Yesterday I was invited out with my friends to go drinking. A lot of people were at the bars due to Saint Patrick's Day falling on a Friday. I’m still recovering from what happened, so please forgive any minor mistakes you may find in this post.

I had gone through a rough year, and everyone knew it. I wanted an excuse to drink. My friends wanted me to get out of the house. They found a loud local bar to waste the night away. Due to how many disgusting green bears they drank, they forgot about why they wanted me to relax a little. A group of girls showed up and my friends thought it was a good idea to try and get their attention. I think those girls humored them for the free drinks. When the boys started pressuring me to go home with one of the more attentive women in the group, I excused myself to the washroom.

I paid my tab and left. I doubted anyone would miss me. I also doubted anyone would go home with me that night. But the thought of it actually happening made me sick. I wanted nothing to do with another person after such a recent breakup. My wife had left me two months ago, and I didn’t blame her. Hell, I blamed myself for everything. I didn’t think I should be happy even if it was only for a night.

I’ve always penny-pinched when able. Instead of taking a cab or even a bus home, I started walking back to my place. After all, I was a guy walking alone at night. There had never been an issue with being alone on the streets before. The main streets were a bit busy with the parties spilling outside the bars because the weather finally warmed up a little.

I turned into an alleyway I’d walked down a hundred times before. Saving a few minutes was worth walking somewhere with a lack of eyes in case something happened. I never expected trouble. When I heard a voice behind me, I wasn’t afraid. Just confused if they were speaking to me.

“I smell that you’re carrying something I want.” A raspy voice came at my back.

I stopped and turned to see two figures making their way closer. One of them was short, maybe half my height. The other stood taller than myself. He was skinny as hell, so neither appeared threatening. Both wore black hoodies that kept their faces hidden. I made a move to ignore them, but the taller of the pair pulled out a knife from the hoodie pocket. A stained one that appeared to have been used before.

My body froze, my brain unable to process what to do. I could have made a run for it, but the one guy had such long legs. I could catch up and gut myself before I made it ten steps. I fumbled in my pocket to pull out my wallet. I thanked God I didn’t bring along any cards so I wouldn’t overspend that night. I removed an important photo and tossed the wallet at their feet with only a few bucks inside.

“That’s all I have.” I said while slowly backing up.

I thought I was in the clear. They stopped and I saw a smile of twisted teeth shine in the dark. The short one kicked the wallet aside, not caring about it.

“No. Not that. I smell something else. Something precious...”

His raspy voice gave me the creeps. A chill went down my spine. I should have been able to kick this guy clear across the alleyway and yet my body reacted as if I was in front of a predator.

“I don’t know...” I spoke and found my voice shaking.

He raised a hand with a long-gnarled finger. A cracked sharp nail pointed at my neck. On reflex, I reached up to grasp the small gold locket on a thin chain. I refused to give it up. But it had been hidden under my jacket. How the hell did he know it was there? I shook my head and started to get ready to run for it.

“Give it to me.” The short one said, hand out as if he expected me to really hand over something so important.

I shook my head harder wondering if my drink somehow got spiked.

“I cannot take gold from humans. It must be freely offered. That issue plagued my existence for years. However, I realized something... You cannot own anything if you’re dead.”

We all moved at the same time after he finished speaking. He snapped his fingers, and I started running. The tall one took off after me and I was wrong, I made it five steps before he knocked me to the ground. The wind got knocked out of me. I tried to yell for help, but nothing came. With crazy strength, I was rolled on my back. The other man sat on my chest and held my left wrist in his hand. I struggled without any results. My free hand did nothing to get him off.

I didn’t see the knife, which made me feel slightly better. I looked around the alleyway to try and locate a weapon or anything useful. I only saw a dumpster, and a fire escape ladder too high up to reach. I didn’t get a good look at my attacker’s face. Only that he also had sharp teeth. With a crazy grin, he grabbed my pinky and pulled. A pop echoed through between the buildings followed by my cries of pain.

I stared horrified at how far back he bent my finger. My stomach turned making me nearly get sick. My entire body froze up when he reached the next finger. The snap louder this time. I screamed not caring about something as worthless as dignity. No amount of biting and scratching got him to move. If I just handed over the locket, I wouldn’t have to go through this pain. And yet, I refused. I would rather die than do so. That started to look like a very good possibility.

The knife finally came out. The sharp blade pressed against the bottom of my middle finger. I froze up staring in horror at my already broken fingers and the gleaming metal so close to the last few good ones. He changed his mind at the last second. Instead of cutting off my middle finger, he bent down to bite off my index one with those sharp teeth.

Blood droplets splattered across my face as I started screaming again. Tears came to my eyes right away with a flood of blood pouring down my hand. I thought I was going to die from that wound. The bastard smiled at my pain, his mouth colored a deep red. My head grew dizzy from the sight of so much blood. His mouth opened again so wide he seemed like he might bite off my entire hand.

I thought what I saw next was some sort of hallucination brought on by the blood loss. Someone came charging down the fire escape above us. They easily landed on the wet alley pavement, a long weapon in their hand. The man sitting on my chest dodged the attack by half an inch. He leaped away; limbs contorted in a way for him to start scuttling around on the ground like an insect.

I sat up and backed against a wall while holding my bleeding hand. I didn’t believe what I was seeing. A young woman stood wearing a green dress under a long open duster. Her dress was cut up along her sides to her upper thighs so her legs could move freely. She somehow climbed and landed perfectly fine on platform leather boots. Her face clear of any makeup, letting her countless freckles show through. Lon red hair was tied up in a messy bun already falling out. I stared at the weapon in her hand. She held a very long-handled hammer. She flipped it once as the thing that attacked me charged her.

