“Back when I was a kid living in Atlanta, I was walking home from school when I heard a bunch of scuffling coming between these two buildings up the way. Curious I took a peek and found something I wish I hadn’t walked into. In the alleyway, there were three gang members absolutely beating the heck out of this guy by some dumpsters. All of them had ski masks on. I froze and one of them made eye contact with me.
He put his hand up and slowly walked over to me calmly. He was wearing a bright orange ski mask which he pulled off carefully, then got on one knee to my level. This massive guy stared me straight in the eyes and said, ‘I’m sorry you had to see this, but this is a very bad man and we’re teaching him a lesson, okay?’
I was so scared, but I nodded my head. ‘Don’t tell anyone you saw this okay? This is our secret,’ he said while putting a finger over his mouth in a shushing gesture. I nodded again.
‘Run along now, okay?’ he said to me.
I nodded once again and instantly took off running. I ran all the way home and just sat on the porch shaking. The violence was absolutely scary to witness. Thinking back now, that man obviously took off his mask to make me feel less scared. But if he was a different person, that kind that killed kids, he could’ve taken off his mask because he didn’t care if I saw his face, which only means he was going to kill me. That memory will forever be in my mind.”
