Her Dark Heart

1. i'm slowly drifting to the arms of trouble and trouble holds me

Authors note: I'm not American or Spanish so if the language is wrong, I'll try to my best to improve! :)

Disclaimer: This story contains violence, mature language, mature themes (such as abandonment, imprisonment, murder, drugs, gang violence etc)

Enjoy!

Footsteps. That was all Athena Gray could hear as she crouched behind a large dumpster on an unknown street.
She tucked herself so far into the shadows that she couldn't even see her own hands in front of her. It was too dark to focus clearly on anything.
In late night Brooklyn, the thin layer of frost that had gathered during the night was beginning to melt and an early spring fog hung heavy in the air, making it hard for Athena to take a proper breath.

She heard chimes of an old-fashioned clock in the distance and counted the bells. It had just gone 3AM.

Athena folded herself into the contours of the dumpster, willing herself to melt away into the shadows and never be found.
At least not by the Tall Man who was pacing down the alley-way shouting her name with growing impatience. He was crazy, she thought, and she knew that if she didn't find an escape clause soon, she would most certainly become a blood splatter among the spectacularly prolific graffiti.

No, she chastised herself, I'm smarter than that. Just think.

She sat against a large brick wall - there was no way out. Her heartbeat thrummed loudly in her ears and she forced deep breaths into her lungs in attempt to slow it, it felt so loud she was terrified the Tall Man would hear it.

That's when a new voice broke the silence, "Need any help?"

She jumped, causing a resounding crash of metal against metal as she hit the dumpster.

Slightly dazed and startled, Athena turned to the direction of the voice, only to be met by a shadowed figure and a pair of light eyes blinking at her through the dark.

Judging by the wide set shoulders and gruff voice, she assumed it was a man, but she couldn't see clearly to notice any tells that gave away whether he was a friend or enemy.

"He's getting closer," The voice insisted, a tinge of irritation seeping into his statement, "Just, come with me."

Athena frowned, questions bubbling to the surface. Who the hell was this guy? He seemed to just appear out of no-where.

The man cleared his throat, "We don't have all day."

His impatience made her question his motives but she realized she didn't have time to debate it, the Man was getting closer - close enough that she could hear his shallow intake of breaths. That crash had him nipping at her heels.

She held her stance for a moment, internally deliberating her chances of survival before she made up her mind and scrambled after the mysterious stranger.

She found herself crawling under a sheltered fire-escape that looked years past saving anybody from a fire. The stranger navigated them around broken pieces of metal and she stared straight ahead into the complete pitch black; playing out the scenario in which the stranger turned and stabbed her to death -, after all, no-one would hear her screams and they certainly wouldn't find her body down here.

It was the perfect plan if he was a serial killer, which she had yet to determine.

She shook the thought out of her head and held her breath as they crawled straight past the aggravated man in the alley, hidden by the shadows that swallowed them whole.

Once the escape let out on the other side of the blackened street, she turned to the stranger waiting before her.

The stranger removed his hood and in the dull light of the moon she could see his features clearly.