Fan Fiction |
by Jenny Tran
Anesa waved goodnight to her co-workers as she headed to the subway station. Curiosity got the best of her as she decided to call him “Hey, it’s me.” She greeted. He groaned in response as she turned the cell over to give it a dirty look “Shut up Kyle.”
“What do you want?” he asked unwillingly.
“I have a quick question about your roommate.” Anesa lowered her voice when she got into the subway “Have you seen his tattoo?”
She had to pull the phone away from her ear when he began cackling amusingly “Are you insane woman? Anton would never get a tattoo.”
“You’ve never seen the tiger on his arm?” she cupped the mouthpiece and looked around cautiously.
“What tiger? I’ve never even seen his arm. He’s always wearing long sleeve shirts.” Kyle yawned tiredly. He had a long day at the studio.
“So you’ve never seen him come out of the shower or something?” Anesa questioned. Her suspicion of him seem to grow with each question answered.
“Look, if I paid attention to him coming out of the shower, maybe I shouldn’t be flirting with women anymore.” He said sarcastically “Now leave me alone! Don’t call me with stupid questions cause you’ll hear stupid answers. Bye.”
She still had more questions but he had already hung up “Stupid…” she muttered and hung onto the pole as the train took off at full speed. When she got to the streets, she suddenly remembered that she needed to take out money. Heading to the nearest bank, she dug into her purse for her card.
“Anesa!!” a familiar male voice called from behind.
“Crap!” she cursed and sped up her walking while trying to ignore the calls. She knew it was Chris.
“Anesa!!” he began running towards her. He eventually caught up to her as he placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her from speed walking.
She raised her brows in exaggerated shock “Chris! What are you doing here?”
“You didn’t hear me calling?” he asked.
Giving him a sympathetic look “Aww…was that you? I was trying to ignore it. I’ll try harder next time.” She broke away from his grasp and continued on her way. But she already guessed he would not let her off that easily.
“Wait! We’re not finished.” He said while pulling her arm back roughly “Don’t play this game Anesa, I guarantee you won’t win.”
Gritting her teeth, she glared at him “Let go of my arm.”
“So you do feel pain. All this time I thought you were just a cold hearted bitch!” he spat. It was not the same Chris she knew from the first few dates. He was different, maybe she had pushed him over the edge “I hate women like you. Flirt with men and go out on a few dates thinking that would be over? I’m not the kind you can mess with.” He threatened as he looked around and found a hidden alley. Yanking her by the elbow, he pushed into the dark alley.
“What do you want?” she backed away but it was hard to see in a place without light. She tripped over a basket of trash while he laughed at her dismay.
“Aww…poor little Anesa…all dirty now.” His eyes turned from sympathetic to hunger as he lunged at her.
She didn’t expect him to attack her “What the hell are you doing! Let go! Help!!!” she screamed at the top of her lungs.
He gripped her wrist with one hand and clamped a hand over her mouth with the other. Eyes dark as he glared at her with much hatred as well as lust “Scream again and I’ll strangle you to death.” He warned. She nodded with wide eyes as he slowly let go of her mouth. He began unbuckling his belt clumsily. Anesa was not stupid, she knew he was going to rape her. Looking around, she found a few broken brooms around, if only she could get one hand free “What are you doing?!” he snapped.
Anesa turned to him with scared eyes “Nothing. I was just adjusting to a better position. You’re lying on my ribs.” She smiled nervously “Could you lighten the grip? My wrists are hurting.”
“Good.” He snarled disgusted as he began tugging at her skirt.
Sucking in all her fears, she raised her knees and pushed him off her except his hand was still gripping onto her wrists “You freak! Let go of me!!”
“You asked for it.” He warned. Yanking her up by the hand, he pushed her against the wall. Thrusting his hand around her waist, he tried to unhook the skirt and unzip it down. She closed her eyes after unsuccessfully to push him away. Only God could save her now, she thought to herself.
Suddenly, he loosened his grip and cried in pain. Anesa opened her eyes to see someone beating Chris with a stick. It was too dark to see the face but she took her chance to move away from the crazy lunatic “Move away!” her savior warned. Swinging the broom towards Chris, he was able to hit his head.
It was hard to see who was winning as she heard them wrestled each other to the floor. A few punches were thrown and minutes later, the winner stood up and stepped towards her. Anesa backed away slowly, thinking it was probably Chris “Don’t come near me…” she warned.
The person raised a hand towards her face, in an instant she hit it away and then she heard him groan in pain “You okay?” He wrung out his hands to stop the stinging pain from spreading.
“Anton?” she said unsurely.
“Yeah, who’d you think it was?” he looked behind him to make sure Chris was out “Come on, we’ll call the cops.” She nodded and followed him out to the light. He called the police and they took down a report for attempted rape. After the paperwork was signed at the station, the two walked out of the station together.
She smiled gratefully “Thanks…again. I don’t know what would have happened.” She laughed nervously “Actually…I would have been raped. And months later, probably find out I was pregnant and then I’d have to get an abortion…damn.”
Anton tilted his head strangely at her “You’re weird.”
“You’re the one to talk.” She giggled “So, still trying to hide your identity Mr. Gangster man?”
Suddenly his face fell as he spun around “Don’t call me that. Come on.” He supported his wrist while waiting for her to follow along.
“Where are we going?” she asked curiously.
“I’m not going to rape you.” He teased “I just don’t want to talk about this at the police station.”
“So you’re going to tell me?!” She asked excitedly “So I’m right! You are from the—”
His hand quickly covered her mouth “I can tell you, but you cannot breath a word to anyone.”
