The bus dropped us off ten blocks from our house.  Heaving a heavy sigh I followed Daehyun down the dark sidewalks to get home.  Streetlights lighting circles on the pavement every few meters.

   I have never been out past sunset, even in our old town and being in a new city doing this for the first time was nerve wracking and a little scary.

   I especially hate when we passed deserted dark back alleys that had no light coming from them.  What if someone was in there waiting to jump out at you?  Hurt you?  Take you?

   Shuddering I hurried my steps to catch up with my brother who was already a block ahead of me.  I kept looking around me to see if anyone was fallowing me.  I just couldn't shake this weird feeling inside of me that something was wrong.  Very wrong.

   Passing an alley I heard someone grunting painfully.  Pausing at the front of the alley I looked down to see three people standing over a person lying on the ground in a ball.

   One of the three people kicked the guy on the ground in the back and he whimpered in agony.

   In shock I covered my mouth and let out a gasp of fear that was just barely audible.  I prayed they didn't hear it.  But luck wasn't on my side tonight.  The people in the alley must have heard me because they looked up from the guy on the ground that I could now tell was bloody and bruised and was barely conscious.

   The three boys where all wearing masks that covered their mouth and nose.  They were all wearing black leather jackets and dark colored jeans.

   The guy closest to me turned fully around and took a step towards me.  Letting out a soft shriek of terror I took a step backwards.  He passed a puzzled look to his two friends before stepping up in front of me in a second.

   I am praying that Daehyun has noticed that I wasn't with him anymore and was coming back to look for me.  Looking up at the guy in front of me I was shivering in fear

   The heavy silence was broken when the guy in front of me spoke, his voice muffled by the mask he was wearing, "What are you doing?  I thought you would be home resting."

   Who the hell is this person?  I don't even know who he is, so how does he know who I am.  He must be mistaking me for someone else. I reasoned taking a hesitant step back.

   I could hear footsteps approaching from the direction my brother had gone.  Moments later Daehyun's back was facing me while he stood between the guys from the alley and me.  Releasing the breath I was holding I knew Daehyun would help me.

   "Stay away from her!"  Daehyun spat at the guy.

   "And who the hell are you?"  Another guy in the alley spoke up.

   "Her brother.  Just stay away from my sister and we won't have any problems."  Daehyun replied and grabbed me wrist.

   The three guys seemed to be confused about what my brother said, and we took that opportunity to get away from them.

   Reaching the gates to our house we paused before going in.

   "Are you okay Mizuki?  They didn't do anything to you did they?"  My brother asked me, his face showing his concern for me.

   "No, They just scared me.  Nothing happened.  Thanks for showing up when you did though."  I said giving him a tight hug.  I was still a little scared from the incident.

   "Let's not tell Mom and Dad about this since it isn't anything to serious.  They will just over react and restrict our freedom again okay?"  He asked, hopping I would agree with him.  And I fully did.  I like the freedom they were giving us and this was nothing compared to what could have happened.

   "Okay.  Not a word to either of them."  I agreed and we smiled at each other before entering the pin to the gate and beginning the walk up the driveway.

   I just hope this doesn't happen again.

   Arriving home Daehyun let me in.  The lights were off, meaning our parents were already asleep.  Leaving Daehyun to do as he pleased I went up to my room and took a quick shower before putting my sleeping wear on and crawling into bed and banishing todays incident from my mind and drifting off to sleep.