I leave Ace's apartment quickly and in silence. But a single word runs rings in my mind. A single word that had come out of Aces mouth: unbelievable.

He was right. I was unbelievable. All my life my parents had told me: trust is everything. If you lose someone's trust, you lose them completely. Now, whatever trust Ace had for me is gone, and it was all my fault. When I exit the stairwell and come through the double doors, I'm hit with the cold February night air. It shocks my body and sends me to shivering instantly. I wrap my shawl around my body tighter, as if that will make any difference. To make matters worse, I suddenly feel a huge hollowness inside of me, and I remember that I haven't eaten since yesterday. I need to get some food.

Instead of taking the straight road home, I take a detour down an alleyway towards the supermarket.

Huge mistake, instantly.

Halfway down the alleyway I hear strange rustling sounds coming from the skip beside me. I assume it's just an alley cat, but when the rustlings continue, I realise its being made by something bigger. I pause. I can hear my heartbeat as clear as a drum beat as the alley turns silent. My breathing's shaky, but I need to keep calm. As subtly as possible, I reach for my pocket knife which I keep in a sheath around my waist.

"Whoever you are, I mean no trouble..."

"So why are you reaching for your knife?" a deep voice says

"Yeah, we can see it there." another higher pitched voice adds.

Two people. Great. They were probably oxygen thieves, and I couldn't afford them taking the last two cannisters I had. I don't know what I was thinking walking through a poorly lit alleyway in the early hours, rookie mistake.

I made a decision there and then to carry on walking, besides, I was almost at the other side of the route and could see the fluorescent 7 eleven sign glowing in the distance. My steps were purposeful as I pounded on without looking back, and it seemed that the alley dwellers were just letting me go, but all of a sudden a bony figure appeared in front of me. Their limbs were almost unnaturally disproportional to their torso, like a spider. Then another person, I figured this was the woman out of the pair, for her bust was clear to see even in the poor lighting. She was round and pear shaped, with a bush of hair perched on her head.

"We know you have oxygen... we can smell it." The man said, a hint of desperation in his voice. It's funny but also saddening that most thieves aren't even regular criminals. Most are just ordinary people wanting to live. Ready to do anything to avoid suffocating.

I didn't even want to engage with them, I was getting rather hangry and I didn't have time for this. I tried to push past the small gap between them, but that failed. Then I tried going around them, but the large woman side-stepped to block me. Mistake number two.

Something instantaneously pierces the skin in my side, something sharp. I could almost feel it touching the layers of fat and skin in that area. I could feel the blood ready to explode out like a party popper. I dare to look down and soon register the feel of her knuckle against my clothes. The blade was right there, inside of me. Physically inside of me. A wave of nausea and numbness consume me.

But the worst was yet to come. She tears the blade out of my body and a gasp escapes my mouth but it's cut short like someone is gripping my throat. The pain doesn't come immediately because my heart is still racing, adrenaline coursing though my veins. Spider man searches through my shawl pocket and finds the two small cannisters Lux had given me. Fuck's sake.

"Look, Nat. The girl's got two."

"Great," Nat replied "C'mon we gotta go."

The pair race off hastily, and once Nat's grip is gone, I collapse to the ground. Blood runs out of my wound in huge waves. I try to stem the bleeding with my shawl but the blood is uncontrollable. Soon the agonizing pain I was expecting starts to kick in, followed by my eyelids feeling heavy.

No, I think, I can't die now, I can't, I mustn't. But my whole body is begging, pleading me to give in. My fatigue is making it very hard to think straight, but I fight on nonetheless. I need to get up

Slowly but surely, I crawl towards the bins and use all my strength to pull myself up. The bleeding gets more intense now, but I re-scrunch my already soaked clothes into a ball and force it onto my side. Pain, pain, pain, pain, so painful, oh so painful. God, I hate being stabbed.

The 7 eleven is just a few 100 yards after the alley way, and I stumble down the street in pursuit of help. I'm somehow managing to walk, and I feel a burst of optimism, but I'm going too slow, and I'm bleeding out too fast. Plus my body is now shrieking. It's crying. Just die, just fucking die and give me some mercy. You know your silly little plan was never going to work and this is a sign to die now, save yourself the hassle. You really think you can just walk up to Newman's palace and just steal like 3 fucking decades worth of oxygen? Really? Get your head out of the fucking clouds-

"Help!!" I scream "Help!!"

"Please help me I'm dying."

"I don't wanna die."

"I don't... I don't wanna...."

"........"

"Hello, excuse me? Are you ok- Oh my God, you're bleeding."

"Oh God... Hello? Can you hear me? Can... can you open you eyes?"

*Dialls 911 on microchip*

***

I open my eyes and shut them again immediately. The lights above me are painfully bright. I take a deep breath and recognise that iconic hospital smell that has stood the test of time above all else. I turn to my non-injured side and see an oxygen rig beside me along with a rather intimidating IV bag. My eyes widen at the open cupboard filled with oxygen cannisters. Without even thinking, I take a handful and stuff them into my pocket-

Oh, I wasn't wearing my shawl. I was wearing this ugly coloured paper bag thing. Which had no pockets. Great. Instead I stuffed them in something I was embarrassed to say out loud. As a hint, this something covered my private areas.

Then I heard footsteps approaching me.

"Adira Jones?" A tall man wearing green scrubs appears at the entrance of my room.

"Yes. That's me." I reply

"Ok." He enters my room and shuts the door behind me "Do you know why you're here?"

I stare at him for a moment. As if I could forget the pain of the fucking hole in the side of my body.

"Yeah. I got stabbed. In an alley."

"Ok, good, you remember. Do you remember being brought here?"

I scanned my memories. The blade being plunged into me. Stumbling towards 7 eleven. Screaming for help, then. Blank. Then I was here.

"No, not really."

"Fine, well, the lady who brought you here says she found you unconscious, so that's expected." He looks down and furrows his eyebrows as he reads the clipboard he's holding "You seem to have sustained a 2 inch stab wound into your left oblique, which are are subset of your abdominal muscles. The stab just narrowly missed your kidney, so only really penetrated muscle. You're a very lucky lady." He smiles a toothy grin which is supposedly meant to reassure me, but only does the opposite.

"That's good." I say, not really sure how to reply.

"So it says here that you live in Angel Meadow with your... mother."

My stomach churns at the reminder of my mother's death. No, she's not dead I lie to myself according to them she's not.

"Yes." I confirm.

"So, do you have a means to contact her... To let her know what's happened?"

I try to avoid eye contact with him. Even if she was alive, I sold my microchip last year so I could get extra cash for cannisters, so I wouldn't be able to phone anyone.

"No, but that won't be necessary. I'm ready to leave now, if everything seems to be in order."

He looks at me like I'm a mad woman.

"Leave?" He laughs "Miss Jones... We need you to stay here at least a week so we can monitor your progress."

A week?! I didn't have time to be sat on my ass in a hospital for a whole week...

"Right, I see," I sigh, "Thank you for the help in.. er... saving my life I guess."

"Your welcome Miss Jones. Now, do sleep well."

He leaves my room and the smile I had plastered on my face drops.

It was time to plan my escape.