"I didn't ask for your help."

Dumbfounded, I watched him turn around and walk away without as much as a 'thank you'.

FLASHBACK

It was a cold, cloudy night. The type of night that gives you the chills and whispers in the back of your mind that something isn't quite right.

I climbed the stairs up and out of the subway, finding the street quiet and empty. The exception was the occasional car that rushed past or the random dog that barked in the distance. That area was always deserted and silent at this hour. I didn't need to check the clock to know it was 01:30 AM - I've walked this path everyday for five months now.

The routine was the same as ever: work at Bo's from 05:00 PM to 01:00 AM, serving tables and running around behind the counter, balancing cocktails on the wet silver tray and having drunken fools get on my nerves. Then, when I got out, my route back home was always the same, always at the same time, it seemed timed by life, minutes in sync with steps. So, I knew, that at exactly 01:30 PM I'd be walking up the stairs and rising to the street, just a couple blocks from my apartment complex.

What I didn't expect though, was that night to be different.

I didn't expect that night to be the beginning of a whirlwind of events that changed my day. My year.

Actually, my life.

The moon was covered by clouds. No stars were in sight. Nothing, actually, but the gloom and the spookily illuminated mist.

I didn't make it to the end of that block when I heard it. The sound of aggravated voices seemingly arguing with each other, made their way from the narrow alley to my right and reached my ears. Being the (nosy) curious girl I am, I slapped my back straight up against the brick wall of the building and just barely peeked around the corner.

If the main street was dark as it was, even with the spaced street lamps glowing sickishly, the alley was pitch black as pitch black came. The frail illumination from the lamp posts didn't quite or at all reach the entrails of the darkness inside.

As my pupils dilated to adjust to the obscurity, I was able to make out two figures amidst the blackness; one, was pressed against the wall, the other, pinned it there. My eyes adjusted a little better. The one stuck against the cold concrete was a boy, I guessed around my age. The other, slightly taller, could also be older.

"This is the last time I'm warning you boy. I'm getting tired of chattering. Pay your debt right now or see your guts spilled. Your call."

Blood ran freezing cold in my veins, the little hairs on the back of my neck and on my arms shot up, my whole body shivered and there was a hole in my stomach. Now, I could distinctly see the shape of a fairly big knife pointed to the boy against the wall and between them. The attacker moved an inch and it shun silver, reflecting the frail light from the lamp post nearby. Something in the man's voice told me this was really the younger's last chance.

"I don't have it." The boy said, seemingly unbothered by the fact that he was probably about to be cut open. "I told Kangjŏn I needed at least a month to come up with the money. He said I could have that time. So I see no reason you lured me here to point a knife at me and kill me when it's barely been two weeks."

"What part of 'pay your debt right now' did you not understand?"

"What part of 'Kangjŏn agreed to give me one month' did you not understand? Or are you as stupid as you seem? No wonder he bosses you around like a dumb poodle."

My eyes shot wide at that. Was he trying to get killed? And why did he owe money to some homicidal lunatic in the first place? Drugs? What the hell was going on?

"The agreement was over the day after. Do you not know who you're dealing with, boy? Hyun Kangjŏn of all people? No matter. You brought it upon you. The truth is you're going to bleed to death in this alley and there's nothing you can do about it. So, last chance. Pay up."

"I said I don't h-"

"Too bad."

I saw him pull the blade backwards and my instinct was faster than my logic.

I pulled the taser I always brought with me for protection from the inner pocket of my coat and turned the corner at the speed of light. I never knew I could be that fast, but there I was making it happen. My feet closed the distance in three large steps. I pushed the button and zapped the man right on the small of his back.

It all happened in a mater of seconds and my taser proved to be effective. He dropped the blade and let out a painful growl that got lost and subsided suddenly like he'd lost his voice. He bent himself backwards and, before he could turn around, he fell to the ground like a ragdoll, unconscious and as still as a stone. The knife he threatened the boy with fell a couple feet from him and upon taking a quick glance at it, I shivered at how sharp it was. I saw it was adorned with some sort of tear shaped red stone on the handle. It looked as deadly and evil as it looked expensive.

I held the taser and my eyes traveled in a triangular motion, back and forth from the device clasped in my hand, to the unconscious body at my feet, to the guy still hidden in the shadows.