With Sincerest Apologies
Kassandra smiled as she placed her groceries on the checkout counter's moving belt and handed the cashier her discount key-card. "Paper or plastic?" the rough, scraping voice of the grumpy old bag-boy demanded. "Neither," Kassandra replied, "I bring my own bags. Gotta do everything we can to save good ol' momma Earth, right?" Soon enough her two hand-sewn bags held all her groceries, and Kassandra was standing outside the small convenience mart. A quick glance at the heavy black clouds above assured Kassie that the storm that was coming would be a big one. Still, Kassie thought as she stepped into the parking lot, it will surely hold off until I get back to the apartment.
Through back allies and unpaved streets she picked her path, the same as she did on her way to and from the store. As she moved she thought only of the newly bought and still frozen (from being in the store's freezer) pint of mint-chocolate ice cream in her bag and the cat treats her babies would simply love. Yet before she could go home there was one last stop to make. As she did every Thursday, Kassie made her way to the video store a few blocks from her apartment, and rented a movie. This week she chose an old horror movie, Attack of the Mutant Gorillas From Outer Space! It looked fun, one of the campy, badly made, 80s movies she used to watch with her father. Waiting in line, Kassie couldn't help but let her thoughts wander to her delinquent father. Of course, he had been gone since she was 12, but she clung to the thought that maybe, if she was good, he'd come back someday. So far, no luck with her father, or any other man, but at the moment she was more than happy with her life. When she reached the register grabbed one of the popcorn and soda packages underneath the counter and paid.
In a few moments she was on her way again, happy to be going home, if she was lucky the storm would hold out until she was there. Once again she picked her path through the winding lanes. 'Rain, rain, go away, come again another day! Rain, rain, go away, come again another day!' became her chant as she sidestepped garbage cans and puddles. Yet, for all her optimism, she was instantly drenched as the sky dumped it's tears of pain all over the filthy city. Lightening cracked overhead, and the thunder that followed shook the earth with its fury. Shadows moved in to hold court in doorways, turning them into screaming mouths begging for redemption. Instinctively, Kassie's pace quickened. And then, a few scant blocks from her apartment it happened. From one of the alleyways darkened corners, stepped a man, tall, wrapped in a cloak as dark as night itself. For a second Kassie stopped to simply stare. His long golden hair and sparkling green eyes, set perfectly in his too pale skin entranced her. One of his hands held something hidden in the folds of his cloak; the other ran through his hair, pulling a few wayward strands from his eyes.
Later, when she was safely ensconced in her apartment, telling her mother what had happened over the phone, she would wonder what it was that had made her so nervous. But whatever it was, before she knew what was going on, warning bells had sounded inside her head, loud and shrill. Her mother's voice echoed inside her mind, spewing forth all the real-life horror stories she had tried to use to convince Kassie to stay away from the city. "Did you hear about that poor missing girl on the news, Kassie? They found her, raped and robbed, yesterday. Do you want to end up like her?" "There are more bad people than good in this world, Kassie, willing to take advantage of a young girl to get what's in her wallet!" and "Oh, Kassie, don't go! What will I do when they call me to tell me my daughter has been raped and murdered, all so some big-city criminal can get to her cash!" chased themselves around in her brain. When the man took a tentative step toward her, working to pull from his coat whatever he was holding, Kassie shrieked, and started to run around him thinking to get as far away as possible. A startled look passed over his handsome face and his free hand snaked out and grabbed her wrist. Shocked, certain this was the end, that her mother would indeed be soon receiving the phone call she dreaded so much, Kassie dropped one of the bags she carried, sending her wallet, sodas, and fruit to roll on the ground and into puddles. Without a thought, triggered by her fear, Kassie's Tae Kwon Do training kicked in.
