In Flames We Love

Prince Charming

Inés woke up in a dark alley, the stench of rotten eggs hit her nose immediately. She wrinkled her nose in disgust. Sitting up she observed her surroundings, it was dark and stinked horribly, she felt a furry object moving against her legs, she screamed and jumped to her feet. A rat scurried off.

Around her, garbage bags were overflowing with trash. It looked like a dumping ground. A wave of nausea hit her. Rain must have fell recently, she was barefoot, the ground was wet. She suddenly felt a chill, she wrapped her arms around her herself. Her clothes were wet. She began to shiver.

Miguel's betrayal hit her, the memory painful and suffocating. How could he?

She couldn't understand what was going on, why did he divorce her? Why did he pretend not to know her? Hell. He pushed her off the steps. She sobbed silently.

The city's metropolis went on in the distance, it was already evening.

A metallic smell came up, she sniffed again. To her horror was coming from her. She touched her dress, perhaps because her clothes were wet, she didn't notice the blood on it. Before she could recover from the shock.

The unmistakable sound of boots against gravel reached her ears followed by a strong smell of alcohol. Danger rang in her ears, she turned around, surely men were coming behind her. She ran out of the alley, when she got to the streets, a dirty strong hand clasped around her mouth. It's stifled her scream, no one noticed a woman being dragged into a dark alley. Everyone went on their own maybe because it was getting dark or everyone wanted to rush home because of the cold.

The man threw her to the ground, she fell with a thud. A boot in front of her face. Her head snapped up, a man with big belly protruding out of his torn gray singlet and a sleeveless jacket grinned at her. She sat up, two more men closed in on her.

“She's so pretty even in the dark.”

“Are you lost Miss? Should we take you somewhere interesting?”

“Please, let me go.” she got on her knees, pleading. She rubbed her palms together desperately.

“Don't scare her”, one of them growled. Then his voice went soft, “You must be feeling cold, how about we make you warm?”

They all burst into malicious laughter. Her lips trembled, she moved backwards until her back hit a wall.

“Oh look who's trying to get away.” a man ventured, erupting a low deep laughter.

Inés's breathing grew erratic, “Help! Help me!”.

“Help! Help me! Help me please!” , one of the men mimicked. His shout was louder than hers yet nothing happened.

“Who do you think will help you? Where do you think you are?”, they burst into laughter again.

The men closed in, blocking the last ray of light. One of them grabbed her arm, yanking her up. He sniffed at her skin. Suddenly a car horn flashed brightly behind them.

The silhouette of a man appeared.

“Get out of here before I count five.” His voice came out, low and dangerous. The men turned to face the newcomer. The one holding Inés dropped her to the ground.

“It's Prince charming!”, one of the men squealed in an highly exaggerated thin voice. They laughed.

“One.” He began.

The men took a strong stance, placing their hands on their hips fearlessly.

“Two.” Suddenly the man pulled out a gun and aimed it at the men. The staggered backwards.

“Three.”, he pulled the trigger.

“Four.” A bullet rang out, it whooshed through the air, narrowing missing the men. Inés gasped.

They barely ducked, it seemed he wasn't aiming for their heads. He shot a bullet for sure because it hit a garbage bin, the bin fell with a thud. But the most surprising thing was that it was silenced. The gun had a silencer! He would kill them right now and no one would know.

“Hey! Come on. Let's go.” They didn't waste time, they retreated back into the alley and ran away. The sound of their footsteps soon faded.

The stranger raised his hand backwards, pointing something towards his car that still had it's headlights on. The lights went off, darkness consumed Inés again.

He tucked his gun into his pocket. Emilio ran a hand through his hair.

“That was quick.”

He remembered coming out of a restaurant on the other side of the road when he saw a woman run out of the alley, a man followed her and covered her mouth, dragging her back into the alley. At first, he thought it might be a run away wife from her husband but he shook the idea off and decided to see things for himself.

Emilio stepped forward, he peered his eyes at her. She flinched back immediately. He crouched down to her level.

The alley had now gotten very dark, not to talk of the strong awful stench that consumed the air inside.

He took off his coat and wrapped it around her. The warm enveloped Inés immediately, a sharp contrast to the biting cold she had been exposed to. More than that, the man's cologne was a relief from the stinky alley.

He raised his hand towards her, she hesitated. She has not seen his face clearly yet. But still, trusting, she slipped her hands into his. He pulled her up and took her out of the alley. When they came into the street, she turned to look at her saviour.

“Are you okay ma'am?”, he blinked at her in a worried tone. The man was slightly shorter than Miguel, he waved a hand at her face.

“Hello? Ma'am? Where is your house? I will take you home.”

Inés felt her head spin, the cold, the sudden warmth. Everything mixed together and made her stomach churn. Her head throbbed, she blinked, squeezing her eyes before opening it again.

She staggered back, her feets uneasy. Before she knew it, her eyes closed against her will. The only thing she heard was Emilio's voice in the distance.