THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME (CONTD.)
Page 2
`Take all the money you want, just leave me alone.'
The man reached out for her, a callused and dirty hand thrust in her direction. She pushed it away and began crawling away from her assailant, screaming for help. The man stopped, recoiling from her.
`Hey lady, I was just tryin to help you up. What's with you- first you bark at me, now you're screaming. Boy, you frightened me.'
She took a closer look at him. Now he did not look in the least threatening. Just pathetic. Just a poor street bum.
`Oh, I'm so sorry. I thought you were...'
`Come on, lady, you even made me drop and break my bottle.'
The stench of cheap liquor told her what he was talking about. She got up and walked towards the man, reaching into her handbag for some change.
She handed the coins to him and apologized again. He started to turn and leave when he stopped once.
`Lady, if I were you, I would go home soon. This ain't a safe city anymore. Nothing is. Not like the good ol days.' He held out the day's newspaper, and not wanting to spend any more time than was necessary listening to him, she took it and continued walking towards her building. She passed through what seemed to be the best lit part of the alley and stole a glance at the paper.
`Mystery of Serial Killer Unsolved'
Jeez. For once she was glad she rarely had time to glance through anything other than the front page. Otherwise, she would have been even more spooked tonight. She entered her building compound and breathed an audible sigh of relief. She had never spent much time walking around her building or meeting her neighbors, but now she felt as if she had never been safer in her life. She got into the elevator and pressed the button for her floor and began singing an old tune.
As she exited the elevator, she threw the newspaper in the garbage can and took out her keys to unlock the door.
He was woken up by the sound of the front door opening. He had been in the house for over two hours and had fallen asleep, tired of his exertions in the neighboring flat. He had assumed nobody was home here and was hoping to spend a few quiet hours of rest. Well, that didnt seem to be the case anymore. Too bad. He grabbed the blood stained butcher knife at his side and got off the sofa to hide behind it. He watched the young woman walk in and close the door behind her. She was pretty. He smiled as he hefted the long blade in his hand. Perhaps this wasn't such a bad turn of events after all.
She walked straight to the bedroom and flopped down on the bed, too tired to change or even take off her shoes. The familiar warm and comforting embrace of her bed put her to sleep almost instantly, all her tensions of the past few minutes evaporating. The last thing she saw before drifting off was the old plaque her mother had given her years ago.
It read-
`There's no place like home.'
