Desires Of New York
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A cold wind whipped down the alley, sending a gust of sand from between its cracks. It whistled across the street and ruffled the hair on the back of my neck as I peered through the dirty windows at a man’s face that was half-in shadow and half-lit by his cigarette.
A shiver ran up my spine, but I couldn’t tell whether it was because of the cool breeze or just the sight of the guy who looked like he was about to take a long drag off what looked like a joint with an eye in it. Then again, maybe he had an eye in the joint? I didn’t know anything about weed.
The man stood motionless behind the corner, not even blinking despite the wind that tossed his dark hair. His hands were tucked casually inside the pockets of his baggy leather jacket, which probably cost more than my car did. I could see a hint of gold chain around his neck, too.
Not real gold, obviously, but maybe it had some sentimental value for him? He might’ve been planning to wear it one day when he got married? To a girl whose name began with the letter S and also possibly spelled with “G” if it started with something else altogether?
Maybe she’d be wearing white lace and have her blond hair piled high above her head? She’d be pretty, then. Like the kind of woman you never noticed unless somebody told you. And she’d make his eyes light up every time he saw her.
But she’d never look at this man without wondering how far he would go, what secret he’d hide, or why she should care about his secrets anyway. As much as he looked like the type who cared about appearances, there was nothing polished about his appearance.
The roughness of the jeans and leather jacket made him appear less like a man trying to impress someone, and more like he was comfortable enough in his own skin not to worry about impressing anyone.
But he wasn’t alone. Two men stood at either side of him. Both of them were wearing dark clothing, too, though one wore a black shirt instead of the other’s brown one. One of them was short and balding; he leaned forward over a pair of sunglasses and studied me while I tried to figure out which one was taller and older.
The other one looked tall, but I could be wrong. They both appeared to be waiting for something: the end of their friend’s smoke break or a chance to leave.
He raised his hand in a casual wave, making sure I knew he was watching me before lowering it and turning to face his friends again.
They were talking quietly, too low for me to hear. Their voices sounded like they came from somewhere else. From outside, maybe? I squinted into the darkness of the alley, and finally spotted another man lying facedown on the pavement beside two shopping carts full of junk.
He’d been hit, but judging by the way his hands were twisted awkwardly beneath him, he’d managed to knock himself unconscious before getting dumped like garbage.
The man who’d waved at me now turned away with a smile that revealed sharp yellow teeth. He walked toward the man on the ground and knelt beside him, taking his arm gently in both hands. The second man joined the first, but neither spoke a word.
They both seemed to have something in mind when they went outside—a joke, perhaps? A friendly game of catch? I waited until they’d gotten close to the body on the ground before crossing the road. I kept myself hidden behind a dumpster as I passed them, hoping I’d be safe to come out soon.
“Hey,” said a voice to my left.
I jerked my head in shock, thinking for an instant that I’d been found by the people who’d attacked me, but it was only the man from the window. He stared at me curiously, but didn’t speak again.
The two men hadn’t heard him. They continued to kneel beside the man. When the man reached down, his fingers brushed against the back of his head, as though he was searching for an object that had fallen off his skull during the blow. There was no blood on his clothes, so I assumed he must still be alive, but I couldn’t see any indication that he’d regained consciousness.
When the two men rose to their feet, I slipped away into the shadows. My hands tightened into fists at my sides, and my stomach clenched with fear as I took shelter between two parked cars. Had the men meant to finish whatever it was they’d begun with the man on the pavement or was that all part of some sort of joke?
There was no way I could walk away from something like that, not when I’d almost been involved. So what did you do if you saw someone being hurt? You called the cops? Did that mean you had to identify yourself and let them know where you lived, too? Or maybe the police weren’t allowed to get involved unless somebody died or was badly injured? If they just wanted a little fun, did they deserve anything more than what they got?
If it’d been an accident, wouldn’t these guys have gone inside somewhere and left the unconscious man lying there? It wasn’t like they’d carried him here. They’d brought him along with them. That made it sound more deliberate somehow, and I wondered whether that was actually better or worse. At least it would’ve been accidental…
My breath hitched. Maybe it wasn’t even an accident?
It was dark, and nobody could see me, but I felt exposed and vulnerable as I stood in the alley and watched the men return to the street. The two men who’d been standing guard over the unconscious man stood together by the door of the convenience store across the road.
