Monday March 24, 2014 – 9:11 PM EST – New York City



UNKNOWN VOICE: “Give me all your money…Now bitch!!”



Talk about a WTF moment. Here I am just walking down the streets of New York City, minding my own business and I stumble upon what appears to be a mugging. Typical NYC. Actually, I shouldn’t say that. This kind of stuff happens in all big cities, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Phoenix, St. Louis…all of them. And why is that, because people are at their core disgusting animals. We might walk around putting a front up as if we are more evolved than that, but we aren’t. At the end of the day it’s dog eat dog.


Not here.


Not this day.


As I quietly approach what is going on I can see the woman’s hands shaking as she tries in vain to remove the purse from her shoulder and hand it to the man that is robbing her. Based on the way he is standing, somewhat hunched over and extended outward there is a good chance that the man is pointing a weapon of some sort. He shouldn’t need one. He’s at least 6’3, 190 pounds, his victim, 5’5 at best, 120-130 pounds, at least a quarter of which is in her chest.



ENIGMA: “Excuse me.”



The man turns around and looks at me. His face mostly covered by a ski mask, as suspected a knife is in his left hand. When I look into the man’s eyes it becomes painfully evident that this man is high on something. If the eyes weren’t enough of a giveaway the constant snuffling of the nose sure was.



KNIFE WIELDING ROBBER: “Who the fuck are you?”

ENIGMA: “If I said your worst nightmare would that make this end faster?”

KNIFE WIELDING ROBBER: “Fuck you. Get out of here.”

ENIGMA: "Afraid I can’t do that.”

KNIFE WIELDING ROBBER: “What? Get the fuck out of here before I kill you.”

ENIGMA: “You can certainly try.”



That seemed to do the trick. A second after the words left my lips the man lunged at me, attempting a jab that had I not been expecting it would have easily pierced my abdomen and caused serious damage. Well…damage. The weapon was a glorified Swiss Army knife.

Lunge.

Block.

Lunge again.

Block… this time followed up with an elbow to the temple and then a knee to the face.

And just like that the would be robber is down for the count.


The woman, still shaking but not nearly as much looks down at the man, than up at me, than back down to the man and finally, back up at me. My entire exchange with her attacked, if you can call him that took place in the shadows, far enough away from her that she could see the outline of the man coming to her rescue but not actually see the man. As I step into the light her face changes a bit. I assume it’s the mask that takes her by surprise. It could also be the shock of what just happened to her. Either way, here we are.



HELPLESS WOMAN: “Thank you.”

ENIGMA: “You are welcome.”

HELPLESS WOMAN: “How can I thank you?”

ENIGMA: “By not being so weak.”

HELPLESS WOMAN: “Excuse me?”

“Did my mask muffle the words? Or are you just thick? And I don’t mean in the physical sense.”

HELPLESS WOMAN: “You are an asshole.”

ENIGMA: “No.”



Pointing down to the formerly knife wielding would be robber.



ENIGMA: “That’s an asshole. I am simply a man who has grown tired of seeing women put themselves in situations that they can’t get themselves out of.”

HELPLESS WOMAN: “You think I asked for this? That I wanted this?”

ENIGMA: “No. But I think you did nothing to stop it from happening either. Let me ask you something, this is an alley that dead ends about 20 feet in that direction, so either you were walking down a one way alley, or, this man approached you on the street and forced you into this alley. Either scenario was avoidable.”

HELPLESS WOMAN: “He had a knife, what was I supposed to do?”

ENIGMA: “Did you look at the guy? He was high as a kite. It took me about 5 seconds to put him down. I bet you could, have at the least screamed and gotten someone’s attention, or I don’t know, run? Did either of those things cross your mind? Or did you just willingly do what he said because he had a knife?”

HELPLESS WOMAN: “He had a knife.”

ENIGMA: “That much we have established. What I am trying to get you to understand is that just because he had a knife does not mean you had to do what he said. Just because he is bigger and stronger does not mean you have to do what he tells you. You don’t have to take it. Fight back…”



Suddenly I can feel my blood boiling; the walls of the alley way feel like they are closing in on me. I am starting to lose control. This stupid woman acts so helpless, like she had no choice but to sit there and take it like she was just some pathetic weakling who couldn’t fight back. Like she was a weak little lamb kindly prancing in to the slaughter. She could have fought back. Why didn’t she fight back?



