How I Caught My Attacker and Retrieved My Belongings

¶ … Forget On a bright and shining Saturday morning, I awoke, rushed to get dressed, put on my gold chain (and other accessories) and felt excited to get to school to see my friends Sarah and Samantha! When I met up with them, we found that class had been canceled for the day. This was unexpected! We decided to spend the day together and immediately began making plans. The three of us had always wanted to visit the flower garden deep in the heart of Georgetown.

The flower garden was a magnificent vault of wonderful, natural beauty that made possible all the local flower industry's floral arrangements for weddings, birthdays and funerals. It would be a great time, for sure -- and we felt so happy and relaxed to have a break from class and the opportunity to explore local culture. Deep in Georgetown, everyone was friendly. There were people all over the place, sitting, dancing, eating at the local delis and restaurants, and generally enjoying the beautiful day.

We purchased some lunch and headed towards a big, tall tree way in the back of a park. We thought this would be a perfect place to enjoy our lunch and to watch the fun. While we were diving into our food, we noticed something out of the ordinary. A tall, ragged looking man with big, red eyes was pacing back and forth a few yards off.

He seemed to be muttering to himself as though he were having a conversation way down deep in the back of his mind and couldn't make up which way the conversation was going. I watched him for a minute but felt that everything was okay because, after all, it was such a nice day and everyone was so happy. Nonetheless, I kept having a sneaking feeling that something was wrong with the tall man nearby.

My friends did not appear to be too worried and soon we were relaxing, laying back and reading books. I looked up and saw that the tall man with big, red eyes was still around -- only now he was holding a bunch of flowers in his hand and walking straight towards me. I stood up -- not because I expected to receive the flowers or because he looked like a suitor. On the contrary, he looked very strong and aggressive. There was nothing friendly in his face.

The moment I stood, I became very numb, unable to move or do or say anything. The man was so close now, I could feel something terrible was about to happen! His big, red eyes were holding straight on me and then -- suddenly -- in a flash, he leapt. The flowers disappeared and in their place was a long, sharp, pointed knife. He caught me because I was too paralyzed from fear to run.

He put the knife right at my neck and twisted my head so that my neck was more exposed. With his other hand, he reached up and with one heavy pull he tore away my gold chain. I felt the pain that having the chain torn from my neck caused -- and then I felt the pain in my stomach as the man hit me there. I collapsed, and he began to run.

Seeing him flee, I suddenly felt emboldened and responsive! He was a coward -- and I am no weakling. I lifted my head and screamed, and suddenly my friends and I were full of audacity: we took off after him! So there were the three of us -- we girls chasing after a big, strong armed man, who had already once attacked and robbed me. You would think others in the park would notice and give chase too -- but no one did! We did it all by ourselves.

In order to catch up to him, we split up and went different ways. I saw my attacker hop a fence and I sped up, determined to catch him and get back what belonged to me! I took a running leap over the fence and then another even bigger jump to catch him. My body was doing all the work, reacting all on its own -- I did not even stop to think.

It was all happening so fast! I hit him in the face, which must have caught him off guard, because he fell down. I pounced and hit him everywhere, flailing my arms like airplane propellers, driving them into his head and back and stomach -- and my voice was screaming, roaring like an airplane's engine! Yet, still, no one came to help! -- except, of course, my friends who were now right behind me. As soon as they arrived, they helped pin the man to the ground as I searched.