"Oh, out of all the idiotic-" I cut myself off when a paint can suddenly fell on my head. 'Dammit!' I thought as I rubbed the sore spot on my head.

I was rearranging my studio and the morons who had put the place together hadn't put the shelves up very well. The nails weren't in studs and the shelves were quickly starting to droop, threatening to fall down.

I had just moved into the apartment. A fellow artist had resided there before me, which was why I had rented it. A studio was still in the back and I had called up the owner of the apartment before he could change anything in there. Now I was the new resident of a three room apartment. Too bad everything was falling apart. The idiot who had owned the place before me was probably to blame for the set up of the shelves.

A bunch of canvasses fell behind me as I backed up to look at my handwork. I had spent the last afternoon redoing the shelves and properly putting them in the right places. Unfortunately I still had a few shelves and I had run out of nails.

I put the canvasses back in place and sighed. I'd have to go to a store to get more nails. How the last resident had even been able to use those shelves was beyond me.

Irritated, I pulled on my coat and grabbed my wallet. Today was just not going my way.

Walking down the streets of my city, I gazed at it's inhabitants. Whereas most people would see it as a dingy, dirty place to live, I saw the beauty in it. Or rather the bella muerte of it. My artwork's subject matter tended to go towards things that were disgusting, but I managed to twist their image into something interesting and thought provoking.

I passed by a beggar in an alley who was wrapped in a stained blanket. The blanket covered his head and face, but the chipped mug next to him said all that he needed to say. Digging a hand into my pocket, I pulled out a few ones and dropped them into his cup. I noticed his shoes, which were a pair of ragged Doc Martens. I didn't know of any hobos that wore those kind of sneakers, so it was quite weird.

He nodded his thanks and spoke. "May you have a golden afternoon Miss."

To my surprise, his voice sounded rather young and his statement was a little odd, but I smiled at him anyway, though he couldn't see my face through the blanket.

Smiling at my good deed of the day, I went on my way and got to the only hardware store that was in the city. The man behind the counter pointed me to the aisle that had nails in it and before long I was walking out of there with a box of steel nails in my hand.

The sun had fallen behind the horizon and it was quickly getting dark. The neon lights of the stores around me had turned on. The people on the streets began to disperse and the night lives of the city were starting to come out. Hooker's were on their corners while men with odd bags of powders were hiding in the alley ways.

Yes, this city had it's dark side, but that was what I thrived to create in my art. It suited me to live in a city like this.

I turned the corner and passed by the alley where the beggar had been. I looked down it, only to see that he had left. Probably to find a place to sleep for the night no doubt. Turning my head away, I started walking again.

Just as I crossed the street, I heard heavy footfalls behind me. I paid it no attention until I heard them getting closer. I turned, just as something crashed into me.

Hitting the ground hard, it took me a few seconds to register what had happened. Dazed, I looked at who had crashed into me and recognized the tainted blanket around his shoulders.

He wasn't tall by any means, and dirt stains covered his face. But his eyes were glowing bright green. I stared into them as he knelt down next to me and put a hand to my face. Stunned, I felt him caress my cheek before, he ducked down and deftly put the same hand into my pocket, grabbing my wallet. Waving it in a taunting way, he took off down the alley that was next to us.

That damn dirtbag! That had all of my money in it, including my check that I had gotten for my last art piece and what the hell was he doing? Touching me like that before robbing me! The little shit was going to pay!

I had a pocket knife in my sock for occasions like this and I pulled it out and went after him. I saw his retreating silhouette and I rushed after it.

A few times he looked back, only to wave my wallet like a prize before continuing to run from me. It was almost like he wanted me to follow him. Despite the little voice in my head telling me to just give up and go home, I pushed on and chased him, knowing that the alleys had to come to a dead end somewhere.

And they did. A brick wall was coming up quickly towards us and he surprised me by stopping right in front of it. For one last time, he turned around and grinned at me evilly, showing me my wallet before putting it in his pocket. His blanket had flown forgotten a few yards before and now I could see what he exactly looked like.

He was dressed in a pair of black pants with a black long sleeved T-shirt on matching his shoes that I had noticed earlier. He was short in stature, though the arms at his sides had muscle on them. He must have been freezing in this winter weather. A black mohawk decorated his head, while the sides of his hair were bleached white. He was definitely not an ordinary homeless person.

After mocking me again, he took me by complete surprise. He lunged to a corner of the dead end and went down a sewer drain that just happened to be there.

I came to a stop, my hands on my knees as I tried to catch my breath. The tunnel before me was the opening to a sewer, smoke and steam was spewing out of it, and it looked like it ran deep. Why the hell a sewer tunnel was in an alley, I had no idea, but it was definitely real and the guy had jumped into it like it was nothing. Once my breathing had become regular and not spastic, I got on my knees and crawled over to the hole in the ground.

Coughing on the bitter fumes that were rising out from it, I looked down into blackness. I couldn't see anything, let alone the thief.

I called out into it, "Hey, give me back my wallet you little shit! I promise I won't call the cops, just give me it back! I seriously need it!"

I had high doubts that he would actually give it up that easily, but I leaned farther in and took a deep breath to shout again. That's when I felt someone's foot on my ass, pushing me into the black hole. Gravity took it's hold and I was suddenly falling into a deep abyss.

"Whoa, holy shit!", I cried in panic, as I was swallowed up by the darkness.

Notes

I changed Alice's name to Ella, just because Mikey's wife's name is Alicia, and I mean, come on, how weird would that be. And I plan on making this quite a perverted fanfiction, so please, read on with caution. Anyhoo, comment my loves!