A blazing flame s***s in warping the tobacco into glowing embers of ash, Jenny inhales then pulls the cigarette from her ruby lips. Leaning back against a brick wall in a dangerous neighborhood, she awaits for the next customer.
Her silky blonde hair rests covering one of her mascara kissed eyes. She pulls it back revealing pink highlights. The building she rests against is a condemned factory where they used to make mannequins, nothing but loose dolls parts and broken windows in four walls made of bricks now.
The broken street lamps darken half the street as she stands under one of the remaining working ones, her glossy black boots shimmer in the light leading up to her frayed denim skirt and a t*********e tank top.
A yellow beater Buick pulls up chugging on jerking sounds ,it’s filled with at least four men. The window rolls down releasing Marley must, the driver sucking on a blunt passes it back as he sticks his head out, a black man with a gold tooth and a light fade.
“What’s up baby girl?” He grins widely, his teeth almost as dark as his gold one. “You tryna’ catch a train tonight?”
Leaning down onto the door frame, she gets a better look at her new found company. Another man sits in the front passenger side, two more men covered in tattoos sit in the back, she wasn’t typically a group kind of girl but she needed the money desperately.
“One at a time lover boy, that works for me I got nothing but time.” she whispers as smoke lingers out with her words.
A man in the back yells out, “Hey baby do we get a group discount?”
All the men begin to laugh as Jenny pulls back. “Yeah that’s real funny coming from someone who has to pay for some a*s, it’s one hundred a piece, one hundred and fifty for the comedian. Can’t afford it get your broke asses somewhere else, my service isn’t cheap.”
The driver chuckles pulling out a bundle of bills rolled in a rubber band. “B***h, ain’t nobody broke in this car, now get in.”
Jenny raises her middle finger and spouts, “B***h? You can all s**k each other off, not worth my pride.”
She turns after tossing her cigarette and begins to walk down the trash littered sidewalk. The car starts up and pulls forward cutting off her path, it veers into the path of the sidewalk as all four doors open upon it parking.
“What did you say? Speak up b***h I couldn’t hear you the first time.” the driver walks her direction. He’s much bigger than she thought, at least six feet tall and over two hundred pounds. His three friends all gather behind him tracing his steps, they range in various sizes but she was outnumbered, not that any of this mattered, just one of them alone could take her down.
She thinks of apologizing but she knew this neighborhood well, her words already marked her for what was due. They wouldn’t have mercy on her, even if she told them she was a minor, that would only entice their perverse ambitions. She quickly turns to run away as they chase after her. The teen makes it into an alley sliding down losing her footing on a puddle, she gathers herself to her feet and stumbles further down trying to straighten her heels. A graffiti stained dumpster with bags overflowing onto the floor rests nearby, ripped cardboard pieces and needles sit next to it, beyond that is nothing but a dead end.
Ducking by the trash can she can hear their voices getting closer, threats and disgusting slurs bounce off the walls. Jenny tries to embrace herself for the hell she’s about to endure, silently fighting tears she cowers into the corner and tries to slide under the dumpster.
Pulling her knees up she buries her teary face behind them trying to muffle her cries, a boot steps onto broken glass crunching it to smaller pieces as they slowly pace back and forth, it turns to the dumpster while other pairs of feet join behind.
“Oh come on out baby, it won’t hurt as much if you make it easy on yourself.” someone says.
Jenny keeps her mouth pressed against her trembling knees, she lies to herself that maybe they really don’t know where she’s at, that maybe they’ll leave her be. Her eye meets the drivers as he drops to the ground laughing.
“Gotcha hoe!”
He grabs her arm and starts to pull her out sliding her legs across the rough surface. Screaming and fighting back, she tries to hold onto to anything to help her stay put but her grasps only find empty air. Another man pulls her other arm making her full appearance visible to them all now, they rip her shirt apart and admire her hot pink bra under the orange lights. She cries for mercy, looking at the dim glow from just above, it seems to condemn her in a spotlight of humility. The light is suddenly blocked by something. A dark shadow.
She stops screaming and starts fearing something else, the being drops from the lamp pole and slams onto the ground. The floor vibrates opon the landing, dust and trash wisp away from his position. The men, startled at first, stop what they’re doing and pay their full attention to the stranger. Jenny takes advantage and crawls back under the dumpster, her stomach scratches against broken glass as she whimpers to safety.
“Hey who the f**k are you?” the passenger yells.
The mysterious man looks up with narrowed eyes, you could practically feel the anger fuming from his body.
“You let the girl go, and you’ll live.”
Jenny squints at who, or what, just saved her. The four men run towards the man at the same time ready for a fight, the stranger rears back and punches the passenger, his fist grinds through his chest popping out of his back in a bloody mess. Ripping his fist back he grabs a second man by his throat, quickly squeezing until his fingers touch through his collapsed muscle and bone structure. The body falls to the floor, his windpipe completely crushed like a wet sock filled with dust.
The driver halts seeing two of his friends murdered, him and the remaining passenger run to the vehicle. The stranger crouches down slightly, as if to prepare for something, then jumps up into the air disappearing into the dark sky. The passenger opens the side door jumping into the vehicle first, he yells for the driver to hurry up, but those were his last words.
The stranger drops down from the sky ramming all his weight into the vehicle, the impact is so hard that a small crater forms underneath with the sides of the car raising upwards at twisted angles. The roof touches the bottom of the seat with the passenger in between, blood runs like a waterfall from the crevice of the door, spilling out onto the street. The driver falls backwards as he was a mere few feet away when the car was wrecked.
Trying to crawl away he scurries back almost in tears at this point. Jenny comes out of the dumpster and peers her head around the corner watching from a distance, the commotion of everything made her scared, but also curious as to why she was being saved.
At this point Jenny could get a better look at him, ragged black hair with a trench coat draped to the floor, from her distance it was most of what she could see.
The stranger steps off the car landing in front of the driver, slowly he walks towards him and reaches down grabbing him by the neck, his free hand extends a scarred palm towards the car. The vehicle somehow fires back to life with the front tires revving at an unreal pace causing smoke to billow in small clouds.
“No please, I’m sorry man!” the driver begs as he’s dragged towards it.
“Gave you warning, you bastards think the world is yours. R****g, stealing, fighting, you live a life that you’re guaranteed to get murdered in, well wish granted a*****e.” the stranger replies. He raises his right hand towards the car, the front of it levitates slightly while the tires squeal loudly. The driver is flung under the car before it drops back down immediately.
The tire shreds his jaw and mouth down like sandpaper, in seconds his head is just a tattered mat of skin ground into the sidewalk, the vehicle dies abruptly afterwards. Blood and despair once again filled the streets on what felt like an almost normal night in this neighborhood.
Shaking in fear and feeling vomit force its way up her throat, Jenny doesn’t know what to think. The stranger looks her way and simply says, “Go home kid,” before turning away and walking into the darkness.
