You’re The Kryptonite To My Superman

I’ve always hated walking around London when it’s dark and, yet here I am, walking through the dark rain laden streets.

Working at A.D.A.S can get you into some situations which you’d really rather not to be in.

For example, fighting ex-convicts, being held at gun point, getting kidnapped (it once happened to me on one of my first cases, when I wasn’t as well trained), and walking through London in the dark!

Some people who know I dislike the dark with a passion ask me, “It’s just the dark what’s so scary about the dark?” Yet they don’t realise why this fear envelopes me.

You see, it is not a fear of the dark, it never has been. It is a fear of what lies in the dark, which is inevitably the greatest darkness of all, for the darkness hides many secrets unbeknownst to most.

People know what happens when the sun is no longer visible, yet most choose to ignore the wrong doings which happen at night.

The night hides gang crime, rapists and other happenings. These things can and will scar a person for life whether you witness it, imagine it, or experience and live it.

Deep down, everyone knows what happens at night, every night. Yet most people choose to ignore that premonition that something is happening.

Then you get those who witness these injustices, some will be too scared to do anything, and will hide from the darkness, praying that no-one saw them, yet also hoping they could have done something to stop it. Yet, you also get those real life super heroes, who will stop, help and fight with everything they have, to make sure that those unfortunate souls will get away and justice will prevail in the end.

And, then we have the people who experience these dreadful, everyday happenings. No matter what they have or haven’t done, they do not deserve this hurt. No-one deserves to be raped or knifed as happens often in London, let alone the world. Sometimes these people will get away, go to the police and live their live to the fullest, yet never forgetting the unfortunate events that occurred. Then are the people who get away, and are forever scared of what the darkness brings, every noise, no matter how slight, quiet, or imagined, hiding away from the world, never to be the same again. And of course you also get those disastrous events, where people do not live to tell the tale but, maybe, this could be a good thing, that way they can rest in peace and not be scared and forever have to hide those physical and emotional scars.

We must not live in fear of ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’, however we should be more cautious and aware of events which may occur.

I work hard to stop these misfortunes, to cease the proceedings from happening to anyone else, for I hate that people have to go through what I went through at the age of 15.

.....One dark evening in the middle of October, and I was walking home after watching a movie with my friends. As I didn’t live that far away from the cinema, I decided I would walk, instead of phoning my parents for a ride home.

The street was dark, damp and miserable. The buildings on each side of the streets were apartments many a storey high. They were made of large, grey and sand coloured bricks, but the bricks were set in a subtle symmetric pattern. It had many large windows set on every level and was tinted so that passers-by could not look in. The stone pavement beneath me was damp after a light shower of rain that Great Britain was famous for.

It got darker and darker still. I noticed an opening between two apartment buildings; this opening would supposedly take me to my home quicker so I decided to take the shortcut. Walking down the alley, I took in my surroundings. Each side of the alley held many smelly dustbins, and a leaky drain pipe hung from one of the various storeys.

This particular alley had one solitary lamppost, which was about as much use as having a mobile phone without its battery. It would flicker in what I thought of as a stuttering sequence, by starting off with a light which wasn’t at all bright, and then turning off completely. It was a rather long alley and I found it hard to see where the alley ended. Just as the flickering made me contemplate turning back and taking the longer route home, I heard fast footsteps coming towards me.

Then I saw the silhouette of a man with a large build, and from what I could make out, he had a lot of muscle on him. I froze like a deer in headlights, unable to move, and unable to make coherent thoughts. But, I broke out of it when I heard one of the dustbins clang from the man knocking it on his way past which was not that far in front of me.

I immediately turned around and started running back the way I had come. But, all of a sudden the light flickered off and yet, it stayed off. I screamed, not screaming “HELP!” but, just screaming, in the hope that someone, anyone, would hear me.

Not seeing where I was going, I kept running, until I ran into something which felt a lot like yet another large figure. The force of the sudden knocked me off my feet and onto the cold stone cobbles of the pavement. The man that had just knocked me down laughed and said, “Ah, see George, I told you she would like me better and here she is, throwing herself at me”.

