Bailey Gaus

A woman is held at knifepoint by a homeless man after she enters her car late one night after work. What he doesn’t know about her will lead him to his own demise.
Disclaimer: depictions of violence and assault

“Listen here, bitch. Put the keys in the ignition and drive to Louisville Avenue on the riverfront.” He said through gritted teeth.
“You know where I’m talking about. And if you drive anywhere else, this knife is going straight through the side of your neck and tearing all the way to the other side.”

I nodded slowly, letting him know that I was going to do as he asked. The car was already running and I backed out of my spot, only moving my eyes to look in the rearview mirror. I put the car in drive and headed towards Louisville Avenue. I knew that area well.

I guess maybe I should catch you up so you can figure out what’s going on. I had just left work and was walking to my car in the parking lot. I stayed late tonight to put some extra time into a work project. The deadline was approaching and I was getting nervous about it. It was my first solo project and I wanted, no I needed, everything to be perfect. Anyway, I’m walking to my car. I put the key into the door to unlock it, sat down in the driver’s seat, threw my purse into the passenger seat, and then I felt something small but sharp against my neck and someone’s hand over my mouth. I looked up into the rear view mirror to see who this was. A guy wearing tattered clothes that were covered in months worth of grime and sweat. His hair was mostly hidden under a ballcap, but small dreads hung out over his shoulders.

This guy reeked of alcohol and poor life decisions.

He took his hand off of my mouth as I pulled onto a main road that would take us to Louisville Ave. The blade was still on the side of my neck. “Do you want money?” I asked him quietly.

“Don’t talk unless you’ve been given permission to speak, bitch.” He spat and dug the knife into my neck, cutting it enough that a small amount of blood began to fall. It stung. “There’s more where that came from if you aren’t fucking careful.”

“Oh, I bet there is.” I said in a monotone voice. “First time?” I asked while looking at his face in the rearview mirror.

“What the fuck did you just say to me?” He yelled and looked surprised. “I just cut your fucking neck. You think I’m playin’? You think I’m jokin’ around?” He obviously wasn’t expecting this from me and he threw both hands into the air before grabbing at the hair on his head and screaming a few expletives.

I turned onto Madison Street that would take us directly down to Louisville Avenue. “HEY!” he screamed. “Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” 

“Listen. This car is very small and loud noises have nowhere to go except my ears. I’m going to do what you ask so yelling really isn’t necessary.” I said shortly. “We’re on Madison Street. This is a shortcut to the riverfront.”

He didn’t speak until the blade was on my neck again. “Why, you’re a little smartass aren’t ya? I do like women with a bit of fight in ‘em, but you won’t survive the night if you keep talkin’ like that.” 

I nodded my head yes. Both hands were on the steering wheel where he could see them, but I used my index finger to point ahead and said, “See? Louisville Avenue.” I glanced at him in the mirror again. He was licking his lips, obviously trying to decide what happened next.

“Pull over under that train bridge.” He said as he pressed the knife on my neck again. His breath smelled like someone put cigarettes and alcohol in a blender and then let it sit in the sun for a few hours. “When ya park, you’re going to turn the car off and give me the damn keys.”

“Are you sure?” I asked with a deadpan face. It wouldn’t be difficult to make this guy mad, and most people can’t think straight when they’re angry. If I can catch him off guard somehow, maybe I can take his knife.

“What the fuck? What do you mean ‘are you sure?’” He screamed. 

“It’s a pretty straight forward question. Are you sure this is what you should do next? Are you sure that you want me to give you my car keys? What happens after that? You slit my throat and drive off with my car?” I said without turning around. We made eye contact in the rearview mirror.

“You won’t get far. I only have a quarter tank of gas left and I don’t have any cash in my wallet. My credit cards are locked and can’t be used unless I unlock them from the app on my phone, which you don’t know the passcode to and I’m not giving you that information.” I pulled over under the overpass, parked the car and turned just enough to see him from one eye. His blade still against the side of my neck, slightly cutting into it as I turned.

“What the fuck is a little man like you going to do with a bitch like me? Hmm?” I grabbed his hand that held the knife. “So yeah, are you sure?”

With my right hand on the knife, I used my left hand to quickly unbuckle my seatbelt. He was yelling but I wasn’t paying attention. I was focused on pulling the knife away from my throat as he was now using his other hand to push it with more force.

Just then, a low rumbling sound and loud screeching noises came from above. “What the fuck?” He yelled and moved his head to look out of the window.

I knew this was an overpass used for trains so I didn’t look. Instead, I decided to take advantage of the fact that his attention was no longer fully on me.

I bit into his forearm, hard enough that I broke the skin and it started to bleed. He pulled away enough for me to completely turn around in my seat. I pulled up onto the seat lever and pushed the seat down with all of my body weight. He tried to move out of the way before it came down, but his legs were pinned between the backseat and the drivers seat. His torso was in the middle of the back seats, but closer to the passenger side.

“What the fuck, lady?!” He yelled as he reached for the backdoor handle. “I’ll leave you alone, just let me go!”

“Are you sure?” I asked as I smiled.

“Look, if I had known you were fuckin’ crazy, I wouldn’t have waited on you tonight. I would’ve picked someone else.” He tried moving his legs, but I was still pushing down on the seat with all of my body weight. I had set the lever to stay in that position and knew it would be difficult for him to break it from where he was sitting.

I sighed. “See, that’s the problem. If it wasn’t me, it would have been someone else. It just so happens that you have terrible luck.”

He pushed himself up and had both of his hands holding the knife, pointing it directly at me. “You know, I can still cut you, bitch.”

“Oh, I’m aware. But you won’t be able to.” I pushed myself up with my knees and grabbed his wrists. He attempted to cut me several times before I punched him in the jaw. I seized this opportunity and used the palm of my hand to push up on his nose as hard as I could. His instincts overcame him and he let go of the knife with both hands and covered his face. “You fucking bitch!” He yelled.

That’s when I took his knife and shoved it into his jugular notch. I watched as he tried to scream but couldn’t. The blood fell from his neck. slowly at first, then seemed to gush out.

“‘Don’t talk unless you’ve been given permission to speak, bitch.’” I quoted himself back to him. He was gasping for air with both hands squeezing his throat. “You already don’t have much time, but I really don’t want to drag this out any longer. You’re also bleeding on my leather seats and I’m afraid it’ll stain.”

I sat up and looked out the windows. I didn’t see anyone outside. I got out of the car, lifted the seat up with the lever, opened the back seat and grabbed onto his legs. He kicked at me and tried screaming but he couldn’t make sounds very well. He quit kicking when I stabbed his thigh.

I pulled him out of the backseat by his legs and dragged him down to the rocky riverfront. It was only about a 15 foot distance. My car had enough coverage under the old overpass that it was hidden from sight, and it was late enough that the dark gave additional cover when I was dragging him.

The man was turning blue and made strange wheezing noises by this point, but the sound of the waves in the river were louder. He was squeezing his hands over his throat and looking up at the sky. I pulled his body around so that his head was touching the water and the waves pushed and pulled it back and forth.

I stood over him and then knelt down to straddle him. I pulled his hands from his throat and pulled them down by his sides, sitting down on them with my knees. I took his knife and slit all the way across his throat and watched as the blood fell from his neck. His face turned pale and he made awful gurgling sounds as his blood turned the water and rocks red around him. The waves moving back and forth lapped at his hair, and after a few minutes, they stole his ballcap and I watched it float away into the river.

I hadn’t noticed before, but the ballcap read Shure.