Anesa nodded “Okay.” She was obediently quiet as he took to a convenient store. Buying a wrap for his wrist and some sandwiches. He led her to a building not far from her home “Where are we going?” she whispered when he walked to the side of the building.
“Grab that bar and pull it down.” He advised. She did as he asked and the fire escape ladder moved lower. He began climbing up the steps and she followed after that.
“You do realize I’m wearing a skirt.” She said halfway up.
He shook his head with a laugh “That should be the least of your worries. I could take you to the roof and kill you. After all you know my secret now.” He paused after a few more steps when he realized she had froze in place “I’m kidding.” He smiled down at her.
She laughed weakly “I knew that.” She followed him until they reached the rooftop “Kyle doesn’t know about your past does he?”
“No. I’d rather it be kept a secret from him. He’d probably act weird around me if he knew. I was always careful to cover my arm around him.” Anton broke into the sandwich bag and began eating.
“So…how did you get started?” Anesa was cautious not to ask the wrong questions.
Anton shrugged “Nothing special really. I just hung out with the wrong crowd but moved up eventually after I helped Man Gor get his gang in order. He was framed six years ago and eventually our gang had no choice but to split. There was no leader and no one wanted to choose one because everyone wanted to be the leader. The cops knew our hideouts and didn’t let us have time to breath. Eventually, the group divided and a large portion of us just moved out of it. I was one of them. I wanted a new life, some change that was drastic enough for people to not recognize me. I got my hair color back to my roots, new glasses and changed my wardrobe.”
“How did you meet Kyle?” she was intrigued by his story. If she would have picked him out in the crowd, she would think he was just a simple guy with a boring background.
He laughed as he recalled it “He was doing a photo shoot at the beach and I was out there trying to get some peace and quiet. I was at the ultimate low, no where to go and nobody to depend on. There were a few scattered wires connected to the cameral and other props. I noticed that a few people had tripped over them and thought to myself it was a hazard. Thinking maybe I should warn them, I walked over and at the same time someone had really tripped over the wires and took down a few lights with him. I pushed Kyle out of the way before it could hit him. He was so grateful that he insisted on buying me lunch. I declined but he was very persistent.”
“Yeah, I know.” She rolled her eyes.
“I told him I had no place to go and he offered me his home. For months he didn’t care that I had no money to pay for the rent. I went through phases to look for different jobs but it seemed every one that I chose, it had something to do with the gangster life. Someone was always collecting money for their territory. It took me too long to get out and I wasn’t about to start getting involved with it again.”
“Oh, is that why you got involved with politics? I’m sure gangsters aren’t interested in government stuff.” She finally put the pieces together.
He nodded “It’s hard trying to be an intellectual.”
“You pull it off well.” Anesa punched him on the arm lightly.
“Thanks.” He smiled “Do me a favor.”
“Sure.” She quickly agreed.
“Don’t tell anyone about our conversation.” He wasn’t sure if he could trust her but he had no choice. She saw the tattoo.
Anesa was reluctant, she wasn’t use to hiding things from Travis “What if people found out on their own?”
“Then it’s not your fault.” He said logically “Who are you concern about?”
“Travis. We have this no secret pact thing…” she sighed “Its gonna be hard, but I think I can do it.”
Anton laughed as he opened a bottle of soda for her and himself “We’ll drink on it.”
“Okay!” they gulped down the drink together and talked until the early morning.
She came home at dawn and still didn’t feel exhausted. Anesa stopped at Travis’s room and snuck inside. She tilted her head adoringly, he was snoring quietly. Stepping closer to him, she began fixing his blanket and moved away some strands poking his forehead “TRAVIS!!!” she yelled suddenly.
He snapped upright “What? I’m up…” his eyes widened as he blinked away and turned to his crazy roommate. Her smile was wide “Oh…it’s just you.” Yawning, he began to lie back down but she whipped him back with her hand “Mommy, it’s Saturday.” He whined.
“I haven’t been home all night, don’t you care about me?” she asked innocently.
Travis’s eyes began to droop as they closed “Where did you go?” he managed to mumble.
“I got out of work and that freak Chris attacked me. He pulled me into an alley and almost raped me.” She said it lightly.
His eyes opened again “He raped you?!”
“Yes and I’m pregnant with his child.” She said flatly.
Travis frowned “Wait…you can’t…is this some kind of a joke again? I swear Anesa, I can’t take your made up stories anymore.”
“It’s the truth!” she insisted and showed him her wrists. He saw the red markings and she turned to show him her scratched back.
“Oh my God! Are you okay? He did try to rape you?” finally looking concerned after the proof was shown.
Anesa smiled at the reaction she was waiting for. Patting his head, she cooed “Aww, thanks one-day-late. I’m safe. Thanks to my new hero.” She sang dreamily and laid down on his queen size bed. Her hands behind her head as she stared at the ceiling with a goofy smile.
She was seldom giddy about any guy and it only gave him more reasons to pry “Who? Someone saved you?” She nodded without answer “Who was it? Do I know him?”
Grinning like a monkey, she nodded “Yup.”
“It’s too early for guessing games.” He yawned and fell on the bed next to her.
She giggled and turned to him “It’s Anton.” Raising a finger to her lips, she whispered, “Don’t tell anyone.”
His lips curled into a smile as he found it hard to contain the laughter inside. Her smile faded as he blew up with laughter “That’s a good one.”
“I’m serious! He’s a very…dangerous guy.” She said convincingly.
He raised a hand to stop her while wiping his tears with the other “No…stop. I can’t, I have to pee.” Rolling out of bed, he continued to laugh with a shaking head “Anton.” He stopped at the door and turned to her. Throwing his head back, he let out another trail of chuckles while she pouted.