Call Out

"I did the only thing I could when it came down to it. I called out.

'Hello? Ummm,' I paused for a moment, racking my now aching brain for something to say, 'Is someone there?' was all I could think of. Not Shakespeare but it did the job.

I listened carefully, much easier than it would have been on any normal day, and heard something. It was almost inaudible but I heard someone breathing heavily in the darkness.

'Umm... I'm not going to hurt you,' I said and regretted it immediatly, maybe they were going to hurt me, I didn't know, 'I mean, I just haven't seen anyone for,' I hessitated for a moment, '- for I don't know how long...' the words trailed off toward the end.

I listened again but couldn't hear anything, not even the brething.

'I'll, umm, I'll go. I'm sorry if I scared you.' I said to the darkness and began to wonder, as I walked back out of the narrow alley, if it had just been my mind imagining the whole thing.

'Wait...' came a weak voice from behind me. I turned slowly, not wanting to scare whoever it was.

'Hello?' I called again and then said, 'I'm, I mean, my name is Zander.'

I still couldn't see anyone as the alley was of the variety that would be dark even if had it's own sun orbiting the trashcans.

'...Do- do you have- a gun?' the voice was definitely female but it was so weak and, and their was something else that coated every word... it was fear.

I was about to say no when I remembered that I still had my dad's old automatic zipped up in my torn jacket, 'Yes,' I began, and added, 'but I'm not sure if it's loaded.' I wondered if revealing that fact was a good or bad decision. 'Do you have a gun?' I asked slowly.

'N-no,' came back the voice, almost as a whisper then it asked, 'are you going to hurt me?'

I was taken aback, 'No! No of course not. Why would you think that?' I was genuinely concerned about a person I had never seen.

The voice was still quiet, but the fear in her voice was.. no, it wasn't gone, it wasn't even less than it had been, it had just been joined by something else, not anger, something worse, hate... 'The other man hurt me.' The voice hessitated for a moment, 'You're not going to take me to him are you?'

'No, no.' I said emphatically, 'I don't know who that man is or what he did to you, but whatever it is he should pay.' I knew as I said the words that I meant every syllable of them.

The voice was silent for a moment and I thought for a second that she had run away while I was talking.

Then she said, 'I'm Emma...' she sounded as if she was giving away her soul, and in a sense I suppose she was; letting down her only defense to a stranger.

'It's nice to meet you Emma. Do you want to come out?'

'You promise you won't hurt me?' asked the voice again.

'I promise,' I tried to think of a way I could prove it to her...