Fears - a BFB AU

Chapter 8 - Pie

WARNING: DEPICTIONS OF VIOLENCE IN THIS CHAPTER

It was currently the middle of the night. Throughout the entire night, my body refused to sleep for unknown reasons. What made it even worse was that if I made any sudden movement, Pillow or Bottle would surely wake up. Of course, I didn't want this to happen. I pushed the sheets off me and silently climbed out of the bed, making the least amount of noise as possible. Although I did a thorough job at making little noise, Pillow somehow woke up, as she was an extremely light sleeper.

"Pie, It's 1:00 am, what are you doing up this late?" Pillow grumpily asked.

"I can't sleep. I think I'll go for a walk to see if I can tire myself out."

I left the room carefully, opened the door, and snuck out, luckily not waking Bottle in the process. The night was chilly and the air was dry.

"You're such an idiot Pie, you know that?" I thought to myself, wondering why I had insomnia for the past couple of days.

On top of all this, I had forgotten my jacket in the hotel room, but I was too lazy to walk back 50 feet to retrieve it. Since the stairs were out of order, I took the elevator and strutted outside the hotel. The night sky stared back at me and reminded me of the times I would sneak out of the house late at night to visit friends. The vague memories came washing back like an endless ocean. Although I forgot my jacket, I brought my phone and earbuds. I turned on some music and started walking around the city of New Orleans. New Orleans looked much better at night than I had initially expected it to. The city lights reflected off of the horizon and made the sky glow a greenish-aqua color. I took a quick walk around the city for half an hour. Since I was trained to defend myself and I grew up on the streets when I was younger, I ignored all of the shady areas and walked right through them. There were many shady people around this area of New Orleans, however, they seemed to ignore me, as I was tall for a woman and had a bit of bulk. I came to a tea shop in the midtown area of New Orleans. It looked well rundown, but I was desperate to go to sleep and went to order some hot tea.

After ordering my tea, I sat by the window of the shop and stared off into the dark abyss of the city. Midtown wasn't even close to as beautiful as uptown. There were homeless everywhere and the city had a slight stench to it. If this is what midtown was like, what was downtown like? I decided not to go downtown, as I prioritize my safety for an occasion like this. The only person working there brought me my tea and I gave her a tip, as I was surprised by how fast the service was. She warmly smiled and went back into the employees-only room of the shop. I sipped my tea and relished the warm taste of the tea leaves. Green tea wasn't my ideal order at a tea shop, but according to the web, green tea helped relax you and countered bad sleep. I thought about my encounter yesterday at lunch with Pen's ex. I chuckled to myself since I was a bit harsh on her. That last evening, Pen hadn't stopped thanking me since. My friends know I'd do anything for them no matter the circumstances.

I left the shop and thanked the waiter. I decided to go back to the hotel, as it was currently 2:00 in the morning. I brushed my messy hair out of my face and continued walking back to the hotel. It was apparent when I had made it back to uptown since the lights of the city started blinding me and there were taxis and luxury shops everywhere. Although I was certain I was safe, that wasn't the case. I saw someone following me. He had a black trenchcoat and a black hat. He wore a striped scarf and some old, tattered leather boots. I've dealt with creeps before in my life, so I wasn't too worried about this guy. I decided to confirm he was following me by making four right turns around a block of the city. Unsurprisingly, the dude was still tailing me. That's when I got an idea. Up ahead, I saw a group of four, extremely muscular guys. They were all freakishly tall and were talking about weightlifting and bragging to each other about who could lift the most. I tapped one of them on the shoulder and he turned to stare at me.

"Hey, that guy's following me. Pretend you're my dad." I solemnly asked him.

He nodded and walked up to the man.

"Excuse me, who the fuck are you?" He asked.

The man took off his hat and revealed his face. He had a black eye, some scars on his left cheek, and his white shirt underneath was stained with blood. It was now clear this man had bad intentions.

"I wasn't trying to do anything, bro." He reluctantly stated.

The man looked back at me and motioned his eyes at the street, telling me to run. I followed his orders and ran, never looking back. I finally looked back and saw the shady guy pull out a knife in his right hand. He attempted to stab the swole dude I had asked, but he was too slow on the draw. He took down the man with the knife and disarmed him. I watched as he motioned his three friends to beat him up. One of them took the knife and tossed it into a nearby wastebasket. The other two joined in on the main guy and beat the man to a bloody pulp. Once the shady guy was on the ground, I could see a smirk on his face. His other arm concealed a pistol, which he had hidden in his jacket pocket. He shot the big guy and he went flying about ten feet in my direction. The other three guys stepped back and tried to de-escalate the situation, now in fear they would get shot. One of the friends checked on the injured guy and patched up his gunshot wound with a t-shirt. The other two were in a standoff with the armed man. One of them saw me and told me to go away, as he didn't want me getting injured. I proceeded to run, but I had a plan in mind. I looped around the block and before I knew it, I was about a couple yards behind the shady man. My adrenaline rush kicked in and I crept up behind the guy, trying to get the jump on him. That's when the worst possible thing happened. A dry leaf cracked under my sneakers and he instinctively shot backwards. The bullet missed my head by mere inches. I ran into the alley and ducked behind a trash bin. He continued shooting me, but that was his biggest mistake. The two other guys watching jumped on and disarmed him. One put the gun in his mouth and the other held him down by the neck.

"See you in hell," One of the guys said with a deadpan tone.

He then proceeded to pull the trigger.

Both men stumbled off to check on their friend, who was luckily alive, but badly injured from the gunshot wound to the stomach. One of the men asked if I had a phone on me, to which I instantly nodded. I knew he wanted to call 911, so I dialed the number and made a call.

"911 what's your emergency?"

"Hello, I have a wounded man who needs medical care instantly."

"What's the wound, ma'am?"

"A gunshot wound to the stomach. He's breathing but we'll need care as fast as possible since he's losing blood at a dangerous rate. I'm on the east side of Jackson Square. You'll see me shining a flashlight into the air."

"Thanks for the information. We'll send help now."

I kept the operator on the phone and the men praised me for helping them. They explained that this guy was on a spree in New Orleans. The police have been trying to catch him for the past couple of months but to no avail. Paramedics arrived on the scene in only a couple of minutes. The three other guys thanked me for what I had done. They asked if we could stay in touch, to which I replied, "Sure." We exchanged phone numbers and I told them I had to leave. It was now 3:00 am and I was extremely tired. They offered to walk me home, but I told them I was okay and that they should check up on their injured friend. They waved me goodbye and I put my headphones back in and started walking back to the hotel.

My adrenaline rush ceased and I felt more tired than before. I entered the hotel and proceeded to make my way back to my hotel. I entered silently and didn't wake the others this time. I put my phone on my nightstand and got back into bed. This time, I felt like I would fall asleep in mere seconds. I wouldn't tell my friends what had happened, but they would see my dirty shoes and my ruffled-up sweatpants. This was one of the most intense nights of my life. Would I get in trouble for this? Would I go to jail? Would my friends be affected by this? All of these questions kept me up at night for some time. Despite these questions, I was grateful I was safe in general.

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Hey all. I'm so sorry for the short chapter. Only 1,600 words! It's just that I've been pretty busy for the past couple of days I was writing this chapter. Alongside this, I figured Pie didn't need that long of a chapter since we already knew so much about her. The good news is that I snuck in an extra chapter before Halloween hehe. Once again, thanks so much for reading!

Chapter 9: Publishing 10/31/23, PLUS HALLOWEEN SPECIAL YEAHHHHH!!!!