She ducked letting the creature sail over her head and slam into the wall above us. It turned on a dime to jump down towards her. She didn’t duck the second time due to her hair falling out of the bun and getting in her face. The creature left a long deep cut along her right arm, which she raised to block the attack to her face. It jumped away again, clinging to the wall.

I shouted out a warning as the creature jumped towards her again. This time she turned on her heel and put all her power into a swing that hit its target. I watched stunned as the creature took a blunt end of a hammer to the face. His body slammed into the steel dumpster sideways hard enough to dent the bin and stay embedded inside the metal. The long limbs fell limp.

She turned her attention towards the short figure who tried to run away. The smaller legs didn’t make fast enough progress. She caught up and brought her hammer down once on his head. It pinned the small man to the ground, green fluid exploding outwards from his hoodie. Again, I stared in shock as the body faded into a patch of overgrown clovers with his clothing left behind.

She finally stood up to face me. Her arm was dripping with blood and sweat on her face. I expected a stern or imitating expression. Instead, she smiled brightly as if we were long-lost friends meeting again.

“Do you know where the central bus stop is?” She asked in a cheerful tone.

My mouth dropped open. I did know where it was, but wasn’t in any kind of state to speak. She noticed my bleeding hand and decided to go over to see how bad it was.

“We should patch you up first. Hang on.”

She sat in front of me on her knees and pulled her black belt around to show a pouch she had hidden. Within a few seconds, she started to take out bandages and other small medical items.

“Your arm...” I pointed out in a weak voice thinking she should deal with that first.

She stopped and glanced down at it. Her face confused for a second, then she brightened up.

“Neat! That’ll leave a cool scar. Anyway, I think I can just pop your fingers back in.” She commented as she reached over.

“What?” I asked before I screamed again.

Within two seconds she pulled my dislocated fingers back into place. I thought they were broken and might have preferred it if they were. To her credit, my reaction didn’t faze her in the slightest. She almost as quickly wrapped up my bleeding stump.

“I would cut his stomach open to get your finger back, but they have acid spit. I’m afraid your finger is gone.” She explained all while smiling as if she said was normal.

“What... What are those two and who are you? Doesn’t your arm hurt at all?” I said, feeling as if I might break at any second.

“I'm Lilly. I have a high pain tolerance. My cramps each month hurt more than this, and for those two. I think the skinny one was a run-of-the-mill creature with no species name. And the short one was a False Leprechaun.” Lilly said with a shrug.

She finished what she could for my hand and started to fix up her arm. I reached over to hold her torn jacket sleeve but felt sick over the blood.

“Why is he a False Leprechaun?” I asked trying to keep my mind off what happened.

“Well, humans named them a Leprechaun because of the gold greed and green blood. He didn't even have an accent. I don’t think I’ve even seen a real Leprechaun, but I they’re much different than this thing. So, a False one.”

My head was swimming. I didn't believe in this stuff. My wife did. And my lack of belief added to the reason why we ended up splitting up.

“So, what are you? Some sort of half-human hunter that tracks down monsters in the dark? It explained why you came charging down from above.” I asked, still feeling weak.

She tilted her head and then shook it. Her messy hair stuck to her face causing her to spit out a few strands.

“I’m human. People thought my dad was a werewolf. But he was just really hairy. And I’m a freelancer. I don’t agree with some principles of the two companies that hunt down monsters. I just work for whoever pays me. Oh, this wasn’t a job. I figured you needed help. I was on top of the building because I got lost and wanted to try and spot the bus stop at a better viewpoint.” Lilly said as she stood and put her long weapon over her shoulder.

“Don’t you have a cellphone? You could have just looked it up on Google maps.” I offered.

She reached into her coat pocket to bring out a perfectly working cellphone with a few cracks in the case.

“Google has maps?” She asked clueless.

She was a bit ditzy, but I owed her my life. I was weak on my feet but was able to stand up to walk with her to the end of the alleyway. She called an ambulance for me, and I showed her how to use the maps app so she wouldn’t get lost again. Lilly gave me her number just so I could send her a text saying I got to the hospital in one piece.

“How come you didn’t just give up whatever gold you had?” Lilly asked as we waited.

We must be an odd sight. But tonight was busy with drunks and a lot of bar fights. We may not stand out in certain crowds.

“He wanted the locket that belonged to my daughter.” I said, the words causing a hard lump in my throat.

My dear daughter, I wanted her to get old enough to wear the locket that had been passed down through my family. An illness struck. No amount of praying to God saved her. My wife refused to accept that and blamed me for my lack of faith with our daughter's death. I accepted that hatred. I wanted her to be angry at someone. I didn't know how people dealt with not being able to direct their anger toward something.

“I think she would have wanted her father to stay alive. Your life isn’t worth a memory. If I came around, the world would have lost a lot of what she left behind.” Lilly replied but her tone wasn’t cruel.

I looked down at her with so many conflicting emotions. In someone else’s hands, this locket was just gold. To me, it held memories of my daughter holding it with her small hands and me promising I would give it to her before she even knew what I was saying. If I died, those memories would die as well. I saw the ambulance at the same time as Lilly. She started walking away not wanting the attention. I didn’t know what to say in case the police got involved. I had an entire ride to the hospital to figure it out.

“Take care of yourself!” I called after her.

Lilly turned while walking to wave goodbye. She tripped over a cracked part of the sidewalk, nearly twisting her ankle. Without breaking her smile, she recovered and disappeared around the corner.

I was lucky she was so nearby. Without her help, I would be torn apart by now. At least now I understand that staying alive was more important than items. If I ever got in the same kind of situation again, I can give up any physical object to stay alive. My life is the only thing I’ll never get back. I need to take care of it a little bit better.