Witness Protection ✔

It was almost 4 o’clock on a Tuesday morning and the streets of Memphis were cold and empty. Snow softly fell from the heavens coating everything in a thin white layer and muting the ever-present background noise of city life.

Walking along the well-lit sidewalk was a girl, wrapped up in a coat that was too big for her small frame and a knit beanie that threatened to fall over her brown eyes. Her dark brown hair caught the falling snowflakes, preserving them perfectly as it was too cold for the snow to melt.

Occasionally a car would drive by, illuminating the street even further. In this particular instance, the headlights shone brightly into her eyes, making her look away.

Turning her head to the right she saw a reflection of herself in the window of a shop. A strong 19-year-old woman looked back at her.

If only my parents could see me now, she thought, they’d be proud of this life I’ve made for myself.

She snapped out of her thoughts as the car sped past and the reflection was replaced by the trinkets and souvenirs in the shop window.

Along the trinkets was a small miniature clock tower, telling her it was 4 am already and she was going to be late for work.

Nathalia considered herself to be a model employee. She’d never been late once and wasn’t going to start now.

She decided to take a little shortcut, winning her the 5 minutes that would make the difference between being late and being on time. Turning the corner into the back alleys, she left the well-lit main street behind. She had to be careful not to fall over the trash bags that littered the alley but she knew the way by heart and thus the lack of light didn’t bother her much.

Until she heard male voices ahead of her.

Realizing a back alley in the early morning hours was not a good place to run into a group of men, she hid behind one of the large green trashcans in the hopes the men would leave soon so she’d be at the hotel she worked at on time.

She was far away enough for the men to not have noticed her presence, yet she was close enough to hear the conversation the men were having.

“I’m telling you, Sergio, I don’t know what happened. Please. Leave me alone, please! I have a wife and a child now. I left the family! It’s none of my business anymore!” she heard a man sob.

This confused her, what were they talking about? Were they threatening the man? She had never heard a grown man cry before.

“Nobody leaves the family, you know this, Abi,” another man stated calmly.

“I did! Enzo gave me his blessing, he--”

“Enzo doesn’t get to decide that. This is your last chance, Abi. Be a smart man and just tell us.”

“I don’t know,” the man sobbed, “Please don’t. Dino, please, we’re friends.”

“You betrayed us, and you know the price that needs to be paid for that.”

The conversation halted and the only thing Nathalia heard was a soft sobbing, none of the men speaking at this time.

Serious as the conversation sounded, Nathalia couldn’t help but think about a movie she saw recently, The Godfather. The way these men talked about the family made her think this entire conversation came straight out of a mafia movie. But that was ridiculous, mafia men in Memphis? Not in a million years.

Maybe they’re just watching a movie together on one of their phones, like in Home Alone where Kevin plays a movie out loud to scare the intruders. The very idea she might’ve been tricked by a group of men just watching a movie almost made her giggle.

Until she heard a very loud, and very real bang.

Her heart was pounding in her ears now, that didn’t just happen. That couldn’t have happened.

She heard the footsteps of the men running away until she heard nothing at all. Not even the light sobbing of the man called Abi.

Gathering all the courage she could muster, she slowly dared to peek around the trashcan that had hidden her.

There, on the ground, illuminated by a single emergency exit sign laid a man.

Around him, snow stained a deep crimson red, and she knew her life had just changed forever.