A Walk to Fear

#1

((Karen Ruiz continued from Beat The Lunch Line))

Night was an unfortunate time to be wandering the streets of Detroit, especially as a completely unintimidating girl carrying a decent amount of cash. Working as a waitress wasn't glamorous, but tips were nice, and tonight had been a really good night for them. Some rich couple had given Karen an awful time of things, teased her through their whole visit, but then had tipped her sixty bucks cash, more than their whole meal had cost. Maybe they'd seen how uncomfortable she'd been. Karen had never understood wealthy people who ate bad food in dives. If you had the cash, why not use it? Did they get some thrill from slumming?

Regardless, she'd pocketed the cash, swapped in eight bucks from her pocket, and then let the busboy take his cut from that. Wasn't like he needed any extra money. He was just doing this to buy video games or something. Karen was helping her family buy food. What her boss and coworkers didn't know wouldn't cause any problems.

But now, her guilt over stiffing the busboy his ten dollars or whatever was combining with her natural fear of the city by night to make her hyperaware of the fact that she had nearly a hundred dollars cash in her pocket. It felt heavy as a brick. This wasn't the good part of town, and it was almost midnight. There was nobody around to save her if someone came after her. Nobody around to hear her scream.

She shivered, and popped the collar of her bulky coat, protecting her neck from the breeze. The lights in this part of town weren't repaired that often, and people had a tendency to just knock them right out again. She glanced around, scouring the shadows by each doorway. Her posture was slouched, small, like she was just trying to melt into the shadows, like she wasn't walking here at all, like there was only a coat drifting down the street, going about its own business.

If someone grabbed her, she'd throw the money at them and run. It wasn't worth her life.

It wasn't that her family needed her. Well, it was slightly that, slightly that she didn't want to cause them any more pain, but more than that it was that she was just scared, scared of being pulled into a dark alley and having her throat slit, scared of being the headline in tomorrow's paper.

Normally, she never took this walk alone. Normally, her father came and picked her up in the old car. Today, though, he'd been delayed with his own work.

She glanced around.

There was a person behind her. A young man. Black. Smoking. Ambling along the same way she was. Behind her. When had he gotten there? How long had he been following her? His pace matched hers. His left hand was in his pocket. She ascertained all this in a few quick glances over her shoulder. What was he carrying? A cell phone? Something totally innocuous? Or a switchblade? Brass knuckles? No way to know.

She wanted to shrink again. She pulled her coat tighter around herself. It was supposed to make her feel safer. Supposed to make her feel just a tiny bit of that power it had conferred upon her in the daylight last Tuesday.

It wasn't working very well.

Karen turned left. Only another half dozen blocks to her house. He'd just walk by. This was all just a stupid, scary misunderstanding.

She glanced behind her. The boy had turned left too. He was closer. Oh god. She closed her fingers around the money. Throw it and run. If he's picking it up, he'll be distracted. What if it wasn't about money, though? What if this was some gang initiation or something?

She glanced back. Was he closer? She'd throw the money... no. She was fast. She could outrun him if she got a head start. Take off now, before he suspected anything. Sprint the five blocks home. Take a different route, cut through alleys. He wouldn't be able to follow her.

Go.

She shot off, running, her heartbeat thudding in her entire body, adrenaline coursing through her.

Somewhere far behind her, she could hear the guy shouting, "Hey, you okay?"

She didn't stop running until she was home, didn't even consider relaxing until the deadbolt snapped shut behind her.

((Karen Ruiz continued in Yet Another Night))