By: Ferretti

" So what did your parents yell at you about this time?" The girl speaking had electric blue streaks in her otherwise pitch-black hair. Electric blue make up framed her dark eyes and dark red lipstick adorned her lips.

" They aren’t the biggest fan of you." This speaker looked relatively normal: plain red-brown hair, zero make-up and clothes that actually covered her body. The watcher listened as the conversation continued.

" Screw ‘em." Elektric ordered, her accent thickly coloring her voice.

" Tina I told you-" A resounding slap sounded against the second girls’ white cheek.

" And I told you not to call me that Sarah. It’s Elektric."

" Sorry." Sarah’s voice was teary as she apologized for messing up the girls’ name. It wasn’t the first time the watcher had seen this kind of behavior from the two.

" Come here girl." Elektric pulled Sarah into a hug, engulfing her in her arms. After a second she pulled back, looking at Sarah’s cheek. " Doesn’t look that bad. Maybe this time you’ll learn to call me by the right name." Sarah nodded mutely, tears shining in her eyes.

" Hello ladies." The watcher turned as a slimy voice spoke from the shadows that the girls were passing.

" Do we know you?" Elektric asked as obnoxiously as ever. Sarah cowered behind the older girl.

" No, but you will." The speaker walked from the alley with two friends trailing behind him. Like his voice all three were greasy looking, unkempt.

" What makes you think that?" Elektric asked doing her best to not look afraid. The watcher could smell her fear from ten stories up.

" Because. We like you." Those three words were all it took to make the three men attack the girls. Elektric was swept aside in the first round. She barely looked back as she left Sarah to the predators.

" Who’s first Zane?" This speaker was nearly identical to the first man but his nose had been broken numerous times and he was pudgier. The watcher grimaced at the feel that the speaker’s voice trailed down his spine.

" Me. I found her." The littlest and youngest moved forward eagerly reaching a hand towards the whimpering Sarah.

" Guess again pipsqueak. She’s mine first. Let’s move into the alley." The three herded Sarah into the alley looking cautiously around for signs that someone was watching. The watcher growled, moving positions to continue watching what was happening.

The men snarled as they threw Sarah away from them and into a garbage heap. Sarah cried out when she landed scrambling to her hands and knees and trying to crawl away.

" That’s cheating love." The littlest spoke again, grabbing for Sarah’s waist as she tried to move away.

" Careful Bobby." Zane commented lazily as Bobby flipped Sarah onto the hard ground. " We want her in one piece." Bobby grinned maliciously when he realized Zane was going to let him go first. His fingers started ripping at Sarah’s clothes, brushing roughly over her body. A strangled scream erupted from her throat as she struggled against the stronger boy.

The watcher finally had enough. With a single push he was diving through the chill night air, headed down ten stories to save the girl he had been watching for months. His body landed with a barely audible thump of displaced air as he hid in the shadows.

" Zane." The second man whined as he looked around. He knew something about the night had changed against them.

" Stuff it Marc, help hold her down." Zane commanded moving over to still Sarah’s struggles. Sarah cried out again as the second pair of hands landed, pinning her all that more securely to the cold ground.

Zane was the first to fall. Marc and Bobby scrambled away from the girl as Zane fell to the ground, his head bleeding profusely where it had been smashed open. Marc turned to see the watcher just behind him. The watcher’s eyes blazed in the darkness and Marc screamed trying to turn and run at the same time. A timeless step and Marc bit his tongue clean off, passing out from the pain.

Bobby managed to make it to the streetlight before a muscular hand grabbed the back of his neck, dragging him quickly back into the darkness and away from all help. Sarah passed out from shock as her savior finished dealing with the attackers.