ENIGMA: “Why didn’t you fight back Ellie? Why didn’t you defend yourself?”

HELPLESS WOMAN: “Who is Ellie?”

ENIGMA: “What? What are you talking about? You are Ellie.”

HELPLESS WOMAN: “No. My name is Sarah. Sarah Carter.”

ENIGMA: “No it’s not. You are Ellie Martin, you are my sister.”

HELPLESS WOMAN: “I’ve never met you in my life. At least I don’t think so. Are you ok? Can I help you?”

ENIGMA: “Can you help me? Are you serious?”



Is she serious?



ENIGMA: “You can’t even help yourself, and you want to help me?”

HELPLESS WOMAN: “I think I should be going. Thank you for your help. I really mean that, thank you. I have a husband, and a daughter. I don’t know what they would do without me.”



I don’t know what exact word triggered my next actions but something very clearly did because before I knew it I was holding this Sarah by the shoulders and looking down at her. I can see the fear in her eyes through my mask. She looks more scared now than she did when the man with the knife was trying to rob her. Perhaps it was my sudden and unexpected movements or the tone of my voice.



ENIGMA: “Think about them, think about your daughter the next time you blindly walk about the streets of this city completely ignorant to what is going around you, because that nightmare scenario that you just played out in your head can very easily become a reality. Now get out of here. And for the love of God buy some mace on your way home.”



I released Sarah from my grip and watched as she scampered off, only looking back once to make sure that I was not following her, which I wasn’t. In the mean time, the failed robber is now starting to stir on the ground, groaning in pain. I assume from the fact that he has a broken nose on account of it having an up close and personal encounter with me knee earlier. Do I just walk away and leave this scum bag in the alley with the ability to get up, walk away and potentially rob or worse, kill someone? Or do I rid the world of a vile and disgusting human being once and for all?

Eeny

Meeny

Miny

Moe


I pick up the knife that had fallen from the would be robber’s hand during our little exchange and then walk over to the man as he is rolling over onto his back and beginning to sit up. He looks at me. I look at him. There is a moment of awkwardness there where neither of us says a word. We just stare, I into his eyes, he into reflection of himself. I wonder what he is seeing right now? Fear? Anger? Embarrassment? I know I would be embarrassed if I tried to rob a middle aged soccer mom and all I got for my troubles was a broken nose.



ENIGMA: “So tell me, because I am just dying to know, was your plan to rob this woman and let her go? Or were you going to kill her as well?”

KNIFE WIELDING ROBBER: “I hadn’t thought about it. And who the fuck are you anyway?”

ENIGMA: “No I suspect you hadn’t thought it all the way to its conclusion. I suppose that is the pitfalls of being a habitual drug abuser.”

KNIFE WIELDING ROBBER: “I don’t abuse no drugs.”

ENIGMA: “Your eyes tell a different story. Now as for who I am, that’s an intriguing question. Who are any of us?”

KNIFE WIELDING ROBBER: “What?”

ENIGMA: “Doesn’t matter.”

KNIFE WIELDING ROBBER: “Are you going to kill me?”

ENIGMA: “I thought about it. In fact, I’m still thinking about it. If I let you go, what assurances do I have that you won’t ever do try this again? That you will leave your budding life of crime behind and get an honest job with honest pay?”

KNIFE WIELDING ROBBER: “I promise man, no, no, I swear to God that I will never do this again.”

ENIGMA: “And…”

KNIFE WIELDING ROBBER: “And that I will get an honest job with honest pay.”

ENIGMA: “See, now don't you feel better?”

KNIFE WIELDING ROBBER: “Yeah man, yeah, I feel like a whole new person.”

ENIGMA: “I bet you do. Now, let’s get out of here.”



I walk over to the man, extend my hand which after a moment of pause he accepts by grabbing my forearm, allowing me to lift him to his feet. Once I do so I look into the man’s eyes again and then a sudden motion and he slumps forward ever so slightly, his eyes start to well up. He looks at me, more accurately, he looks at himself, and then blood starts to trickle out of his mouth. He tries to say something but all that comes out are the muffled sounds of a man taking his last breathe…and then darkness.