KISS

She bit her lip to stifle a shriek as a very large rodent ran across her path.

                In the half-light of dusk, she could clearly see the wriggling maggots that infested the bit of meat that was dangling from the rat’s mouth as it scurried towards the wet darkness of the gutters that was littered with a stew of unnamable morsels of waste.  The stench of the alley where she was lay thick like invisible mist all around her; an odor that somehow simmered all the perfume of excrement, rot, and decay that was evident everywhere she could suffer a glance.  Thankfully, it was getting darker by the second.  Somehow, she could forget where she was if not of the aroma that permeated even her newly washed, if torn clothing.

                But she did not want to forget.  She came with a purpose.

                She took a careful step forward and stopped.  With trembling fingers, she used her fingers to settle a few strands of unruly hair on the top of the head; the rest of her waist-length hair lay still in a tight and neat braid across her back, falling straight like a limp snake between her bottom.   With obvious nervousness, she tried to straighten the creases of the thin cotton blouse she was wearing; failing to make even an inch flat.  She took a deep breath, oblivious now to the sickening smell and took careful, measured steps forward. 

                A crash sounded behind her! 

                Surprised, she almost ran back the way she came but looking back behind her, she saw that it was but a piece of some misshapen metal that a scavenger had disturbed from the multiple piles that decorated the darkening alley.  The sound reminded her how afraid she was, bringing back a similar alley hundreds of miles away where as a young girl she ran and hid from people that were worst than the rats and crashes of this alley where she now finds herself. Nevertheless, tears came unbidden and streamed unchecked across her pale cheeks.  Once more, she stifled a sob.  She has a purpose.  Unthinking, she reached behind her and took the tip of her braid as if it could somehow give her the strength to proceed.

                She took a hesitant step forward; and another, and another. 

                The alley turned into another alley.  But this one was a little cleaner, though by then it was closer to night that she did not really notice any change, except of the fresher whiff of air that blew across her face.  Still stale, but fresher.  Beneath her slippered feet are course bricks darkened by neglect and grime; the walls to her sides were of similar make.  Directly in front of her, several meters away is a heavy door that she could barely make out in the darkening hour. 

                She stepped towards the entrance.  From within she could barely make out the sound of shuffling, of people moving slowly but sounds of life nonetheless.  She heaved a sigh.  She is so near her destination.  But a few steps more. 

                She took courage suddenly. An ounce of adrenaline that she did not know she had left in her; her feet barely making the faintest sound on the stone floor.

                The shadows of the high walls fell into the entrance door.  She knew there was some sort of knob that she needed to turn to enter, so she reached out anxious hands to open the door when she felt the warm blow of wind behind her.  She stiffened with fear, her hands pausing mere inches from the door handle that she could barely see.

                “What’s a girl like you doing here?” came the gruff voice behind her, causing the short, fine hairs on her nape to stand up. 

                “I…I… just want to see my mother!” she stammered, never looking behind her.

                She felt rough, calloused hands hold her chin almost tenderly like a caress and turned her head to make her face the man that was there suddenly as if born of the darkness.  He was tall, not much taller than her slight, lanky frame but taller still and to her fear filled eyes, he looked like a giant.  He was looking deep into her eyes, the thumb that was on her left cheek moving in a slow stroke. 

                “Please…” she pleaded.

                She could suddenly smell the cloyingly sweet odor of his rotting molars as he breathed warm air into her face.  She wanted to gag but she swallowed back the bile that rose from her stomach.  Slowly, he grabbed at the base of her neat braid and tilted her head to peer at her better, lowering his face into her.  She flinched but when she felt his strong fingers grip her hair harder she closed her eyes as he bent closer to kiss her.

                She held her breath as she felt his lips touch hers tasting the faint viscous taste of pus from his swollen gums.  She wanted to scream but she knew she could not.  He was just one of numerous guards that waited on hapless visitors to the detained innocents that lived behind the door in front of them; one of them her mother whom she has not seen in months.  She wanted to puke but what she had could mean her mother’s life.

                The tongue that forced upon her virgin lips were slimy.  With one defiant move, she forced her lips closed making the hand behind her head grip her braids harder once more; sending the hidden packets of medicine and bits of food that she has hidden among the carefully made braids on the brick floor.

                “What are these?” the man’s voice suddenly rose as he realized what she was trying to do. 

                “Please,” she pleaded once more as the man grabbed her hair and forced more of the hidden things to appear.

                She was trembling all over.  The man smiled a cruel grin as he grabbed her shoulders and forced her on the wall.

                She screamed, rage and frustration taking over as she realized what he was about to do.  She never wanted to do it again but she needed to save her captive mother.  Tears fell from eyes that were slowly glowing an unearthly crimson in the dark of the night.  She tasted blood in her mouth, as her incisors lengthened into points.  She waited for him to come closer as she knew he will for the rape that he thought was now his but she was waiting.

                He was surprised by her welcoming embrace.  But nobody heard his stifled moan of pain as she bit on his neck tasting her first taste of indio blood.  They were but two embracing shadows.

                In the morning, they found the guard.  Sprawled on the ground, his eyes still staring into the darkness of death, his body dry of blood and the door right behind him, ripped from its hinges.  Empty.

                She has saved her mother, and some of their other brethrens.  They are out there waiting for the next kiss.