Chapter-2

February 2018

The heavy snowfall signaled winter had reached its peak in New York. It covered every inch, so no matter where in the city you were, the snow was all you could see. While its beauty was unmatched, I could see why some preferred to stay indoors.

Especially when the breeze picked up, dropping the temperature to below freezing. Even at its vastness, it looked as soft as feathers, and people would begin to fear for when it would melt. The roads would turn slithery, making travel extremely unsafe even for pedestrians, making families choose to stay inside. Though if someone got caught without any ride to hitch in the snowstorm miles away from home. Well, it would be terrible.

Much to my dismay, the very situation happened with us. I found myself biting down the cold with my friends at midnight. The only shelter we could take refuge from this fatal downfall was a small bus stop platform where we had been waiting. The space was tight but allowed us to huddle together for warmth.

I doubt if we could find any roadside assistance at such a stranded place. We tried to call 911 for help, but for some reason, no one was picking it up. Neither when Shirley and John tried calling on it. I am pretty sure this has never happened before, someone would always be there to pick it up, or they would call back later. We waited for one hour, but we got the same response, no calls backs and no answers. I found it very weird as neither any cab was available near to our location.

I pulled my coat closer to my body as a chill swept through me, causing me to glare once again in the direction of my friend John, who admittedly was mostly to blame for our current circumstances. If only he had the forethought to fill the fuel tank before we drove an hour away from Manhattan. But we were at fault too. If we were not so desperate for a break then we ignored to check the weather before leaving, then this might not have happened. John scored the tickets for the new upcoming band Firelight. It was their first-ever live show since they became famous for their online videos.

The concert had held in a stadium somewhere on the east side of Brooklyn city. Everyone was enamored not only with their music but the mystery of their identities since they all wore masks whenever they played, and damn, they all were so good. After the show ended, it was already 11 p.m, but we thought to stay back for some more to chill. That's when my mom called me to leave from there soon as it there's going to be snowstorm midnight, and we left right away. We could not get far, thanks to John and his empty fuel tank, we got stranded in a remote area with no one in sight.

It did remind me of a spooky horror movie set. It was a shopping street which was closed at this hour. It was eerily quiet as closed signs boards dangled from the doors of the shopping area, and silence bounced off every surface. The only sound I could hear was the sound of our breaths fogging with every exhale and the echo of wind gushing. We had been waiting for what felt like hours when in reality, only an hour had passed since we left the car for the bus stop. We had walked for miles in the hopes we could find someone to help us or any taxi driving by. At first, it was snowing lightly. Then, when we reached near the bus stop, the wind changed its course, and we had to shield ourselves under the bus stop roof from the heave snowstorm. Due to the deadly and sharp wind, we couldn't run back to our car and thought of waiting until the storm cools down. Now it seemed we needed another plan because I was starting to lose circulation in my legs. With the time, roads and sidewalks got disappeared behind the thick blanket of white powder.

Movement caught my eye as John began to ruffle his hair to free it from the snow.

"Wow!" John exclaimed, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Even the Gods decided to show how much they loved the show."

John snarled with annoyance. His hands moved faster across his hair as he glared at the snow in front of him. I watched the back and forth motion in silent envy that not even the weather could affect the silky strands. Honestly, his hair would be the only best thing about him at this moment because if you looked up the definition of stupidity, his picture would depict underneath it.

John turned and locked his gray eyes with me, an innocent look in his face. I narrowed my eyes back at him, showing him I am not going to buy what he was selling. I rubbed my forearms through my thick layered dusty leather jacket, trying to generate some warmth.

Suddenly a loud smack echoed in the air, and John cried out. "Ouch, God, you do not need to be so feisty!". Shirley smacked him on the back of his head. He began rubbing the spot glaring at her as if it caused him pain when we all knew it had not.

"It is all your fault that now we are stuck, who knows where, in the middle of the city." Shirley reprimanded as she attempted to hit him again.

"Did I not tell you to check everything before we left?" she scolded him again,

"I did it! I even filled the tank before leaving," he explained, trying to prove himself innocent, "But I don't know what happened," John said in exasperation as he scratched the back of his neck in thought about what could have gone wrong. That was not the answer Shirley was looking for because she tried yet again to smack him for his idiocy.

"What do you mean by you don't know what happened?" I was getting agitated with each second, as he kept spouting nonsense, "Do you think someone could have siphoned it?" I taunted him,

"Maybe...I don't know." I rolled my eyes at his lame excuse. John and Shirley began to bicker back and forth like cats and dogs while I stared at them. When they had a scant few inches between their bodies, I decided enough was enough and to break them up.

"Guys! Come on! It is not helping our situation." I pleaded as I pulled Shirley by her shirt a couple of feet behind me. I was afraid that after a couple more minutes, and she would have her hands wrapped around his throat.

"ERRR," Shirley screamed out in frustration. "Tessa, I can not deal with him anymore." She swung around and slumped her hands by her side, sighing in defeat.

You would never be able to tell these two were a couple with the way they were acting towards each other. It was the weirdest thing to see, one minute they are at each other's throats, and the next, they couldn't wait to get closer to each other. It was exhausting, but after so many years of friendship, you become used to it. John ignored us as he tried to get his hair back under control, using the camera on his cell phone.

"Well, it was one hell of a night..." John announced before stopping mid-sentence as the echoing of a gunshot rang out. Freezing in fear, I could feel goosebumps cover every inch of my skin as the sound began to disappear.