When Kassie's knee connected with his groin, the man let out a small groan, but managed to keep his feet. Again Kassie kneed him, this time in the stomach. The force of the blow left him stunned and gasping for breath, his hand leaving her wrist to clutch his injured middle. Kassie slipped around him, sprinting towards the mouth of the alley, but it mattered little, he was coming after her, running full speed. In only a few seconds he had caught her, his hand solidly on her shoulder. With a strength she didn't know she possessed, she grabbed the wrist and spun around, flipping him over her shoulder, onto his back in the middle of the street. Well, that was how it should have worked in theory. But instead of planting her feet on solid ground, her left sandal found only a patch of mud, ever-growing with the constant down-pour, so that instead of landing him on the ground in front of her, she too slipped, the momentum carrying her off her feet, landing her squarely on top of him. His eyes were squeezed tight as pain surged through his body from his rough landing on the muddy ground, but he squirmed underneath her weight.
Kassie, still to nervous to consider any other possibilities than that he wanted her wallet and would do anything to get it, Kassie struggled to get up, and somehow ended up straddling his hips. She gasped, slapped him briskly across the face, gathered a handful of his hair, and pulled it towards her, bringing him to almost a sitting position under her. With a grimace she let his hair fall from her fingers, and disoriented as he was from his fall, his skull hit the ground a second time, making spots dance in front of his eyes and his body go limp. Satisfied that he wouldn't be getting back up any time soon, Kassie picked herself off his dazed, prone body, kicked him once between the legs, and told him "Maybe you'll think next time before you try to attack someone, you sleaze bag." And without another thought she ran from the alley and didn't stop until she reached her apartment.
Safe at last, slumped against her door, she finally realized that she had left her wallet and second bag of groceries in the alley. Cursing she debated whether she should go back for them or not, but decided against it, after all, what if her attacker was still there? Then what would she do? Still, if he had her wallet then it would be all too simple for him to track her to her house. In the end it was that possibility that drove her to pull her wet sweater back over her head and slip back outside. It didn't take very long to get back to the alley where she had dropped her bag, and she was surprised to find that her attacker wasn't there any longer, but her bag and her groceries were. Quickly she stuffed the fruits and sodas back into the bag, but as she searched the alley in the ever-growing dark with rain pelting through her clothes, she could not find her wallet. She moved from one end of the narrow street to the other, searching the puddles, but to no avail.
Suddenly, out of the darkness shot a hand, pulling her into the shadows, pinning her against a hard body. Kassie gasped, and her assailant pushed her against one of the alley walls, spinning her around so she could see his face. It was her attacker from earlier, but in the faint light of the flickering lightening she could now see his hair was matted with blood and mud, and his eyes had taken on a glassy sheen. Her breath caught in panic and she squeezed her eyes shut, and turned her head to the side as she waited for him to push himself on her. Yet instead of the fate she imagined, she felt him lean in, his face close to her ear and whisper, "Sorry lady, I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but I think you need to get yourself some help. If you had taken the time to look at what I was going to offer you and given me any chance at all, then maybe I wouldn't have the splitting headache I do now. And just so you know, I was going to offer you my umbrella, but now, Ms. Kassandra DuKubov, all I'll be giving you is the dry-cleaning bill for this suit and coat. Expect it in the mail." Finished with his speech, he took her hand in his, and pressed her wallet into it, closing her fingers around it. Kassie felt him release her, and she opened her eyes to watch him walk away, fading into the distance, shrouded by the rain. For a long time Kassie stood there in the rain, shocked that instead of him attacking her, she had been the one to beat up an innocent person. Finally she came back to herself, and started to shuffle to the mouth of the alley, only to stumble over something in her path. Bending down, she lifted the umbrella off the ground. With a sigh, she realized he must have forgotten it when he left. But, she thought, he's gone and I'm still getting wet, it can't hurt for me to use it, I'll send it back to him when he sends me his bill. Kassie shook the droplets of water off the black fabric and opened it, creating a canopy over her head. Looking up she discovered a note pinned to the inside of the umbrella. Struggling to hold the umbrella she detached the note and opened it, and was greeted by a spidery scrawled script. Kassandra read it aloud.
"Kassandra,
I do not know who you are, or why it is you saw fit to attack me when all I wanted was to offer you my umbrella, help you with your groceries, and ask you on a date. I know you will be expecting to receive a bill for my dry cleaning, as I have threatened, but no such bill will arrive. Instead then, I will give you something else, my umbrella. Maybe now you wont have to attack innocent men who only want to help you. Either way, I hope we never meet in a dark alley again.
With the sincerest apologies,
Adieu."