Happy Birthday to Me

MARISSA

I ran as fast as my legs could take me and as I ran I wondered why I hadn't done more cardio. Yes, I'll admit it, I was starting to get winded.

I thought maybe I could duck into some alley and hide behind something and they'll run right past me. Although they were right on my heels practically. That probably wasn't such a good idea. Maybe I could find an alley that had obstacles in it I could throw down behind me as I ran. That always seems to work in the movies.

Without really giving the idea any more thought, I turned and ran down the first alleyway I came across which was a really bad idea because it was a dead end.

"Shit!" I whispered as I turned to face my impending doom.

There were six guys at the mouth of the alley. Two of which stayed near the entrance to be lookouts while the rest of them stalked me down and cornered me.

All I could think of was, 'God, what did I do to get myself into this mess?'

I realized all this time I had a weapon in my hands without knowing it. The skateboard. Maybe if I had been thinking more level-headedly I would have remembered it. I raised the board above my head and took a swipe at the guy who was closest to me.

He caught it in mid-air and ripped it out of my hands before he tossed it aside like it was nothing.

Now I was defenseless.

Stupid meat heads.

"So what?" the guy in front of me questioned. I recognized him as the guy who first approached me, "Are we not good enough at working out that you got bored watching?" he questioned.

Wait, was that really what he was so pissed about? Stupid!

"N-No! It's just late and I've got to meet up with some friends!" I replied. I didn't really have anyone to meet up with, but maybe if these guys heard that they'd back off knowing someone out there was looking for me.

The guy in front of me shook his head before he called out over his shoulder to one of his friends, "Hey Dane, do you believe her story?"

One of the guys, apparently named Dane, called back, "No Chris, I think it's a load of bull."

The one in front of me, Chris, nodded his head before he turned back to me, "Just as I thought, she's a liar." he said as he took a few steps toward me, closing the distance between us, "And what do we do with liars, Dane?" he called out, but kept his eyes on me this time.

"We teach them a lesson." Dane replied as he smiled which caused Chris to smile an evil grin at me.

I backed up as far as I could, but not even four steps back had my back pressed up against the brick wall. The guys chuckled at me, knowing I knew I was out of options and cracked their knuckles to intimidate me.

Chris approached me until there was no space between us. His hand shot out and wrapped around my throat. My hands instantly short to his hand, trying to pry it off of me but he was really strong. With only the one hand he was able to lift me up, sliding me along the wall until my feet couldn't touch the ground anymore. With not being able to touch the ground, I had no more leverage and slowly began to choke to death as his hand was so tightly wrapped around my throat it was cutting off my supply of oxygen.

"Hey!" someone shouted from the mouth of the alley, but all the guys ignored him. He was too far away for me to see who he was and my vision was starting to go blurry so he just looked like a big, black, fuzzy figure.

The new guy ran into the alley, swiftly avoiding the other meat heads who were trying to stop him, ran up to Chris and shouted, "Leave her alone!" before he punched Chris hard in the face.

Chris reeled back from the hit and dropped me to the ground. I collapsed to my knees and sucked in a few desperately needed breaths of air before I slightly choked on the air a bit.

Chris looked around for his buds, but they had all seemed to take off except for Dane and Dane didn't look like he was about to step in. He sort of just stood there, frozen, and jaw dropped.

"Dane! What are you waiting for?! Beat his ass!" Chris shouted as he cupped one hand to his bleeding nose.

"I can't do that! If I did my little sister would kill me!" Dane shouted back.

"Why the hell do you say that?!" Chris snapped, pissed that his friend wouldn't come to his aid.

"Because she loves him!" Dane replied.

"What??" Chris questioned in disbelief.

"Perhaps you didn't hear me." mystery guy said. "I said get lost!"