kth | short stories

Soda

It was a humid night as I walked into the convenience store. I was thirsty for something fizzy and asked if any of the other members wanted anything while I was gone.

"Thanks, have a good night." I said to the clerk and walked out with a couple of drinks in a plastic bag.

As I sipped from one of the cans, I noticed how empty the streets were. It was nice actually, not having to worry if a crazed fan or the paparazzi were eyeing me from around the corner.

But, it was then that I heard a blood curtailing scream from an alleyway behind me. I jumped, inhaling some of the soda which caused me to cough uncontrollably. I turned to where the scream came from, it sounded like a girl.

"Help- Help me!"

"Hello?! Hey, what's going on?" I cautiously walked to the street.

Suddenly, a girl ran into me, her body trembling. I caught her in my arms trying to make sense of what she was muttering.

"Hey, hey, hey wh-what's happening- are you alright, miss?"

"He's coming!" She yelled, grabbing my wrist and pulling me the other way, causing me to drop the bag in my hand.

As she ran down the street with my hand in hers, I noticed she had cuts and bruises all over her arms and legs. Wanting to know what the hell was going on, I stopped, pulling her so that she stopped too.

"Listen, lady, I don't know what's wrong with you but you need a hospital. Let me take you, I can take you." I tried explaining, but she just kept pulling at my arms, repeating that we needed to run.

"Look out!" She screamed.

I felt a pair of hands grip the back of my shirt and throw me to the ground. As I frantically turned my head to see who it was, a knife was being forced at me. I rolled away quick enough to where the knife was jabbed into the concrete, the metal making a scrapping sound against the service. When I stood to my feet, the guy looked to be intoxicated or on a high.

"Sir! I don't want any trouble! Just hold on-" he came at me again with the knife but I dodged him, pushing his hand away and running over to the girl who was crying hysterically.

"You think you can fuck with my girl?! I fucking own that bitch!" The man cursed.

As I guarded the girl behind me, the pieces started to come together. The guy must've been some sort of gang member, and the girl probably a former girlfriend of his.

"Hey man, just leave her alone, okay? We can all just walk away from this." I tried to call him down, but this guy was clearly out of his mind.

He ran towards me once more, aiming the knife at my stomach, but when he came closer, I pushed his hand out of the way and punched him hard across the jaw. The intoxicated guy fell to the ground, a red bump swelling on his face. I have never punched someone like that before, my hand actually kinda hurt.

"Come on! Before he gets up!" The girl yelled, pulling again at my arm.

I took her hand in mine and ran down the street. How did I get myself into this mess? I had no idea where to take her; the closest police station was at least twenty minutes walking distance. I pulled her behind one of the closed shops, sitting her against the dumpster. I pulled out my phone and began dialing 9-1-1.

"Please- please don't let him kill me." She sobbed.

"Shh it's alright, he's not going to hurt you, I promise." I tried to assure her that I knew what I was doing but I've only seen this stuff on tv.

As I waited for the phone to stop ringing, I asked her a question to try and calm her down a little. "What's your name? I'm Taehyung." I smiled nervously.