As the sound dissipated, I took a chance to glance around the thick sheets of snow, trying to find the source. I was sure it came from behind me, but with the silence, it was hard to tell for sure. Risking a glance at John and Shirley, I saw the same look of fear reflected on their faces I was sure was on mine. Once more, I glanced behind me for any sign of something out of the ordinary, which was hard, since I couldn't see past the length of my arms. Straining my ears to see if they would have any better luck, with no success, I turned back towards John and Shirley.

"Guys, I don't think anyone is there," I said as, except for a few dry leaves, closed shutters, and dead silence, there was nothing I could see or hear.

"Maybe it was a delusion?" The shakiness in my voice betrayed my assurance.

"Yeah, you're right, I can't see anything either." The doubt in John's voice made me think that it wasn't truthful. As time passed, a feeling of dread and foreboding began to take hold, giving off a negative vibration. My whole body began to shake with fear from the realization no one would be able to save us if we needed it. The more I tried to take in my surroundings, the more a pit dug into the middle of my stomach.

"If it is not so quiet, I would have thought it was my imagination, but...?" Shirley trailed off, leaving her thought unspoken. My instincts were screaming at me that something was wrong. My feet shifted in response to my flight or fight mode, making my boots squeak in the snow as my body prepared for movement.

"Do you think we should go check it out?" I asked them as they looked at each other, a silent conversation of understanding going between them. Once they turn back to me, John nods his head in agreement.

"OK, then we will go in different directions, keep your phones on, if you see something then, immediately call me," I explain to them as I take out my cell phone,

"Got it," John says while taking his phone from his pocket to swipe a finger across the screen, waking it up. I took a deep breath as we set out in different directions. I knew it was a bad idea, but to call it instinct or something, I suddenly felt the need to check around.

A flickering light illuminated the path I took - narrowing into a sharp turn, the further I traveled down it. Snow crunches under my feet as I walk ahead of the cut where the footpath ends. Thank god I was wearing boots or, I couldn't even have been able to move a single step. I hoped John and Shirley were fine. I felt it would have been good if we all went to look together. My heart was beating erratically with each step I took away from my friends, the knowledge that I've never done this before weighed heavily on my mind.

The more I walked, the more I began cursing television and movies for making sleuthing look easy, as it was anything but easy. The snow began to lessen, making visibility easier. I was not sure yet if that was a good thing or a bad thing. If there was one thing I could take from the movies, it is that you don't let the bad guys know where you are. My hands began to sweat so much I had to rub them against my jeans as I kept glancing from side to side. Exhaling as I reached the end, my relief was short-lived when a dark alleyway beckoned me as if to say, "ha-ha, you are not done yet."

Just before I reached the entryway, something slithered across my calves, almost making me scream in terror. Just before a sound came out, I brought my hands to my mouth to suppress my voice as I glanced down at the cat who managed to sneak up on me. Forcing my body to relax, I gave myself a little pep talk, which sounded more like a jumble of words but didn't stop me from taking a few necessary breaths.

"Wow, that worked!" A small smile lifted my lips at the reassurance, and I was sure everything was going to be just fine.

I turned to head back to the bus stop, but my foot froze midair as the sound of whispered voices floated to me from the alleyway. Flattening near the closest wall, I peeked inside to see what was happening. My heart just about stopped when I saw a girl unconscious on the ground, surrounded by three guys; she oddly felt familiar. She was bleeding from a gash on her head as blood seeped from her fingers, clutched to her abdomen.

The guy standing closer to her held a gun in his right hand, and I knew then that the sound wasn't our imagination. When he turned to his friends, I noticed they all wore black handkerchiefs over their noses and mouths, each wielding a different weapon. The one closest to the gun wielder held a baseball bat that was dripping blood off the tip, and the one furthest away from her was wearing bloody brass knuckles.

Why would they do this to a defenseless woman? No one should feel that amount of pain, let alone someone who looks harmless.

From the looks of their faces, you could tell they didn't feel an ounce of guilt or shame; it was almost like they enjoyed what they did. A shiver ran through my body from the dark, spiteful aura they gave off to the area.

A few minutes passed before the guy with the gun tapped his ear like a signal. I figured he must be wearing an earpiece.

"What should we do now?" he asked in an accent at whoever is at the other end.

The person must have given an order to leave because he tucked the gun into the waistband of his pants and pulled his jacket over it.

"Let's leave her there, she won't last till morning anyway." the guy announced as he looked in my direction, making me flatten even more to the wall.

At the sound of running, I poked my head out again just in time to see the three guys vault the fence at the end of the alley and get into the van parked on the other end and drive away. When they were out of sight, I crept closer to the girl, kneeling at her side to feel for a pulse.

Weak, but still there.

A sigh of relief left my lips as she had steady breathing too.

But we need to get her treated fast, or her condition will get out of control.

I began to assess her other injuries. Up close, I noticed she had multiple lacerations and scrapes on arms, already beginning to turn an angry black and purple. Thankfully her face was unscathed. Her clothes were wet, and she was shivering - it was going to worsen her condition.

Whipping out my phone, I hit the dial button for John."Hello? John? Are you there?" I rushed out when he picked up the phone on the third ring.

"Yes, what's wrong?" he replied in earnest.

"I'm at the alley on the other end of the street. I found the shooter, and there's an unconscious girl. I need help, do you know where the alley is?" I said in a hurry, needing him to get here fast as time was of the essence.

"Yeah, I do." He said. Relief quickly filled me because I wasn't sure if I could explain it to him.

"Good, call Shirley and get over here quick," I told and hung up the phone.

I grabbed my cotton scarf out of my purse and tried to staunch the wound in her stomach. It was the best I could do on short notice with limited supplies since the gash was turning purple around the entry point. I started to feel hopeless even as I kept my hands on the wound for added pressure.

God, please let us save her. Please.

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