In My Darkest Hour

The sound of my combat boots hitting the concrete filled the desolate street. I was running out of breath and they were catching up. I quickly turned a corner that I thought lead to a side street, but instead it was a dead end alley. I stopped at the tall. chain link fence in front of me, frantically looking for a way over it. Alas, there was none.

The footsteps of the men got closer. My heart was racing. I grabbed a rusty metal pipe next to me and got into an attack stance. It wasn't much compared to the men's bats, but it would do. Their dark silhouettes turned the corner and began to slowly walk towards me.

"No where left for you to run to rat," the tallest of the three men taunted, "Now give us back our shit"

I ran towards them, metal pipe above my hands, ready to strike, but I was stopped with a kick to the stomach. I went flying backwards into the fence. The men closed in. I began to accept that this was the end. This was where I would die: brutally bludgeoned to death in a dark and dank alley. Hot tears began to flow freely as I waited for death. The tallest man raised his bat high in the air...ready to bash my skull in...but suddenly he was hit in the face by a small dark figure!

The mysterious thing was nothing more than a small shadow, yet was able to knock over a full grown man. My eyes widened in awe as the tiny figure used advanced karate moves to knock out all three men. When he had finished, the bushy creature came towards me.

My savior was a squirrel, but not any squirrel...it was the squirrel that I swerved around in my car to avoid turning it into roadkill over four years ago. My mind was blown. How had it found me after all these years? Where did it learn those karate moves? These and many more questions raced through my mind.

I stared at the adorable yet deadly creature and it stared back. Then with a nod and a wink it was gone. I looked around me, trying to see where it had gone so quickly, yet saw no sign of it. I slowly got up and walked home, still in shock from the events of the night and as I laid down to sleep that night, I whispered "Thank you my little savior." and drifted off into a peaceful slumber.