A Hard Day's Night

The sound of the key slipping into the lock echoed throughout the empty street. Darkness surrounded Lisa’s feet, making it hard to see more than two feet in front of her.

Figures they still haven’t fixed that light. I told Mario what three weeks ago? And no one even bought a light bulb. I hate my job. I hate my life.

Strolling, Lisa finally came into the arc of light from the street. Once she could see her feet, she walked briskly. Midnights weren’t a good time to be alone around here.

Why on earth did I train as a chef? Didn’t I realize that I’d be the first, and then the last, to set foot in the restaurant? Or maybe Mario is taking advantage of me. I’m not sure, and that’s kind of dumb. 

I should probably ask other chefs how it works in their kitchens. Well, that wouldn’t be too easy to do, now would it? I don’t even know any other chefs. I work so many hours that I have absolutely no social life. I usually go home and fall asleep in front of the TV. When I wake up, I grab a shower, and about forty minutes after that, or what feels like forty minutes, my alarm goes off, and I start it all over again.

“Please. Please don’t hurt me. You can have my money. Just take it.”

Lisa heard the voice distinctly. It was the voice of a woman, and she was obviously terrified. The alley’s entrance wasn’t more than four feet in front of her, and Lisa thought that the voice had to be coming from there.

If I keep walking, I’ll pass right in front of the alley. But I’ll cast a long shadow and interrupt whatever is going in there. Oh crap.

Frozen in place by indecision, Lisa had to place her hands over her mouth as the voices started up again.

“You think all I want is the money? Bitch, I’m going to take everything you have. First, . . .”

R i p p p p. “No. No. Please! Don’t touch me there. No.”

Lisa knew instinctively the woman was being attacked sexually. She didn’t want to be a witness to a rape, so she slowly took her cell phone from her purse. She backed up twenty-two steps. She counted each one carefully.

Thinking quickly, before she began to press the numbers, nine-one-one, she went into her phone’s settings and silenced her keys. She knew the beep-beep of her phone’s system would alert the would-be assailant.

My hands are shaking, and my teeth are shattering. I don’t know if I can talk. But I have to do something. I can’t let that woman down.

Lisa decided to back up another twenty-two steps before making the call, and just as her lips formed the word, Fifteen, she heard a blood-curdling scream.

Everything went still. Lisa could hear a low buzz in her ears, and her extremities were all tingling. Dots danced in front of her eyes. She wasn’t sure what was happening, but then her legs began to buckle.

Lisa thought she heard steps running from the scene, so she decided to look into the alley. Her legs felt wooden as she walked the thirty-seven steps to the opening.

Halfway down the long brick corridor, Lisa could see a heap. It wasn’t moving.

Oh, if I only had a flashlight. Or mace. Something, anything!

Lisa remembered a trick she’d learned once in a self-defense course. She grabbed her keys from the bottom of her purse. She laced the ends of the keys through her fingers.

If anyone dared to come near her, she’d poke their eyes out. It was the survival of the fittest on these mean streets.

She didn’t measure her steps as she gingerly walked towards the heap. The smell of hot copper assailed her nose, and one white hand gleamed in the darkness.

Lisa shuddered. That could’ve been me. Unless they knew each other. I’m not sure from the snatch of conversation I overheard.

The light in this alley was working, and when Lisa finally made it to the heap, she could see the blackness of blood surrounding the body. The woman’s face was obscured by the sticky, viscous liquid. Her dress was pulled up, and the bodice was ripped open to express her breasts.

Lisa kept the keys laced in her right hand and pulled the cell phone back out of her purse. Using her left thumb, she hit the nine, the one, and the one again.

“Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?”

“I, um, think I just heard a murder.”

“Heard a murder? What do you mean, ma’am?”

Lisa cleared her throat. “Well, I overheard a man attacking a woman, and now that he’s gone, I’m standing over the woman. There’s blood everywhere, and she looks dead.”

“Is she breathing?”

“I’m not sure,” said Lisa. The adrenaline was slowly leaving her body, and suddenly, the length of her day settled in. She was exhausted. And she knew what the operator was going to ask her to do next.

“Put your hand on her chest and see if you can feel her breathing or a heartbeat. You can put the phone down. I’m right here.”

“No. That’s too much. Please just dispatch an ambulance and some cops. Lots of cops. I’m getting away from this body.”

And with that, Lisa pressed the red button on her phone and began to walk back to the street. The distant sound of sirens was already audible.

* * *

Within minutes, four cop cars, an ambulance, and a fire truck were on the scene. Two paramedics approached Lisa and asked to examine her.

“But I’m not the one who’s injured. The lady is down there.”

“We just need to check you over. You might be suffering from shock or hypothermia. It’s pretty cold tonight.”

Lisa stopped fighting. She followed the uniformed men to the back of the ambulance. She watched the police as they took their big flashlights and ventured into the alley.

Within a few more minutes, Lisa was wrapped in a warm blanket with an IV for fluids. The heaviness was leaving her body, and she felt more awake than she was when she approached the dead woman.

So, Lisa was surprised when the first police officer came to her.

“Ma’am, are you sure this is the alley where the crime occurred?”

“Yes. I was standing right down there a bit ago. I was standing over her body.”

“Ma’am, there isn’t anything down that alley. Unless you count the dead cat we found.”

Lisa threw off the blanket and jumped to her feet. “What are you guys talking about?”

“She’s right there. Look.”

But then Lisa’s eyes followed her finger. She didn’t see the heap.

“I swear it was right there,” her voice trailed off.

“Ma’am,” the officer asked, “Could it be in a different alley?”

“Yes. Yes. That must be it. I just got confused when I backed up the thirty-seven steps.”

Two of the cops exchanged looks. Dutifully, they watched as the paramedics put the blanket back around Lisa’s shoulders and put her IV bag on a poll.

* * *

The police and Lisa checked the alley to the right and then to the left, but they didn’t find a body. There wasn’t a pool of blood. There wasn’t anything.

“Ma’am? Could you have been dreaming?”

“What? You think I was sleeping on the street?”

“Well, you do look tired, and we found you sitting on the curb.”

Lisa was shocked beyond words.

Maybe it was time to look for a different job.