I'll Bow for Your King When He Shows Himself

Beccles. Located in Suffolk, East England. Population 9,746.

With crime rates below average and a small population of mainly friendly people, it's hardly the most dangerous place to live in the center of England. Though that's not to say that it doesn't happen, of course. Still, I knew that if I walked round Beccles at night, I was most probably safe and never really found myself worrying about being attacked whenever I went out after the sun went down and the street lights came on.

London, however?

Very different story.

London at night is one of those places where even some of the most normal and respectable people carry knives simply because they know that most of the people around them carry them as weapons. Unfortunately for me, living in an area significantly safer than London, I had allowed myself to be lulled into a sense of false security. So, as I strolled out of a pub I frequented with my friends at just gone midnight, I ran into trouble that I was definitely not prepared for.

The journey from London back to Beccles wasn't that long by train, but it was long enough that my slightly intoxicated and tired self wasn't looking forward to the journey home. Looking back though, I probably should have just sucked it up and made the walk to Victoria Station via the lit highstreets rather than deciding to cut travel time and walk down a much more dangerous set of paths - alley ways.

This is most probably why after I'd been walking for not even ten minutes that I felt two pairs of hands grab roughly at the back of my black jacket, and shove me into the damp brickwall on the left side of darkened alley.

My heart beat rapidly as I heard another set of footsteps join the first two, whose hands had me pinned against the wall.

Without warning, the pressure of their hands was removed and I turned myself around, now able to move again and came face to face with three middle age men. Two of whom were shorter than me, but looked a hell of a lot more violent. They formed a three point semi-circle around me, blocking my chance of escape. My fight or flight adrenaline rush coursed through my body and due to my lack of escape possibilities, I automatically clenched my hands into fists at my sides; the sweat that had formed a coating over my palms was damp under the tips of my fingers.

"Give us all the money and anything valuable you have on you and this will be a quick meeting. Don't make this un-neccessarily hard for yourself by not listening" one of the men said, due to the lack of light in the alley, it was hard to tell which one.

Not wanting to be beaten to a pulp or worse, my hands shot to my pockets, where I rummaged frantically before realising that apart from my train ticket home, they were empty. I'd spent most of the cash I'd brought out with me at the pub and I'd lent the remaining ten pounds to my friend Drew, who'd lost his ticket some point during the evening and needed it to buy another one. My next thought was my phone; being an iPhone 4S, it was worth money, I just hoped that would be enought to appease them, not to mention that it was also insured and that I could get a new one. That was when my second realisation hit, and I remembered that I'd left it at the apartment by accident; of course, when I'd realised this earlier in the evening, it hadn't seemed like a big deal. After all, my flatmates and best friends Drew, Shane and Luke, all had theirs on them and since we had originally planned to all come home together - before Luke had wandered off somewhere and the Timids (my nickname for Drew and Shane) had to go and find him - I didn't think that much of it.

Realising I had nothing on me, I started trying to frantically apologise, turning out my pockets to show them I was telling the truth. This didn't seem to have any effect on them though, as the man in the centre growled in annoyance before turning round to snap at the men flanking him.

"Useless! Whatever, Ben, get rid of him!" He huffed, before turning around and storming down the alley, leaving me alone with two men commanded to 'get rid of me'.

Well didn't that sound cheery?

The man nearest to me reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a shiny piece of L-shaped metal that dully reflected the little bit of light from the nearby roadside streetlights.

A choked scream escaped my throat as I tried to scramble away from them, only to have one of them pull me back and throw me to the ground. Unable to think of anything else to do in the situation, I threw my hands over my face, curling in on myself as the man with the gun raised his arm and aimed it at my shaking figure.

Just as the deafeningly loud bang sounded, signalling the gun being shot, a blinding light flooded the alley way. The two men screamed along with me, but for a different reason. I screamed reflexively in response to the gun sound and they screamed as both men were launched into the air and slammed into the wall opposite - which I only saw because I opened my eyes in surprise that I wasn't dead or in immense pain.

The most shocking thing was that there didn't appear to be anything to throw them back against the wall, it was as if the air itself moved them. The sound of glass shattering filled my ears as I saw the men's shadows dart along the wall, their footsteps loud as they ran out the alley and into the night.

Completely confused as to what just happened, I slumped back against the wall, my breathing rough and uneven as my heart beat refused to slow.

A shadow fell over me, the bright light dimming down to txhe faintest glow before fading out completely, leaving me in dim lighting with a man standing over me, but clearly not one of the two from earlier. He had a silver piercing just below the centre of his pink lips, and his swept over fringe and back of his hair was a deep black colour. He crouched down in front of me, his lips moving yet no sound reached me. I felt dizziness hit me like a wave as the edges of my vision blurred. Within seconds, I felt myself collapse on the pavement before the darkness engulfed me completely.