The young girl poked her head around the corner of the crumbling building behind her, which was located by a dark alleyway.  Was he gone?  The girl dared not breathe.  She looked at her surroundings in fear.  She couldn’t see or hear any sign of him at all.  Maybe she had lost him.  The girl held her breath, looking one last time into the fog, still, seeing nothing.  The coast was clear.  She let out her breath in a huff, and turned, slamming right into a tall, dark figure that towered over her.  She looked up in horror.  How had he just appeared?!  She had to run.  She felt color drain from her face, and tried to move.  She couldn’t; her feet felt as if she’d been superglued to the ground.  In fact, her entire body had gone completely rigid.  She tried not to let her nerves drive out any rational sense in her being.  The little girl opened her mouth to scream.  Not a sound came out.  Silence.  Utter silence ensued.  The man just stared at her, silent, watching her with evil intent.  She took a deep breath, stepped backwards slightly, and made a run for it.  She didn’t know why the man was after her, he just was.  Her feet flew over the wet cobblestones, the small rocks flying in the air behind her.  She came to a sudden halt as a pain erupted in her shin.  The man had kicked her!  She fell to her knees and began to cry.  The man gently picked her up, so as not to look suspicious, the girl supposed.  He carried her back to the dark alley and hurled her down to the ground.  She crawled away from him; she had to get away.  She didn’t get very far; the man grabbed her and began to strangle her, holding her up in the air with one hand.  She was trapped; there was no escape.  She was going to die.  The girl fought for breath, struggling in his viselike grip, to no avail.  He was too strong.  She tried to call out for help, but that only resulted in the man squeezing her throat tighter, forcing whatever air remained in her esophagus to exit in a vigorous manner.  Death was near.  It was almost as if Death itself was standing, and watching everything taking place.  As the girl prepared to draw one of her final breaths, a dog came, gracefully bounding to her aid.  The dog leaped in the air, teeth bared, and tackled the man, who let go of the girl.  Dog and man toppled backwards, onto the hard pavement.  The girl sat up, stunned.  She looked over at the dog dazedly.  The girl was fazed.  Everything was seeming fuzzy.  The dog let out a sharp bark and she snapped back to reality: on the ground, bleeding, and needing to get away from the man before she got killed.  She shook her head and got to her knees.  The dog barked again, growling, and flashing its teeth.  The man reached for something in his coat pocket.  The girl assumed it wasn’t a treat.  Her assumption was instantly correct as she saw the gleam of a bloodstained knife glinting in the dark light of the alley.  In one swift movement, almost like lightning, the man plunged the knife into the dog’s ribcage, slicing it to expose the lungs.  The dog let out a pained yelp, struggling.  The whites of its eyes flashed in fear.  The man ripped the knife away from the dog, and began to yank the ribs from the dog’s body, snapping them and tossing them.  The girl sank back on her haunches, mortified and the blood and gore before her.  The man reached for a lung and began to squeeze it, toying with it almost.  The man seemed to be almost mesmerized with the pink of the lungs. He stopped what he was doing and looked at the girl who was too terrified to blink or breathe.
“I’m surprised you aren’t running.”  he said.  The girl couldn’t reply.  She was in shock.  The man grabbed the heart, holding it in his hand, and wrenched it from the chest cavity.  The heart let out a burst of blood from being removed and went still.  The dog lay, dead, and torn apart.  The man smiled at the bloody heart, some of the blood trickling down his forearm and dripping on the ground.  She fell forwards, catching herself and vomited. She couldn’t hold it back any longer and let the upchuck spew from her mouth.  She began to pant with exhaustion from the upheaval of bile.  Finally, she stopped and took a breath.  She lay on the ground, barely strong enough to pull herself a few feet away from the man.  She felt a sharp pain from her back and turned.  A knife protruded from right below her chest cavity.  She groaned and sagged back down to the ground.  The man grabbed her ankles and dragged her farther into the alleyway.  Then, he grabbed the back of her coat and lifted her to her feet, setting her on a ledge, propping her up so he could see her.  The man took his knife and pressed it against the girl’s neck, drawing blood.  The blade had a stinging sensation, but she had already given up.  She knew it was the end for her.  All she could do was wait to see the white light and pass away.  The knife dug deeper into her skin and she coughed.  A gurgling noise came from deep within her throat and blood began to trickle from her lips, running down her chin onto her dress.  She began to gasp for air, as blood filled her bronchial tubes, shutting off her airway completely.  The man suddenly dropped the knife and doubled over.  He let out an outraged yell of pain, clutching his left arm and chest, sinking to the ground like a rock before dying.  The girl watched with widened eyes and slid off the ledge, running for freedom.  Then she got hit by a bus and died.