Dani slipped through Brixton’s back streets.

Tattered canvas bag in hand.

Pale skin, red hair, fire simmering beneath the surface.

Her snakeskin mini skirt barely hid bruised legs. Lime-green laces crisscrossed scuffed white trainers.

Headphones pumped The Stranglers’ Golden Brown. She didn’t want the world. She wanted her fix.

Fuck it—where the hell was that bastard?

The streets smelled of rot. Decomposed cabbage from a café. Broken streetlights casting jagged shadows.

Still, she pressed on. Desperate. Relentless.

Then she saw him.

Club-footed limp. Afro haircut. Scar from nose to chin.

Prison had left its mark. Tragedy had left its mark. A toddler lost. A mother broken.

Back on the streets, feeding habits that never slept. Among outcasts, never understanding ordinary lives.

“Speedy! Where’ve you been?!”

His eyes found hers. Lust. Loneliness. Contempt.

“Hey there, darling. Wondered who you were.”

To him, all junkies were naive.

He beckoned. Limping closer.

Dani lowered her headphones. Curiosity flickered.

“Is it any good?”

“Best you’ll ever find,” he said. Lying smooth as silk.

Then his hands reached for her.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Come on, don’t play dumb. You know the score.”

A flick knife snapped open. Metallic. Sharp. Threatening.

Dani lunged.

Pain met betrayal.

Blade found its mark.

Elbow smashed into his nose. Crack echoed.

He fell. Life bleeding fast.

She drove the knife home. Throat. Gurgle. Silence.

Bending close, she hissed:
“I’m not your whore, you filthy bastard.”

Pocketing the stash, she vanished into darkness.

A black cat leapt from a bin. Eyes like emeralds. Meowing. Following.

Lid clattered. She crouched. Stroked its fur. Purrs smoothing rage.

Tucked it into her bag. Tiny spark of luck.

All Dani wanted now? Her room. Sweet release. Her vice.

And justice.


Brixton crime fiction, urban flash fiction, gritty short story, female antihero, heroin addiction, street justice, dark London story, crime thriller short story, urban survival, edgy flash fiction, fiction, suspenseful short story