Looking For Leo

1: Lonely

"I broke up with him after two years of all the efforts I've done and all the promises we've made, all in the trash. Honestly, I can't believe I even lasted that long. I should have known we'd burn out. I feel...sad...or that's what I'm supposed to feel, I guess?" Angela's stream of consciousness ran deep as she strolls home, clutching her hoodie in her hand. She barely felt cold in the streets of New York under the moonlight.

She looked up and kept walking, thinking, how time has gone. Angela began to ask what was the purpose behind her meeting with her now-ex, Wes. But then again, she barely felt anything. She's aware that after breakups, one must feel sad. Instead, Angela felt lonely.

She kept walking until she glanced in front of her, noticing two men laughing their asses off. When she sets eyes on them, both men notice, forcing her to avert her eyes away. Angela began to tell herself that she must keep walking to completely avoid them. But these men were under the influence of heavy drugs, unfortunately. Brisk walking would not save her, she knew this, but she kept going.

Angela heard their feet behind her. They were getting closer, so she began running, and that was when they took her in one sweep. One man grabbed her by the waist, pulling Angela close to her. Her heart beat faster than the men's hands groping her aggressively. But Angela was eager to escape, she thought she could escape from their grasp in one kick. She hit one man luckily and managed to clamber away on the cold ground. She felt one of them grab her by the ankle until suddenly, she heard him grunt, and her feet were let loose. Quickly, Angela turned around, her eyes widened, trying to peer through the mere lamp post. 

It happened swiftly. The tall man fell and hit his head on the concrete, and then he was dead silent. The other was gone then suddenly fell on the trash bin right beside her coming from the top. Angela quickly glanced up, hoping she'd see what the hell was happening.

But she only saw a swift movement of a shadow. She gasped at the sight of it, suddenly paranoid about another movement. She was confused, yet, she felt safe.

Her mind went everywhere. "Was I just saved? Someone just took these guys out!" Her mind wandered at the possibilities of what just happened. She was quick to react. Angela stood up and looked around, looking for whoever it was.

"What the hell?" was all she blurted out. She was not really sure what to say or ask to something she did not see. 

But then, her mind wandered to a memory from the past just when she was having breakfast. She remembered the news on the TV about a mysterious hero. Although the news rarely spoke of the myth, people believed it was true--well, people who were part of the media or the crime scene. 

But now, it was happening to her. Right the fuck now, she thought.

Angela looked around when she could have sworn she saw another movement behind her. She paused to look at the unconscious men near her. Then, slowly, Angela looked up. "Whoever you are..." she said before gulping, trying to get a word out of her, "Thank you." She was not sure if her voice was loud enough for the stranger to hear but that was all she could manage to say. She was still a little shaken up.

Angela did not wait long enough for fear crept up in her head. She was scared other people would see her and do the same so starts running away from the empty room and headed home.

From the shadows emerged a large, muscle-toned figure with a blue bandanna. He squinted his eyes, focusing on the woman running away from the scene. Then, his eyes look down at the ground before leaving as well.

---

Angela sat by her windowpane, her feet settled on her bed right in front of her window, as she held a cup of tea, trying to calm herself down. The terrible incident was just last night, but when she woke up, she felt a little shaken.

She sipped from her mug then exhaled. Somehow, she felt better. Angela looked out the window, watching the busy streets go on. She definitely was not going to work today, she thought. She just couldn't.

Angela shifted, sitting on the pane, until she turned to the other side and saw a familiar cloth right outside her window. Confused, Angela took her jacket, also realizing it had been hung at the exit ladder beside her window all this time. 

Then, she heard a news anchor speak on the TV mentioning "two men, influenced with drugs, found tied together in a street" making her quickly look. She left her mug on the pane, clutched the jacket, and scooted to her bed to focus on the news. Apparently, the men that harassed her were presented to the police humiliatingly. Angela stood on her knees on the bed. She gaped at the video on the TV, realizing it really was them.

She glanced at the jacket in her hand, then at the TV, then back at the jacket. Angela plopped herself on the bed and grasped the jacket in her hands. "Holy shit."

And in that moment, she knew she had experienced something she would not forget. And for that, Angela wanted to express her gratitude for whoever it was. The only problem was she had no clue how.