After the End

Tragedy

That night Andrew took me out to dinner. We had Yum Cha at a tiny little place tucked into an alleyway. It was nice. The place was full of laughter and happy people, and I spent the whole time with a smile on my face. After the hectic events of the past few days, it was nice to simply forget who I was and what had happened to me if only for a moment.

When we left to walk the short distance home, the night was clear and bright. The moon was full and without a cloud in the sky the street was almost as light as day. There were a few people on the streets making their way home or onto the next bar in addition to the ever present homeless in the city. They slept in alleyways and corners. I paused to pass the little change I had on me to a lady with a shopping trolley full of her belongings when I heard a yell.

"YOU!"

As I turned to face the noise, a book slammed into my face. I fell like a stone onto the ground in shock bruising my elbow and scraping the palms of my hand. I reached up to my sore lip and saw a small smear of blood cover my fingertip. Suddenly I felt hands on the back of my shirt, and I was lifting and falling then pushed into a nearby wall.

I could hear Andrew shouting, "What are you doing?!" When I looked up, I came face to face with the crazy man from the hospital. "ABOMINATION!" he screamed at me. His face screwed up into a hideous mask that made him look otherworldly. His mouth was wide open, and it seemed like time slowed down as I watched him curse at me. I could clearly make out every one of his crooked yellow teeth. I reflexively brought my arms up to cover my face as his hands started to rain down on me.

He got in one or two good blows before he suddenly disappeared. As I peeked through my fingers, I could see Andrew punching the man in the face. The man recoiled but didn't fall. With a sinking feeling I could tell this was not his first fight. Not by a long shot, but it was, most certainly, Andrews. The man drew back his arm and with power gave Andrew a strong uppercut to the stomach. I could see all the breath come out of Andrew in one fell swoop as he curled over. It was amazing that he didn't collapse.

Then, as though everything was in slow motion the man took a step closer and delivered his knee right into Andrew's mouth. Andrew went down like a sack of bricks. All I could see was a shadowy lump on the ground. Like a horror movie the man turned and menacingly started walking toward me. I turned around to face the wall and curled up as much as I could to protect the delicate parts of my body.

I could hear the sounds of other people yelling and running but I could no longer tell if they were trying to help or run away. I felt his shoe slam into my back at least once. I remember time stretching out. My bruised body was aching and every second I spent huddled over felt like an age. The sounds of all the people around me were melding into one and I couldn't make out the details.

I felt a hand at my shoulder gently tugging me out of my ball and I hazarded a quick peek over my shoulder. Andrew was behind me. His lip was cut and bruised, and he was holding his stomach. I realised with horror that we were both bleeding. I flipped over and shuffled backwards away from him.

"Andrew. You have to stay away." I held my hand out in front of me.

Behind him I could see some police officers wrestling with the man. He was still cursing, spittle running down his chin, his eyes wild. He was resisting with force, pulling against them with all his strength. "She's dangerous! She should be in a cage! None of us are safe!" His accusations were crazed but hurtfully logical. I am dangerous. The police officers managed to subdue the man and place cuffs around his wrists, locking them behind his back.

One of them came over to where Andrew and I were presumably to ask us what had happened. Andrew jumped in and told her who we were along with our contact details. After a moment she paused and held out a cloth to me. "Maam we should get you to a hospital. You're bleeding pretty badly." I touched my hand to my head, and it came back bright red. I grabbed the cloth and mashed it into my face.