Stop Fighting It

1. Fucking Noah's Ark

It was bound to happen. I knew it. At some point, even the luckiest person runs out of luck.

The guy wasn't really that much bigger than me but apparently was a lot less drunk or drugged. I rarely went out on my own but Scott was island hopping with Alex and it was just one of those weekends where everyone but me was paired up like fucking Noah's Ark.

I went to a fairly upscale dance club and just wanted a little attention. But the guy I had danced with and had had a drink with walked me out of the club and into the alley and then tried to walk me out to a parking lot and was maneuvering me toward a car. I was feeling sluggish, but not so much that I would skip willingly into a stranger's car. I tried to pull away. That's when the guy demonstrated how not drunk he was.

His aim and the force in his punches were pretty direct. One, two, three punches to the right side of my face. I started falling backward only to spring forward from the force of a punch to my stomach. I slumped forward and was cradled in place by the guy's one arm, while the other arm punched countless times into my side and pounded into my kidney. I eventually dropped to the ground. I pulled myself into a fetal position. My head felt like it was being kicked in two. I grasped my head hoping to keep the pieces together. Another kick hit the back of my hand. It hurt like hell, but I wasn't going to dare pull my hands away from my head.

Thank god, the kicking stopped. My eyes were closed tight and I stayed in a ball. I could hear punches, groans, a scuffle and then steps hurrying away. There was a bit of silence and then steps heading my way. I tried to tighten myself more into a ball readying myself as best I could for another kick. I felt a hand rest on my arm and tried to squirm away. The hand pulled back immediately.

"Hey. Hey. It's okay. The guy who was hitting you is gone." The words were spoken in a gentle voice with a bit of an Australian accent.

I stayed in position and kept my head protected just in case it was a trick.

"You okay? Do you want me to call the police or an ambulance?"

"No!" I still wasn't sure if it was a trick, but no! Police or an ambulance is publicity. The last thing I wanted. I tried to straighten slowly. I let out a groan. I didn't think anything was broken to the point of needing a hospital but I still felt very woozy.

"Are you sure?"

I rolled slowly onto my back and blinked my eyes open and looked at my hero. He had brown hair, a kind face and brilliant blue eyes. He was crouched next to me so it was hard to tell how big he was but he looked like he was somewhere between myself and Scott.

"Yeah. No police, no ambulance."

"Well, you sure can't drive and I can't put you into an Uber. You want to give me your address and I can drop you off or do you want to call someone?"

No, there wasn't anyone to call. That's why I was in this mess in the first place. And I can't just give some stranger our address. We had had enough close calls with stalkers. No, I couldn't. But my eyes were getting so heavy. I was getting really tired. All I wanted to do was just sleep.

"No, just leave me here. M'okay."

The guy chuckled a little and said, "Uh no, I don't think that will work."

And that's the last I heard before I lost consciousness.