Taken in

"Do you still have the money you took?" my friend asked me. She was referring to the money I was allocated after my parents died. They didn't have much, but three thousand pounds was enough to grant me a location change. Living in England was tiring, and it only held bad memories - of my brother leaving for the army and dying there, of all but one of my friends abandoning me for being baggage, of my parents being in a car crash on my eighteenth birthday and dying.

Either way, staying in that country would end up killing me too. So I decided to move to Korea, Seoul exactly. The three thousand pounds converted to roughly double that, and it would atleast rent me a place to live and some clothes. I read up on my Korean, so I knew the essentials. Either way, I would get through. It just seemed as far away from England as possible.

"Yes, Shannon, it's tucked safely in my backpack, which is safely on my shoulder. As soon as I find a hotel to stay in, I'll load up my laptop and talk to you. Sound good?"

"Sounds perfect. Now hurry to your hotel. I need to see your face before I go to sleep - the time difference is stupid," she joked. I could hear her yawning to punctuate, and the sympathy kicked in.

"How about I Skype you tomorrow then at a decent time for us both? You sounds exhausted!"

"I was up all night lastnight worrying about you! Am I expected to be well rested?"

"Good point, drama queen," I said sarcastically. I looked at my watch and saw that it was six o'clock in the morning, making it roughly 10:00 pm where Shannon would be. "I'll speak to you tomorrow."

"Okay hunny. Love you, stay safe, if you see Block B then tell them I love them!"

"I don't even know who they are!" I said back rather loudly.

"Zico, Kyung, P.O, Taeil, U-Kwon, B-Bomb, and my baby Jaehyo. You can't have him."

"I still don't even know who he is. We'll discuss this later. Bye biatch," I signed off, making kissing noises into the phone before pressing the red button. I slipped my phone into my inside pocket of my jacket, then tried to get my bearings.

I had absolutely no idea where I was, but seeing someone on the street would be good. Not that anyone would be around at this stupid hour. I spotted an alleyway to my right, and darted down it. I dumped my bag on the floor to take a breather.

I sat on the floor next to my rucksack and put my head in my hands, then felt myself slipping off into an uneasy sleep. I didn't want to go to sleep, but I could hardly keep my eyes open. I only stirred when my rucksack was being tugged from my grasp.

I opened my heavy eyes to see a tall man with all black clothes to match his hair, towering over me. His hands were on my bag, attempting to wrest it from me. I began to yank back, but due to my sleep deprived state, he easily pulled it from my hands.

As he started to run away with it, it sunk in. If he got away with my bag, I would surely die in this country with no money and no hope.

With that thought in mind, I hopped up and ran after him with all my life. He looked back over his shoulder and saw me, but thought nothing to swinging my bag around and hitting me around the face with it. I fell to the ground, but grabbed his ankle before he ran. Bad move.

The burly man went head first to the stone floor, smacking his head on the ground. It didn't please him, as to be expected. With one fast move, he hopped up and stood over me. The rucksack was thrown to the floor against the wall, but I could make no move to grab it. The tall guy suddenly kicked me in the side, making me groan. He roared something in Korean at me, but I couldn't understand it. Not with all the blood rushing about in my ears, atleast.

He delivered a few more swift kicks to my side, one to my head, and one to my back when I rolled over, then left with my rucksack.

I was abandoned, bleeding from a head wound, in an alley of a foreign country, with no money.

This trip had already turned into a disaster.

My eyes once again drifted closed, but this time I feared they would never open again.

And then, just as my eyes dropped shut, I heard mumbled Korean. It was a soothing voice, but nevertheless it was scary. It could only have been another coming to finish off the job. The mumbling came closer, then to my ear, and I was rolled over. The voice was panicked, but I could match no face to the voice.

And then I dropped asleep.