The Itus Institute

I can remember the day everything changed more clearly than I can remember anything else in my life, I remember the way my shoes pinched painfully into the sides of my feet, leaving me feeling slightly sick every time I put my feet on the ground and felt the sharp stabbing pain, and I remember the way I stumbled over the cobblestones because the heels kept getting caught in the cracks and I remember how unbelievably irritated that made me. I remember the rain starting to fall and drip through my already windswept hair and into my face. I also remember the displeasure I had at being stuck behind the loudest, most obnoxious American tourist I have ever had the misfortune to come across in what had to be London's busiest rush hour in history.

He looked a fair few years older than me and was wearing such a violent shade of yellow that I felt the urge to avert my eyes, a baseball cap was pulled down low over his own eyes, casting them in shadow and the camera slung around his neck seemed far too advanced for him, I very seriously doubted that he knew how to use it but had instead bought it because it was the latest model. As I said before, I was already irritated by the time I reached the underground station so when I came up behind this ridiculous man with too much money and no where near enough sense to know what to do with it, I was in no mood to deal with his very loud complaints.

"God, it's awfully busy in here huh?" he yelled to no one in particular as he shuffled forwards at a snails pace, camera held tightly in his hands, "I don't know how you Brits cope with it." at this point the flash went off on his camera, startling him so much that he stopped dead in his tracks to stare at it in bewilderment. "Now that shouldn't have happened." he said, completely oblivious to the chaos ensuing behind him as people struggled to push past. After several attempts to squeeze around him and being buffeted back by all the people swarming past in their hoards, I realised it was a hopeless case and took a different approach.

Tapping him firmly I hissed over his shoulder"I don't care if you're not from here or if you can't work your stupid camera, you do not stop in the middle of a crowded place where people need to get by you and you most certainly do not announce your feelings to the world, no one is interested and no one cares. So if you don't mind, get a move on." The last bit was said with such venom that the young man could only stand and gawk for a minute or so, he didn't seem quite certain what to do, despite my clear instructions. I'll admit that the bit about the feelings wasn't entirely necessary but I was already running late and my wrist was hurting more than it had been all week, I wasn't in the mood for something like this.

Even though the cap threw them into shadow, I saw his eyes dart to a figure over my shoulder and a determined look settle on his face. I glanced back to where he was looking as he pushed past me and saw a woman hurrying away as fast as she could through the dense crowds, the annoying American hot on her tail, his face so blank that I lost my breath for a second. He looked like he could kill someone.

Without a second thought I ran in pursuit of them, forgetting that I needed to go to my hospital appointment and that I needed to have my wrist looked at desperately, I couldn't even feel the throb that had been plaguing me for the past week and a half, all I felt was adrenaline and the strongest urge to protect this woman from any harm that the stupid man could bring to her. I was smaller than the two of them so pushing through the crowd was marginally easier and I found myself hot on the man's tail as he neared the frantic woman, as I saw he was within reaching distance I kicked out and brought him roughly to the ground. He clutched the leg that I had so ferociously kicked while scanning the surroundings desperately for the woman. When he finally realised that she was gone his eyes came back to me and a look of pure confusion fell upon his face only to be replaced by anger. He lunged at my legs, bringing me crashing to the floor with him, the people around us muttered curses under their breath but otherwise kept on moving around us, in too much of a rush to help someone in desperate need. The man pinned my arms to the floor as I lashed out, knocking his cap off his head so that I could see his face properly.