The third man followed suit when he caught sight of them. Then they headed in opposite directions: the one who’d been kneeling beside the man on the ground crossed onto Main Street, while the one who’d talked to me walked east down the alley, heading back toward the building that held my apartment. I stayed put until he’d disappeared from view, then I crept after him.
A car honked as it drove past, kicking up a cloud of dust. It stung my eyes, but I ignored it. All this time I’d thought I’d been safe in town, but it was obvious now that I should’ve been paying attention. And not because of the people who attacked me on Saturday night.
Those men had been the most dangerous, and I’d never seen their faces or spoken with them. But there were others. People like the three men in the alley. The ones who’d done nothing wrong… but still deserved protection.
***
The building that housed my apartment was only one of the dozens. It shared a narrow side street with an auto shop, a laundromat, a Chinese takeout place, and half a dozen other businesses. The doors were set far apart, and each opened onto a small lobby, which in turn led to an open hallway with a few rooms leading off it.
In front of my apartment’s door hung a wooden placard with the words “No Loitering” written below a drawing of a police officer’s foot. The police were always on guard here, watching for troublemakers.
As I neared the end of the hall, the man stepped out of the doorway ahead of me. As I froze to avoid startling him, he turned his gaze from the wall behind me to look directly at me, as though we’d been having a conversation about the weather. His face was hard and ugly. Like a monster might have in a horror movie… except this guy looked human enough.
And he knew I was there.
“I’m looking for a friend,” he said. His voice was deep and hoarse like he’d been smoking since birth.
“You can’t talk to strangers,” I snapped. “Remember that, okay?”
He shrugged, his expression showing no sign of remorse or understanding. What a strange person…
Then suddenly he smiled.
Like a wolf might smile. A predator’s grin.
“We’re friends.” He spoke loudly enough to be heard by anybody within earshot, and when I looked around, I saw a couple of guys sitting on folding chairs in the hallway. One of them leaned forward in interest.
This was crazy! How many places would these people have to go where everyone recognized them?
“Hey,” one of the men sitting on the chairs called, “that’s John.”
John raised his hand.
“What are you doing out here?” asked another man.
The man named John nodded again. “I want you to meet someone special. She’s very shy…”
Oh no! They didn’t know about me…
Before I could do anything else, the man called John grabbed my arm. He jerked it up and down several times so that my fist thudded against his palm, then he dragged me forward toward him. We stopped right before he reached the open doorway to my apartment.
“Let me introduce her. I think you’ll like her.”
The first guy I’d spotted in the hall was standing nearby now.
“Is that your sister?” he asked.
John grinned. “No, she’s much prettier than I am. Don’t worry; I promise to keep it clean tonight.”
The other two men laughed.
“She looks nice enough,” the first guy mumbled.
Now they just wanted to flirt.
The man called John pushed me closer to the open doorway to my apartment. The instant our bodies touched, my whole body went cold. It hadn’t been long since I’d last encountered this type of situation, but it was different when you were on the receiving end of it.
His hand closed around mine. The pressure he applied was firm but gentle, like a lover trying to bring you closer to them rather than overpowering you. My heart beat faster at the thought of what he intended, and all my anxiety vanished into the void. Now was my chance to show myself in action again—to give them more than enough reason to fear me.
With my free hand, I reached down and grabbed a handful of hair. Then, using the momentum I created by yanking his head back, I swung his own hair in a quick arc toward the left side of his face. It landed with such force that it snapped his neck backward.
He let out a grunt and fell onto his back on the sidewalk, knocking over the chair he’d been sitting on. The man behind him also dropped to the floor. Both of them gasped in pain as blood gushed from the wounds in their necks.
The third man stood frozen in shock as I took a step back, preparing for the next attack. All three men stared at me, stunned, not sure if they should flee or come after me. But they’d lost sight of who their real enemy was, and now there was nothing standing between us except the walls of my apartment and the concrete floor outside my door.
A wave of energy rushed through my veins, and then I was moving, running past the three unconscious men, kicking at their heads one by one until their faces were caved in. Blood splattered everywhere. My eyes burned red, and all my senses felt heightened.
My body glowed bright scarlet, and every muscle tightened as though ready to fight. My hands clenched into fists as I moved toward the open doorway. I threw myself against the jamb with a roar.
But I never made it inside.
