You are my Hero
By: George Wallace
Tags: Short Story, Freelance Writer, Fiction, Authors

Ian and Bunty were walking home together after a night out together. They had been to the cinema and been for a pizza. Ian is smitten by Bunty; they have known each other since they started school twelve years ago. Now they had started going out together seriously.

‘I am very fond of you, Bunty,’ said Ian.

‘I know,’ replied Bunty, smiling to herself and thinking about when she started becoming attracted to Ian. It was great that day last week when Ian asked her out tonight. He went ever so red asking her. But Bunty just smiled and replied, ‘of course I would love to.’

They took a short cut home through the park, it was quite dark in places in the park, the path went between two large bushes, on reaching the bushes a man jumped out at Ian, he grabbed Ian, but Ian fought back, shouting, ‘run Bunty don’t let him get you.’

Bunty ran as fast as she could, then thought, I need to help Ian. She turned around and ran back towards where she could see Ian fighting with the bigger person. Ian used his fists, feet, knees, and teeth to good effect; the man had not expected Ian to fight back; he had thought it would have been over in seconds. The man took a deep breath as Ian’s teeth sank into his hand again. This time instead of jumping, the man grabbed Ian’s head and threw him to the ground.

Bunty saw Ian fall and was worried about his safety; she ran harder to get back to Ian, wondering at the same time, how am I going to deal with this man. Before she reached Ian, the man picked up Ian and was walking down the path and heading out of the park with Ian over his shoulder. Bunty followed at a safe distance until the man reached a house, opened the gate, and then the front door. Bunty ran to the house, saw the number, ran to the nearest phone box, and dialled 999 and asked for the police.

Bunty explained to the police what had happened, slowly without panicking. The police told her to stay where she was, and they would meet her at the phone box. Bunty waited outside the phone box impatiently; after five minutes, a police car appeared, there was no siren.

The two policemen got out of the car, one was in uniform and the other in jeans, tee-shirt and trainers and spoke to Bunty, ‘Hi, my name is Peter. Where is this house that Ian is in, please?’

‘It’s just around the corner number 23; it has a blue gate and a red front door. Number 23 is on the wall next to the red door,’ replied Bunty.

Peter said, ‘Bunty sit in the police car and wait for us; it does not sound too safe for you.’

Bunty climbed into the police car and watched the two policemen walking towards the corner then vanishing around the corner.

Peter said, ‘Tim, go down that alleyway and watch the back gate in case he makes a run for it.’ Tim vanished down the alleyway between two houses and waited, watching the back door gate to number 23.

The other policeman Peter opened the front gate, walked up to the front door, took a deep breath, and then rang the bell. At first, there was no sound from the house, so he rang the bell again. This time a voice inside shouted, coming hold your horses.

The door opened, and a tall man stared at the person on the doorstep and asked. ‘Yes, how can I help you?’

Peter replied, ‘I am looking for Ian, he is about 5 foot 6 inches, wearing a blue jacket and grey trousers.’

‘Never heard or seen him mate,’ replied the man at the door.

‘Well. his girlfriend saw you carry him into your house.’

With that, the man tried to slam the door in Peter’s face, but he had moved his foot to jam the door open. The man turned around and ran back through his house towards the back door. The back door was flung open, and he ran to the back gate, yanked it open straight into the arms of Tim waiting by the back entrance.

Peter walked into the house and found Ian gagged and tied up in an upstairs bedroom. He removed Ian’s gag; his first words were, ‘is Bunty okay?’

‘Yes, Bunty is fine; she is in our police car, she phoned us,’ replied Peter as he untied the ropes holding Ian.

They went downstairs; Peter closed the back gate and back door and shut the front door as they left. Ian walked with Peter, but he wanted to run to see Bunty. They reached the police car to find the tall man sat in the back of the vehicle with his hands handcuffed. Bunty ran up to Ian, kissed him on the lips, and said, ‘ you are my hero.’