I can't believe it. I finally have the guts to kiss my crush and not 5 minutes later, she is in danger. God, why do I have such bad luck with women! First, there was Cathi. She got her leg broken because I accidentally pushed her down the stairs. Then there was Sara. I spilled acid on her dress, and. . . well. And then there was the matter of my mom. She hated me so much, she left me when I was only a year old. But getting back to the matter at hand. What am I going to do? God! I've already wasted enough time debating this! I know what my decision.

“Man, that guy moves quick,” Gavin said loudly. The words seemed to echo throughout the alley. It was dark and pretty much what you would expect an alley to look like. The bricks were growing mold. Any metal in there, whether it be a sewer line or stairs, rusted years ago. Dumpsters on either side. Building walls that as you walked further and further seemed to close in on you. There was barley any light, so you couldn't tell what was right in front of you. But there was no time to look at the alley, Gavin had to find Jess. Then he heard a shriek. “Jess!” he screamed. He started running toward where the scream came from.
Gavin rounded a corner of the alley. By now, he had lost track of where he was and his only light source was the moon, with an occasional flickering light. Other than that, he was in complete darkness. Then he heard another scream; also from Jess. It was close. He started running, his adrenaline pumping. He rounded a corner to a dead end. There was Jess, on the ground, with the figure over top of her. Right now, he was taping her mouth shut. Gavin made sure that he was completely silent as he crept along a wall toward Jess. He tried to keep close to the wall to get the jump on the abductor. Jess's eyes looked fleetingly at Gavin’s as he moved in the shadows. Then, there was a loud clang followed by what sounded like someone silently cursing. The figure went over to investigate.

Damn It! I thought. It was a dumb idea to think that I could be like one of those guys in the movies. Creep among the shadows, jump the guy and save the girl. It is A LOT harder. First of all, you can barely see. Second, you don't know what is on the ground. My foot ran into a steel pipe someone left lying around. I started cursing at the pipe. Dumb right? Then, I was so obsessed with the pain in my foot that I didn't notice Jess's abductor coming right at me. The only reason I noticed was because Jess was screaming more than before. I turned around just to get a punch in the nose. I tried to get up, but then the guy kicked me in the stomach three times. I started to cough up blood when he stopped. Then he went over to Jess. “You should've learned to keep your dog over there on a tighter leash.” Then I watched as he put on some gloves, went over to Jess, and strangled her. There was nothing I could do to stop him.

OMG! OMG! OMG! WHO IS THIS GUY?! WHERE ARE WE GOING?! WHAT WILL HE DO TO ME?! WHAT IS GOING ON!?!?! These questions spun around in my head as my abductor carried me through an alley. Finally, he put me down and tied my hands behind my back. Then he started to put duck tape on my mouth to muffle my screams. That's when I noticed Gavin. He does care for me! I thought to myself. He was in the shadows, but I could make out his figure. He started to move along the alleyway. I think because he wanted to try and save me. He is SO SWEET! Then I heard a clang and him cursing. I knew what would happen next, so I tried to scream at Gavin, “TURN AROUND GAVIN!!!! TURN AROUND!!!” But all that came out was, “MMMMMMMMM!!!! MMMM!!!” I watched as my abductor beat Gavin to the ground. I think when he was done Gavin was coughing up blood. I felt like such an idiot. If I hadn’t been so clueless after I walked out of the club... Then Gavin and I wouldn’t even be here! Oh no. He’s coming back. Then he told me, “You should've learned to keep your dog over there on a tighter leash.” I could see evil in his eyes. He reached for some gloves, put them on, and then....

I watched in horror as the man took Jess’s life away from her. I watched the light go out in her eyes. And out of nowhere, I got the strength to stand up. I walked over to the pipe that tripped me, picked it up, and went over to the man. “Think you beat me,” I said slowly, barely audible. “Think you won,” I started getting stronger, more confident, and louder. “You haven’t won! You have made the biggest mistake of your life!” He had been listening, and then slowly turned around.
He stood up and started maniacally laughing as he looked me over, “What? You think that you can beat up me?” Then he took off his coat and showed his huge muscles. I looked myself over; I was built, but I didn’t have nearly as much muscle as he did. I knew that I could never win in a fight against him, but I had to do just one thing. Had only one goal. Avenge Jess by killing the killer.

I lunged at him, but he was quick and moved out of the way. I tried charging him, but the pipe was so damn heavy. So, while I was struggling with the pipe, the man saw his opportunity. He knocked me down to the cement right near Jess. “So, I get to kill two rats tonight. Lucky me.” Then, I whirled my pipe toward the man; it hit him in the no no zone. I got up and started kicking him to the point where he was near dead. We had shifted the battle toward Jess’s lifeless body. I looked at it, and realized that what I was doing was wrong. In my hesitation, he got away. I turned to and watched him leave. Good riddance I thought.

