In the bright street filled with heavy traffic, Glenn Smithers was walking on his way home from work. He was one of millions of individuals that lived in Istanbul. Many of the people were watching the sun fall through the sky waiting for it to set beyond the horizon. One of the few English speaking people in the city, he was a minority and an outsider. His suspenders drawn across his shoulders, glasses thick, and shirt tucked in, he was thinking about his next Star Trek fan fiction he was going to write that night. As he passed through the rows of buildings, he became so concentrated on his fan fiction he didn’t realize he had walked passed his building and was stating to leave the center of town.
As he walked, his frail pale body stood out from the masses of the dark Turkish natives. With legs and arms like toothpicks, his mind began to wonder why his company had moved him here from his comfortable home in America. He also remembered that he still had to learn the layout of the city. Where to go, where not to go, he had no idea. It never crossed his mind that he should have done that sooner.
In a few blocks he would pass under the bridge and enter a completely different world. The buildings were about to change from luxurious office and apartment building to a ghetto filled with run down houses, broken cars and the overall sense of poverty. This area was known as the most dangerous part of town. There were numerous crimes and law enforcement was rarely there.
He passed under the bridge and kept walking with no change in pace or realizing where he was. He continued and made several turns before he realized that he had no idea where he was.

Instantly he reached into his fanny pack and grabbed his cell phone and called the only person he thought could help, Dave Johnson. Terror rushed through his body as he began to fully take in his surroundings.

There were small homes with holes in the roofs, the pavement was cracked and had numerous potholes. The air was filled with the smell of garbage, mold and feces. Dogs were barking and there was the occasional crack of a gunshot.

Dave finally picked up and said, “Hello.”

“Dave this is Glenn. I’ve gotten my self lost in a terrible part of town. I was uh thinking about my fan fiction and must have wandered into this awful place. It’s about to be dark and I don’t know what to do. Can you help?”

“Glenn, Glenn, GLENN! Calm down. You need to stay calm and tell me where you are. Street signs, businesses or monuments, what do you see?”

“Uh, uh, the signs say Nar and Manolya. I think.”

“Ok good just give me a minute and I can find where you are on my computer and guide you home.”

Glenn was constantly looking around for any signs of movement, when he heard the creek of a door and foot steps. He jumped and instinctively ran to where he thought he wouldn’t be seen.

“Dave, Dave, are you still there? I think we need to hurry this up. There are people coming and I need to get out of here” whispered Glenn. He wanted desperately to back at his house and out of this place, but what he didn’t realize was that when he ran for cover, he ran into the backyard of someone’s house.

“Ok Glenn I know where you are and I think I can direct you back to your house relatively easy. Ok?”

There was no response.

“Glenn are you there? Glenn?” said Dave.

Glenn was standing in the yard with the phone lying on the ground next to him, looking in the window making full eye contact with a man inside. He was huge with arms like tree trunks. His eyes bloodshot, his chest rising and falling rapidly, and the veins in his neck throbbing, he stared strait into Glenn’s eyes. Several other men were all staring at him as well. Glenn could see some small tubes and something burning behind them. All of the men continued to stair angrily at Glenn.

Glenn broke the eye contact and saw a gun. He looked back with terror on his face and the men all rushed towards the door yelling in Turkish, “Ne yap?yorsun. Buraya gel. Durdurmak!” Glenn instantly rose and began to sprint away. He had no idea what they were saying but he knew that he had to escape. His frail legs drove into the air as he tried to escape from the men.

Gasping for breath he pumped his arms and willed himself to run as hard as he could. As Glenn looked back to see where they were, he saw six men chasing him and gaining ground fast. Glenn’s heart was racing and terror filled his brain.

He rounded a corner, arms flailing and feet smacking the ground. He looked back one more time and while his eyes were viewing the men, the ground fell out from under him. It was as if his foot had fallen into a bottomless pit. He fell forward and smashed his body on the pavement as he felt a sharp pain in his leg and heard a snap.
His leg had smashed the side of a pothole and broke it clean in two. He knew it was over. He turned around and saw all of the men around him.

“Please don’t hurt me. I didn’t see anything, I swear. I’ll never tell anyone. I just want to go home” pleaded Glenn.
The men took no notice of what he was saying; they began to yell again, “sen kimsin? Neden buradas?n? Ne gördün? cevap ver. E?er bahçesinde ne yap?yordun? Söyle bize!”
Glenn still had known idea what they were saying. He responded back, “I don’t know what you are saying, please don’t hurt me.” A single tear fell down his cheek. His life was flashing before his eyes. “I got lost on my way home and.” He had stopped short because he realized that they could not understand him.
The men began talking to each other as if they were arguing. Glenn just stayed on the ground. He couldn’t believe that only two weeks ago he was in America, and if he had just taken the time to learn the native language, or just paid attention to where he was going, he would be safe in his new home writing the fan fiction he loved. Glenn looked up and saw that the men had stopped talking and looked down at him.
One of them pulled out a gun. Glenn closed his eyes and prepared himself. Then he felt a sharp pain on his head and everything went black.