The Good Deed

The Good Deed

         Thomas was a loner, but he was loved by many. Every day he walked the streets among the crowd politely smiling at passers by. His steampunk shirts made him stand out. Strangers would stop and do a double take when he walked by, but with a nod and a smile, he would just continue on his way. A dollar here, a dollar there always made the homeless happy. The gratitude showered upon him, made him one of the true heroes in this day and age.

         The screams from the young woman were deafening from the alley below. Her frail petite body was no match for the thief. Yet the struggle to remove her purse from her clutches was surprisingly difficult. Over and over his hand struck her face until she finally succumbed. With his prize in his grasp he started to walk away, but Thomas grabbed him from behind. The thief spun around, Thomas’s fist waited for his exposed face, but the thief was too fast and Thomas felt the knife plunge deep into his stomach. The thief withdrew his weapon and stabbed Thomas again, multiple times twisting the blade with every stab. Thomas slumped to the ground and the thief ran off, although empty handed, as Thomas’s attack had startled him enough to drop the purse he so desperately coveted.

         The young woman crawled over to Thomas and frantically tried to assess his wounds. Reaching for the discarded purse, she grabbed her phone and dialed 911. Help was on the way, but Thomas was slowly departing. The pool of blood grew larger and larger, and Thomas’s vision continued to blur. The reassuring words of the woman were becoming more muffled and slowly started to become more distant. As the light faded, Thomas’s last vision would be the frail young woman’s purse which he had successfully helped return to her possession. The darkness finally consumed him.