I faintly heard his footsteps echo off the walls as he ran away. But all could think, hear, or see was Jess. I looked at her just lying there, thinking it was my fault. I fell onto my knees and started to cry a river. After my tears had just about soaked my face, I called 911.
“911. What’s your emergency?”
“Uhhhh....” I couldn’t think of anything to say.
“Hello? Hello? Are you still there?”
“Yeah, I’m here. My … friend. She was kidnapped.” I didn’t know how to say she was dead.
“Sir, what is your address?”
“Uhhhh. I don’t know. I just tried to follow the kidnapper through an alley past The Scene.”
“Okay, I am sending police to that area right now.”
“She's unconscious.”
“I'll send an ambulance.” There was a long pause. I went over to Jess because I held onto a shred of hope that she was still alive. She wasn't breathing, and she didn't have a pulse.
“She doesn't.... she isn't....” I stammered.
“Sir, what are you trying to say?”
“She. . . She isn't breathing. A-And she doesn't have a pulse.” I could barely choke out the words.
“Do you know how to performm CPR?”
“No.” All that time in health class, and I still didn’t know how to perform CPR. She had to talk me through it. Then the paramedics finally arrived.
They were all shouting, ”Get out of the way!” “Get the crash cart!” “Unresponsive!” “B.P. 180 over 50!” And a lot of other things I couldn't understand. Then a policeman started questioning me.
“What is your name?”
“Gavin Yaforge. Where are they taking her?” I started charging towards the ambulance. Then the paramedics stopped me.
“Look kid. She's in serous condition.”
“I'm her boyfriend.” I said agitated that I couldn't go, “I'm the one that found her!”
“Only family, and your not family.”
“Please! You don't understand! I need to make sure she's okay! She didn't even have a pulse when I found her! And now she does because of me! That has GOT to count for SOMETHING!” The paramedic seemed hesitant, but he let me in the ambulance.

It seemed like an eternity before we finally arrived at the hospital. A team of doctors and nurses took her out of the ambulance, put her on what I think was a crash cart, then whisked her down the hall to the ER. I followed them, but I couldn’t get to her bedside because they said, “Family Only.” Typical.
By the time Jess’s parents arrived, they had already hooked her up to a lot of machines. I was finally allowed in the room because her ‘real’ family was there. I tried to figure out what the machines were doing. I saw the machine that read her heart rate and blood pressure, the one that doctors hung medication on, and... Well, I guess watching medical shows like House don’t help that much.
“Thank you” were the first words that I heard through Jess's mom's tears.
“For what?” I didn't think she'd been notified about the 911 call.
“For saving my baby. For finding her, For bringing her here, Calling an ambulance...EVERYTHING” Every word was muddled with tears.
“Your welcome,” was all I could think to say.
“I see why she likes you,” I heard her father say.
“And why exactly is that?” I said, afraid to ask.
“You have a good heart. You chased her kidnapper, got her away from him, knew exactly what to do. You were brave.”
“Yeah...” I lied through gritted teeth. How could I tell him that I just rushed in and did nothing but call the ambulance to help her. I wasn't brave, didn't chase her kidnapper, all I did was be a coward. Looks like it’s going to be a long night, better get comfy.


* * * *


“Get Up. Get Up! Get Out!”
“Wha?”
“Ugh! I don’t have time for this,” and all of a sudden, I was being taken out of Jess’s room by security. I faintly heard a loud, straight beeping. Then I was thrown onto the floor. Luckily, I was able to get up before getting trampled by a stampede of nurses. I was still regaining my vision because I was asleep, but I could distinctly make out Jess’s parents crying, Jess laying in her bed and the heart rate monitor flat lining. Then someone shut the blinds to her room so I couldn’t see anything. So I went to the door to try and see what was happening. By now I could see clearly. I could hear someone saying, “Charging. Clear.” over and over again. Each time, someone was warming up paddles and then trying to shock Jess’s heart back into regular rhythm. I guess medical shows do help. Then someone said, “Starting CPR.” I could tell right then and there that Jess wouldn’t make it. I started to cry.
Then I saw someone in Jess’s room. She was short, like 4 foot 5 inches. She was all dirty with a torn and dirt covered dress. Her hair was brown and about shoulder length. Her face was covered in dirt and hatred. There was something about her that made me believe she could not be trusted. She looked familiar, but I couldn’t figure out why. She appeared to be staring at Jess and laughing. It seemed like none of the nurses even noticed she was there. I yelled at her to stop laughing. She stopped laughing, turned toward me and gave me an evil grin. Then a doctor walked right in front of the mysterious girl, and she disappeared. He came out of the room, almost slamming the door in my face. I sat down, still crying. Jess’s parents were beside me crying waterfalls.
“We did everything we could... But the internal bleeding was something we could not have foreseen. I am sorry for your loss.”
“...” was all that any of us could say.


Then out of nowhere, I felt something. Like someone was hugging me. I was instantly warm and could sense love in the air. I stopped crying. Then, I heard something. It sounded like Jess. It said Don't cry my love. Then I felt a kiss on my cheek.
“Jess?”