Chapter 1: A Life without Love

It was one of those days that everything that could go wrong had, it seemed like Los Angeles was determined to chew her up and spit her out." But when is that anything different?" Anna grumbled as she gripped the grocery bags tighter to her chest.

"Of course" she muttered with a curse as one of the bags split. She pushed a strand of long red hair back behind an ear and tried to juggle the grocery bags. She really needed to sneak past her landlord's apartment.

"Holy Sh87!" She hissed quietly as the other bag ripped. She sighed, her blue eyes watchful as she stepped around a pile of trash bags. She did not have the money to pay her rent and she knew her landlord liked to collect in other ways.

"Anna," a cold snakelike voice wheezed from the shadows, "can we talk?"

"Mr. Droshky! She said with a gasp barely holding onto her bags as he stepped from underneath the burned out bulb "Can it wait till tomorrow? "I just worked a double and I am dead tired."

"Mr. Droshky was my father," he said with a tisk as he fingered a lock of her red hair, "Call me Nico. We need to talk about the rent."

"I can have it by the end of this week when I get paid." Anna cringed, knowing she was lying. She plastered on a fake smile and held the seams of her bags together.

"Why worry about getting paid?" he laughed softly as he stepped closer. She could smell the sweat coming off him mixing with his imitation Stetson cologne. Anna shivered in revulsion. "Maybe," he said slowly as his eyes examined her breasts "we can make some other kind of arrangement."

"I don't think so" she said as she pulled her hair out of his slimy grasp.

"Aww come on," he huffed "I can be real gentle." Anna doubted that seriously.

"I think I'll stick to paying my bills the old fashioned way." She said as she pushed past him and approached the stairs quickly.

"Your loss" he hollered after her, licking his lips and rubbing his belly as he walked back toward his apartment "Let me know if you change your mind, I'll be waiting." Anna shivered and hurried up the stairs still feeling his eyes on her.

"What a hell hole" she thought to herself as she tried to ignore the roach that scuttled off as the light came on. She put her bags down and opened the fridge putting her meager groceries inside. She wiped her hands on her jeans and sat down heavily letting her head slap into her hands.

"Maybe I can sell my ring, that should keep me afloat for a few months."

Anna did not want to open that can of worms, there were too many painful memories there. Despite the voice in her head screaming for her to stop, she went to the sugar bowl and pulled out the three carat ring and band that hid there.

"I wonder how much you would be worth?" Anna asked the ring as she slid it on her hand and watched it sparkle.

The sound of a floor board creaking alerted her first. She had no pets and the rats that sometimes scuttled around were not big enough to cause the floor boards to creak. Anna's breath caught in her throat and she suddenly wished she'd gotten that dog her friend had suggested.

"Mr. Dhronsky?" she called out in a low voice, almost mad at herself for hoping it was him.

There was no reply and Anna slid out of the kitchen trying to be careful to avoid the light from outside. If someone was in her apartment she had to give them as little information about where she was as possible. She started toward the door as the sound of quiet breathing that was not her own sounded in the room. It seemed loud in the harsh silence almost as if they were holding their breath.

They knew she was there.

Anna made a break for the door as fast as her converse covered sneakers would take her. The intruder loomed in front of her suddenly coming out of the darkness like a phantom.

"NO!" she screamed as hands reached for her. She kicked out and connected with her attacker's leg as she pushed away. She could see the light from the hall, could taste safety but it seemed further away the more she ran toward it. Her breathing was harsh but she knew she had to get out.

"Help! Please help!" she screamed loudly as she ran for the door.

"Not so fast" a gravelly voice crooned as another shadow loomed in front of her cutting her off from the door.

"HELP! She screamed louder as he lunged toward her. She managed to dodge but then She felt the rush of air as a heavy bag swung at her head. She tried to duck, but it connected and she hit the floor with a sickening thud.

"I'm going to die." She thought sadly as a roach scuttled across the floor as the blows rained down on her and she watched the world go dark.