How can I ever repay you?

I try not to think about the blister on my right foot as I quicken my step.  I'm late for a meeting.

The sun is high, the birds are chirping.  The world is in perfect order.

I waive to a few neighbors as I readjust my step to ease the pressure on the blister as best as I can.

I turn the corner to take a shortcut down an alleyway -- when a chill washes over me.  A moment later a cloud blocks the sun, and I can hear a murmur.

I walk towards the dumpster and try to ignore the potency of urine that has been heightened by the noon day heat.

In the distance I see a man kicking at someone slumped on the ground.  Over, and over, and over.

"Hey!" I yell without thinking.

He ignores me and offers one more kick.

I take off my shoe and whip it at his head -- it hits a car, sounding the alarm, which startles the man.  A moment later he scampers back into the sewers where he came.

When he is gone, I walk over to the person laying on the ground, picking up my shoe along the way.

"Are you ok?" I say as I get out my phone to dial 911.

As I approach I notice that it's one of the twins.

"Hey," I say and try to get a response by gently shaking her shoulder.

She eventually turns towards me.  Blood runs down from one of her temples.  One of her teeth lays on the ground.

"It's going to be, OK" I tell her as I give my location to the operator on the phone.  I pull a water bottle out of my purse and try not to allow the guilt of having a handbag that could easily feed this woman for a month distract me from my present goal.

I offer her some water, which she drinks slowly.  She's badly beaten.

"Where's your sister?" I ask after a moment passes.  In the distance there are no sirens just yet.

She has a hard time answering from her swollen and bloody mouth, but eventually she murmurs, "She'll be fine," before blacking out.

I wait with her, holding her hand -- wondering when I will hear the sirens.  I didn't tell the operator the social status of the person being attacked, but somehow as I look around at surveillance cameras; I wonder if they know?  I wonder if that's why there is a delay.

I take off my other shoe to balance myself a bit better as I sit there, waiting for what seems like forever for help to arrive. 

Eventually sirens are heard in the distance.  A moment later her twin comes rushing in.  She takes a seat beside me and gently pats her sister's hair.

"Thank you," she says coyly. 

I smile. 

"How can I ever repay you?" She asks a moment later as a firetruck makes its way down the alleyway towards us.

"You don't have to," I say to her.  No debt is ever owed when one person helps another.

"Thank you," she says again as the police arrive.

I nod.

Somehow, my getting involved will give them the help that her sister needs -- that's if she makes it; which for now is hard to say.  There is a lot of blood on the pavement, and the faces of the EMT are looking very very grim.