On Thursday at precisely six pm, ten-year-old Agnes Darby raced out of her house in high spirits. She was meeting up with her good friends Adelaide and Daphne at the old birch tree. The trio was going to the cinema, as the new Audrey Hepburn film had finally reached their theater. Agnes could barely contain her excitement and she almost forgot to count a number of steps to the tree. Two hundred and forty-seven. Good. Leaning against the knobby tree, she chewed on her jean jacket hem and glanced around at her surroundings. A row of colorful houses with various sizes, an alleyway with gloomy shadows, and some ethnic stores and restaurants producing the most mouthwatering smells. Agnes felt her stomach growling and silently prayed for Adelaide …show more content…
No sooner had she spun the nut, a foot stomped down on it, startling her. She slowly looked up and saw a lanky man looking down his nose at her. His hair was dirty blonde and he had hard green eyes. His nose looked smushed like it had been broken previously, and his grin was one that scared her like no other. The man closed his toothy smile and continued staring. “Is there something you need sir?” asked Agnes in a quiet voice. She transitioned to her knees, then slowly rocked onto the balls of her feet, set on edge and ready to run. The man reached into his back pocket and briskly pulled out a gun. Agnes stopped her movement. “Give me all your money and then turn around and count to one hund-.” The dangerous stranger was quickly cut off by a gray object that barely missed his previously broken nose. Agnes whipped around to see who had thrown the mysterious object and was met with a young Hispanic girl, not older than her, clutching a slingshot in one hand and a good-sized rock in the other. The girl reloaded and set another rock loose in the path of the man. This one hit its target. The man was struck in the stomach by the rock and let out a