The Alleyway Terror

By Amanda Brown

Louise sat huddled all alone in the alleyway behind Uptown Pizzeria, behind rows of empty and broken cardboard boxes and battered tin garbage cans. The smell of rotting food was atrocious, yet she had nowhere else to hide, nowhere she could safely remain until her rival vanished.

It was late in the day, and her son would be getting worried. She looked at the environment around her, seeking any quick and safe route away from her enemy. She could smell him. He couldn’t be too far away, but she was so well concealed that she couldn’t see outside of the darkness that surrounded her. Damn him. His insistence on hunting her down and catching her in his deadly grasp was exasperating. It was times like this that made her wish she was someone else, living a completely different life. How she longed to be more powerful, both physically and intellectually. To outwit him would no doubt be a great feat in itself, yet she had to try. She could either give up and accept the sure death that awaited her, or she could die trying to escape. Neither outcome pleased her of course, but she was running out of options.

She stood up and slowly inched herself a few small steps away from her concealment. Looking around in the darkness, she strained to see any light that could perhaps be shining through a crevice amongst the piles of rubbish that surrounded her.

Not seeing any light, she took a few more steps. This time she could see a small ray of light filtering though the rubbish piles. She leaned in closer to the light-emitting hole and peered around the darkening alleyway. It should surely be getting close to supper time now. Her son would certainly start to worry about her soon.

The alleyway appeared to be empty, but she knew that it wasn’t. She could still sense his presence, and she had a gut feeling that he wasn’t too far away.

She had to come up with a plan. She didn’t want to die. She couldn’t, and wouldn’t, let that happen.

Thinking that she could just dart out amongst the pile of garbage that she had remained so well hidden in, Louise doubted her ability to run fast enough past her predator, and survive the journey that would take her to the opening around the corner from the alleyway’s entrance, the small hole in the wall that she reluctantly called home.

Aside from shimmying up the drainpipe on to the top of the wall and jumping down the other side of it, which would lead her to a different alleyway and an even longer and deadlier trek home, running past her predator seemed to be her only option. Not the safest option, but she was running low on time. Her son would be worrying, and she hated traveling at night, no matter the distance. Before long, there would be more creatures, deadlier and more loathsome than her current predator, seeking such fragile individuals as herself to feast upon.

Louise thought of her sons face, so sweet and young. How devastated he would be if mother didn’t return home to him. He had already lost his father and siblings to brutes such as the one who was prowling her right at that moment. She couldn’t let her son go through that again. After all, who would take care of him? No one. He would be all alone.

With that in mind, she geared herself up for the fastest run she had ever done in her whole life.

On the count of three, she decided, she would attempt another cheat of death and run with all of her might down the darkening alleyway, around the corner, and through the hole leading inside of her home. It seemed that it should be simple enough to do, under normal circumstances. But could she really do it? There was only one way to find out.

On the count of three.

One…

Two…

Three.

With adrenaline pumping throughout her entire body, Louise leapt out from behind the piles of garbage, and darted as fast as she could down the narrow confines of the daunting alleyway. Not wanting to make eye contact with her predator, who would surely be hot on her tail by now, she stared straight ahead at her target - the end of the alleyway. Her heart pounded heavily in her chest with each step that she took.

As the entrance to the alleyway drew nearer, she could see the brilliance of the street lamps creeping around the corner at her. Not too much further now… she was almost there.

With a giant thud, she landed on the dirty pavement, her face scraping against the hardness. Piercing pain stabbed at her tiny body. Her predator had caught her. This is it, she thought to herself. This is how it’s going to end.

She began praying. Let it be painless. Take care of my son.

Preparing herself for certain death, Louise failed to hear the noise of the old lady from the pizzeria. With a sudden swoop of her broom, the old lady shooed away Louise’s predator, and saved her from his deadly grasp.

“There, there, tiny one,” whispered the pizza lady. “It’s alright now. That big, mean cat is gone.”

The old lady gently picked Louise up and held her in her hand. Smoothing down Louise’s thin gray coat, the old lady wiped at her wound with a cloth that she had pulled from her pocket. “It’s not too bad, I think you will be alright.”

And with that, the old lady placed Louise back down on the pavement, and watched her as she scurried away, completing her journey back to her son, to the little hole in the wall that she reluctantly called home.

Contact Amanda Brown