It was the urge of a cigarette that beckoned me out to the alley. The salon was dead today; it was all this talk about rain. Rain has always scared these LA people. I welcome the fresh feeling rain brings, it’s like a chance to wash away all your sins and start fresh. I walked out the back door, into the dimly lit alley, greeted with the smell of a locker room, the over whelming stench of damp moldy socks was barely tolerable.

A quick glance around I saw nothing. It was the chill that went up my spine that told me someone was watching. I closed my eyes letting the next best sense take over. Hearing nothing, at first I started to think I was paranoid, but there it was so faint I almost didn’t catch it. Quickly opening my eyes I took inventory of my surroundings. It was long, narrow and open ended, with several doors leading into the surrounding businesses, over running dumpsters filled with garbage, lined both sides. There were too many hiding places to know exactly where the noise came from. All I knew was that it came from my left and that’s were most, if not all, my attention was focused on.

Flight or fight, the adrenaline was coursing through my veins and a decision was about to be made. I stood tall and puffed out my chest and backed myself up against the cold door, my body facing towards the noise. I waited holding my breath hoping I was just using that active imagination I sometimes have, but who was I kidding?? I knew it, felt it, never had my perception deceived me. Still I couldn’t help wonder why the ***** I was still standing out here. Any sane person would have busted the door down trying to get back inside. Was there flight mixed in with the fight that had me glued to this spot? My inner thoughts must have been clouding my mind, as the next noise was louder and right next to me.