Breaking Rules

RULE # 39: AVOID REMINDERS

The one to change...

Twelve years ago...

Teddy was literally running for his life.

Breathing as hard as a lion cub on the run from hyenas, he pushed himself to go faster when he heard gun shots coming from behind him.

"You're not going to escape us kidd'o!!!"

"That's what you think", he thought to himself as he turned at an alleyway. He was sure he was way ahead of those gangsters. Hell. He could be a mile away for sure.

As soon as he felt that a fight was going to come on, he broke into a run and threw away all the stash Dave "The Big One" had asked for. He wasn't going to risk his life for a few hundred dollars.

But the alley was a dead stop. "Oh SHIT!" he cursed out loud. The alley ended with a tall brick wall that was double his height. There were no stairs, no windows, and no way to go up that brick wall at all.

"Oh SHIT!" he said again, his palms sweating. He looked back and calculated the odds. If he went out the alleyway, he was going to clash with Dave's group. He was sure they'd be right on his heels.

Another gun shot rang throughout the night air and he felt himself start to shake. "Think! Think! Think! You've got to get out of here", he thought, pacing the alleyway and looking for an escape route.

"That's a dead end Teddy!" Dave screamed, laughing maniacally, letting Teddy know that he was soon going to be minced meat.

As he stood rooted to the spot, waiting for hell to come, he was grabbed from behind and darkness engulfed him. "What the?!?!? – " he wasn't able to continue as a hand clamped on his mouth.

"Where the f*@$ did he go?" he heard one of Dave's goons ask.

"He scaled this wall?!?!?"

"Gunfire ratted at the wall. "F*@$!!!!! F*@$!!!!", he heard Dave scream, "That Son-of-a-Bi*@$!!!"

"What are we gonna' do now boss?!?"

Dave growled, "What else could we do?!? That lucky bastard escaped coz you were all too slow!" another set of gunfire ratted "It's his lucky day now but he can't escape us forever! Let's go back! I'm sure he's going to go to Danny. We get Danny and make sure those two don't go anywhere!"

Footsteps left and Teddy, afraid to even breathe hard, felt tension leave his body. The hand that clamped his mouth relaxed as his eyes finally got accustomed to the darkness.

"Are you ok?" a girl's voice asked him and he scrambled to stand up.

"Who are you?" he asked in the darkness, trying to make out who his savior was.

Light went out and Teddy had to cover his eyes. "I should be the one to ask you that", the girl replied and Teddy felt his jaw almost drop.The girl was none other than Lee Mai Goo, the princess of underground rap in Diamond Hill. "So? Who are you?"

***

Do you know who I am?

Mai looked at the stranger and shook her head. His shirt had been torn and there was blood in his hands. He must have climbed one of the steel rails and got himself scratches.