There was another burst of flame-colored light—a blast that hit me in the chest, hurling me straight into the air. Pain exploded in my ribs, and I flew across the distance separating us in an instant. My feet landed on the cement walkway, sending my knees into the hard ground.
My spine slammed against the sidewalk, and the wind was knocked out of me. The fire had engulfed me completely, filling my body with its heat.
It wasn’t enough to kill me; not yet.
I coughed violently. My body shook uncontrollably from the pain and exhaustion, and the flames continued to consume me. It was too much. Too powerful. This time, it would be the end of me.
Suddenly, a strong hand seized my arm, pulling me off the ground. I twisted my torso around and found that the stranger was holding me up while looking straight at me. His black hair was cut short and spiked, and he wore glasses with thick lenses. He was probably in his mid-twenties and handsome, with dark eyebrows that framed deep brown eyes.
As we held each other close and looked deeply into one another’s eyes, the flames began to shrink. I released my grip and allowed him to pull away, allowing him to see everything that was wrong with me.
The stranger was staring at me with such intensity, as though he knew exactly how to fix me.
He smiled kindly and nodded at me. “We have to go in now,” he said softly as the heat dissipated, leaving me covered in sweat. “Your family is waiting.”
***
“Are you sure she can come?” I asked, peeking through the window of the car.
My mother’s face lit up when she saw me. “Of course!” she shouted. She jumped out and ran over to the passenger side door of the sedan where I sat alone. Once inside, she hugged me tightly around my shoulders before letting go and jumping back in her seat. We were both smiling now.
After taking off and passing through two security checkpoints, we were finally able to relax and take turns talking about our day. When we were safely away from the airport and in the privacy of my apartment parking garage, Mom pulled me aside. “How are things going at school? Are you settling in okay?”
“Yes. Well … maybe not so well,” I admitted.
Mom nodded seriously and leaned forward slightly as if to share confidential information with me. “What happened today, Alex?”
I hesitated, then sighed heavily. “It’s complicated …”
When I told Mom about the fire I’d accidentally started at school, she gripped my shoulder and squeezed it tight. A look of concern washed across her pretty features. “I’m sure it’ll be fine once you get home and talk to your brother.”
“Yeah … but what if it’s not fine?” I asked. “And what do I tell Dad?”
She rubbed my shoulder comfortingly, then turned my head toward hers. After kissing my cheek several times, she said, “You need to stop worrying yourself so badly over things you can’t control. And don’t worry about telling Dad anything else. I’ll explain everything tomorrow morning.”
“Thank God. I just feel bad because he’s so worried and frustrated about this job offer. What if he hates the whole idea now? Will he still want to move here?”
Mom nodded thoughtfully. “Well, he loves the city and the people of New York, and he’s excited to work for Mr. Walker and be closer to all his friends and clients. I think he might love the idea even more since Mr. Walker is also offering to pay him more than he’s making now.”
I grinned. “That’s really cool! Now we won’t have to keep borrowing money from the bank anymore!”
Mom laughed and slapped my arm gently. “Stop being so frivolous; we’re lucky it wasn’t worse.”
I nodded seriously. “Yes, ma’am. Sorry, Mom.”
The next day at school, I walked to my first-period classroom with my usual confidence, but when I passed the gym, I stopped cold and stared.
Everyone was gone except for a couple of teachers, who stood beside the door and talked quietly among themselves, laughing at something someone had said.
One of them, a woman who wore a crisp blue dress shirt and pants with her dark hair perfectly styled, was pointing at me with excitement while the other teacher listened intently.
I was standing right there in the hallway, watching, and didn’t notice until she spoke. Her voice carried through the doors as she said, “… and they say she’s just like us. She has a gift too! Imagine that! Can you believe it?”
The other teacher nodded slowly. “They should never let anyone go inside without supervision, especially when she’s alone,” he replied. “Someone could’ve easily kidnapped her.”
The woman shook her head vigorously and chuckled. “Oh, no, she wouldn’t have been hurt. She’s got a powerful guardian angel looking after her, or perhaps a demon …”
The second teacher interrupted with an incredulous tone, “A demon? Really?”
The other woman laughed loudly. “No, of course not! Demons are evil creatures, you know! She must have some kind of guardian angel, though,” she said as the door slid open behind her, revealing a small group of students coming in from the gym. “But who cares about that anyway? I’m sure her powers will only grow stronger as she gets older.”
The End