you but seriously no one else was gonna hear it. ‘Were they’? Would she have to explain this in court if you were caught for this? What did you even do to deserve being on court? ‘What am I even going to explain in court?... ...What is there to explain in court?...... Wow, I”m so lost’. You thought as you walked over to examine the foot prints even more than you had before.


Dropping to all fours and just barley lifting your knees above the gritty surface you examined them closely with keen eyes. Each one had horizontal lines that were about four or five centimeters apart from each other equaling out to about 23 lines you guessed. ‘There’s a rectangle going down the middle , but it’s just the name of the shoe designer’... ‘Goldwrith, or something I think’. Scanning the others you tend to notice that there all the same except type and look except for some being less or more defined than others hear and there.
You walk around your apartment. Not knowing what to do. Your feet made slight noise compared to the bustling city out there in that world. Being so frightened just moments or so called hours ago you thought deep and hard. Walking and walking you made some headway.‘I”ll change’, you think. ‘Into a dress. A nice pretty dress’. ‘Then I’ll get ready for the day and try to get myself looking and smelling decently’. You didn’t want any unwanted company because of your stench. You imagined a green cloud of B.O., and garbage floating around you as you would push through the haze to the bathroom. Your arms went up into the air to symbolize the smoggy haze being parted by yourself. “Kah ha kah ha”, fake coughing simotainously occurred just a silent type that would not be to loud or obnoxious for other renters to hear.

Moments ago you had been here. No. More like hours ago. You thought of how frightened you had been, and still were. But for some reason you didn’t feel so threatened by this man as you did the other. ‘I wonder why’? You ponder this as you walk for a few moments. Into the grungy semi clean white tiled louve. The window still opened and the chipped and peeling paint exposing even more of the browned wood underneath it’s surface.

Walking to the chipped porcelain sink you crank the right hand knob faucet to get the cold water. “It’ll do me good”, you whisper to yourself almost scarred to hear it. Water rushing in the back round. Gurgling and splashing at a higher rate that needed. ‘Hiding from everyone’... ‘No one to see me, no one to hear’. ‘No one to’. Bullets flash through your mind carrying high voltage thoughts and emotions. Carrying with it were dark deep secrets that were hidden mostly even from you. They would resurface and bubble over from time to time but mostly they were well hidden form yourself. The sputtering of old pipes and limited faucet strength brought you back from you daze. Eyes snapped wide open and alert, and you looked from the mirror you had been gawking into and staring towards yourself at. Shooting a hand out to stop the onflow of liquid you could see the orange tainted drain piece choking to down the water that had gathered. It began to settle. Black dots floated in the abys of otherwise fairly clean H2O agua.
With the water fall down to a minium you cupped your hands together and filled them with agua. Holding them together you retreat them from the water to hold them still and watch the ripples. Drips roll down your hands sides and follow a path to your wrists underside which leads to your arms. Faster it go’s until right before it meets your elbows you breath in a close your mouth. Water ignites your face, cold and stern it slaps you back into reality. All that took place was a few seconds of nothingness yet it was enough to almost loose you once again to yourself.