I cringed and attempted to back away from him from my position on the ground, yet this only caused me to back into the man who I believed to be George. I realised that while I was getting knocked over, the man had been able to catch up to where we were.

The tears welled in my eyes as I screamed, “HELP! PLEASE, SOMEONE JUST HELP ME!” I broke off sobbing as the tears flooded my sight.

George grabbed me and said menacingly, “Stop screaming, you wouldn’t want anyone else to get hurt now would you?” But, the way he said, did not sound like a question.

This only caused me to sob louder.

I started to scream again, only to have the second man stop me, by putting his hand over my mouth.

“Shut up or you’ll only end up getting hurt.”

“Please don’t hurt me!”I begged.

“Only if you co-operate with us,” George snarled.

I didn’t know what to say to that, of course I would do everything I could to NOT co-operate but, if I told them that, they would hurt me.

I sobbed louder still, until the second man slapped me hard across my right cheek, which resorted in more tears and one hell of a sting.

“Stop messing around Dave, let’s get down to business,” George murmured darkly.

The man I presumed was Dave grabbed a fistful of the blue fabric of my jacket and fumbled to find the zip.

I struggled against him, trying to pull away. George grabbed my shoulders in an attempt to still my thrashing.

Dave pulled my zip down forcefully and then quickly tried to take my jacket off me with added help from George.

With the weight lifted from my shoulders I tried to fight them off, but my attempts were weak and feeble. And of course they were too strong for me.

They successfully managed to take my jacket off they flung into the depths of the darkness, and then proceeded to take the rest of my clothes off, leaving me cold and naked. My sobs and tears unimaginably increased. The new found cold to my skin caused my shoulders to shake in convulsing shivers.

I could only just hear them arguing over who would ‘do me first’. I shivered and screamed louder than I would have thought possible.

George had apparently won the argument, as he then made an effort to grab me and undo his trousers simultaneously.

But, just then I managed to hear the sound of running feet through the alley.

George was suddenly pulled back and a punch found itself onto his nose. Dave then tried to aid his partner in crime by throwing flailing punches in the general area of the newcomer.

Yet my hero dodged every punch and delivered one of his own for every fist thrown.

I tried to crawl backwards away from the sorry excuse of a fight. The newcomer quickly finished Dave and George off and then grabbed some of my clothing which had been thrown around the alley. He cautiously approached and cooed to me like you would a baby. “Shh... it’s alright, you’re safe now. I’m not going to hurt you, I promise.”

He gently passed me my clothes and I slowly took them and tried to redress myself. When I was done, the man lent me a hand in getting up from the ever cold cobbles.

I threw my arms around him, and thanked him continuously. He led me away from the alley and lent me his phone to call my parents to come and pick me up. I wish I had just done that in the first place...

Breaking out of my thoughts, I remembered the vow I made to myself, to always help those in danger, and put their safety in front of my own. Because that is exactly what my saviour had done that day. He had protected me, and for it, I will be forever grateful to that man. I never learnt his name, and yet, I will never forget him, not even to the day I die.

And to think that this happens every single night, in one part of the country, makes my skin crawl. Most of these unfortunate victims will actually BE raped, whereas I was lucky enough to escape.

Over the years since that unforgettable experience, I have helped many people from going through that. And, I have been their saviour.

To this day, no-one but that man, my family and I know of that day’s events where I was a victim - something I've vowed never to be again.

The experience caused me to grow up and those closest to me noticed a considerable difference in me. I grew tough and never let my emotions get the better of me.

Going down memory lane had taken my attention away from reality, and I know found myself outside A.D.A.S headquarters.

On the outside, it looked like any other upmarket London building, to cause passers-by to not think twice about it.

I looked at the tinted windows of the first floor and saw a reflection of myself; my hair was a dark brown which almost looked red, had the occasional natural highlight and was long enough to cascade down my shoulders, my side bangs covered most of my left eye, leaving you to notice the deep brown of my right eye. My nose was regular – not too big, not too small, and my lips were small and plump. I had a rather sharp bone structure and was lightly tanned. I was of regular height but, yet had long legs.

I squared my shoulders and with my head held high, I walked into the building.