A Painful Jog by Spidercrawlus
The relaxation now had me firmly in its grip, and I drew a deep breath to fill myself with that intangible feeling. You know the one, where exhilaration meets exhaustion when you're totally spent. I had just finished my five-mile jog, and as I started walking home I took off my soaking sweatshirt and wiped the dripping sweat off of my body. I was wearing my black lycra running tights and matching sports bra, but even as it started to get dark I wasn't worried about getting too cold because my apartment wasn't too far away.
I had just moved to town about two months ago and didn't know too many people, so I spent most of my spare time running and working out. All of the hard work was starting to pay off, and as I toweled myself off with my shirt I admired each body part I was drying. My arms were tight and toned, with a slightly rounded buffness of the biceps. I was especially proud of my midsection, as I now had a chiseled six-pack, the reward for my healthy diet, cardio, and countless sets of ab exercises. At 27 years old, 5'7" and 122lbs., I was definitely in the best shape of my life. If only the guys at my office could see me now, I thought to myself. I'm a junior attorney and work for a large, conservative firm, so I'm always wearing stuffy business suits with my dark, wavy hair pulled back. Not now, my soaking mop fell heavily on my shoulders. I was wiping my face as I entered the alley that led to my building about two blocks away when I was startled by a voice that came seemingly out of nowhere.
"We don't appreciate your kind around here, especially if you think you're too good to say hello." My pulse raced as a big, creepy guy emerged from the shadows.
"That's right, we don't like your kind at all, sweetie." Another voice came from behind me, and I turned to see another big, tough-looking hombre at the edge of the alley. I was temporarily frozen with fear and tried to use my deductive lawyer thinking to get me out of this potential mess. The area was pretty deserted at this time, so if I screamed, nobody would probably be around to hear it, and if they were, these guys would probably be on me before anyone heard it. I couldn't run, the alley was too narrow, so either way, I went one of the big goons would easily trap me. I decided to try and talk my way into an opening, and when I got a chance, I'd bolt.
I was thinking about what they said, "you're kind", and wondered what they meant by that. Were they racist? I am of Lebanese descent and have dark hair and olive skin. Maybe they were militant gay and didn't like this scantily clad female hard body running around their turf. As the guy in front of me closed in, I knew I had to act fast, so I put on my biggest stupid grin, coyly tilted my head, and took my chance. "Hey, I'm new around here and don't....".
"OOOOMMMMPPHHHH!!" I never got a chance to finish, as he nailed me with a straight right punch to the belly. It landed almost directly on my navel, and even though I have a washboard for a midsection, it was no match for this bruiser's punch. I dropped to my knees, furiously gasping for air as my hands reflexively flew to my stomach.
I felt my arms powerfully pulled behind me as I was yanked to my feet. The creep behind me locked me in a full nelson, painfully arching my back and pushing my head down and to the left, almost forcing my nose into the dark shadow of two-day stubble in my armpit. "HHOOOUGH!!",
"UUULLLGGGGGHH!!" Two more shots, this time to either side of my reddening belly button.
"I think she likes this, she feels friendlier already", the guy holding me laughed at his friend as I struggled for air. A sharp, burning pain filled my insides, and it was as if I could almost feel the bruises forming.
"No, she needs some more. This is a real friendly part of the city, and we want to give here an appropriate welcome." This was the big idiot's reply as he dropped another right hand on me, this one just below my navel on the waistband of my tights.
"OOOOHHHHPPPPHHHHH"!!!!! That one shook me all the way through, and I wanted so desperately to fall but the guy holding me had such a tight lock I couldn't budge. Two, three, four, five, I lost count as he cut loose on my battered gut with punch after punch. I thought I might never breathe again, I had lost all feeling in my lungs, but there was no more fear, just pain.
I think I didn't pass out due to sheer willpower and the fear of what they might do to me if I was unconscious "WHAAAP!" A vicious slap across my cheek forced my head down further. The sting had barely settled in when I got another one. "WHAAAP!" This one caught me on the lip, and I could feel a trickle on my chin as well as taste blood in my mouth.
"She's a tough little *****, isn't she? I've got something special saved up for her." My punisher snickered to his friend right as he delivered the hardest punch of all, a left uppercut that landed right in the middle of my stomach, sank in deep, and penetrated in an arc to what felt like my throat.
"OOWWWWUUUUNNNMMMMMFFFF!" The sheer impact lifted me up, and I felt like time froze and I was all alone with my agony. With that, the second creep released his hold on me, and I fell face-first onto the ground.
The cold asphalt embraced me, and as my body tried desperately to fill itself with air, I got a hard kick to the ribs. "AAAAUUUNNNHHHH!!!" This turned me almost over on my back, but I settled as a bloody, coughing, crumpled heap on my side with my legs pulled up as far as they could go. With a buzzing in my ears I could hear the two slowly walking away, fearless of any repercussions of what they had done, laughing and saying something along the lines of "Arab girls can't fight, they should be nicer to strangers."
It must have been fifteen or twenty minutes that I just lay in that awkward position, coughing and gasping. I eventually crawled over to the wall on one side of the alley and leaned my back against it. I held my ribs with one hand and gently covered my already purple and red belly with the other. As the burning and sharpness turned into a dull, throbbing pain, I laughed weakly at the strange euphoria I started to feel, almost like that sensation when I had finished jogging. Endorphins work in such a strange way, I thought to myself! So much for my nightly workout, and what a belated welcome to the neighborhood!'