Tu muskuraye har jagah

13

[Annika - A, Shivaay - S, Bhavya - B]

Shivaay and Annika were on good talking terms now. And it wasn't just Annika who looked forward to Fridays.

One evening Annika had gone out for a meeting with a marketing agency. It was quite late by the time her meeting ended. She stood outside and waited for her cab to arrive. She was scrolling through her messages when a man came and pointed a knife at her

Robber: Give me your phone and bag, come on, be quick or I'll stab you

A: Here bhaiyya, take it, no need for violence.

Robber: Oh madam, remove that watch also

A: No, please, I've already given you everything. This is my mother's watch, it's not expensive either.

Robber: I said, take it off

He pulled her arm and tried to get the watch himself. Annika saw an opportunity as the knife was no longer pointed at her.

She hit his hand and the knife fell out of his grasp. Yanking her wrist out of his hold, she pushed him, he tripped and fell. Annika picked up her bag and pulled out her pepper spray. That man was going to pay for his sins today. She sprayed it directly in his eyes. He couldn't see because his eyes were burning. He struggled to get up, writhing in pain. Annika kicked him on his knees and his groin

A: I told you not to touch my watch but you had to be greedy. Bloody idiot!

She took her phone and her bag.

The robber called out to his friends, two men came running in their direction and they looked pissed

Robber2: Hey you, you're trying to be over smart huh

A: Stay away from me, okay, or you'll end up like him

Annika sprayed the remaining contents of the pepper spray on one of them

A(in her mind): oh no, it's empty.

She threw the can on the bigger guy. It hit him directly above his eye, giving Annika a few moments to get a headstart. She ran as fast as she could.

But luck was not on her side today. She tripped because of a stone on the road. The robbers were getting closer. She got up but couldn't run, her slipper was broken.

She turned around and threw her slippers at her perpetrators. She missed one but the smaller guy got smacked in the face with it.

She continued running, bare feet on the road.

A(in her mind): this looks like a parking lot, there must be some security guard or cameras to help me here. Or at least I'll be able to hide here among the cars

It was a parking lot for an office building, but there were hardly any cars. Office hours were over so most people had already left.

The big guy still followed her with a knife. And he was faster than he looked, getting closer by the second. Annika couldn't speed up anymore. Something had pricked her foot and it was hurting really bad.

She saw a car and a man clad in a suit, talking on his phone. He was facing the other direction so he couldn't see her running towards him. As he opened the door of his car to sit, Annika screamed