The Star Within (Poohpavel)

Chapter 19

Disclaimer:
This chapter contains sexually explicit scenes.

"What do you want?" Pavel growled lowly, his heart pounding in his chest as he tried to keep his cool. The last thing he wanted was to draw attention to them and Pooh, who was still preoccupied with his search for cornstarch, to realize the situation he was in. He knew he could not do anything but comply with his opponents.

"Doesn't this place seem a little bit crowded?" The armed stranger behind him spoke, which Pavel understood immediately. Pavel looked at Pooh, who still could not find the darn cornstarch and was completely oblivious to the danger they were in, one last time before nodding. The stranger then moved away from him and slowly walked away.

As the armed stranger got further, Pavel's senses remained on high alert as he tracked the faint sound of footsteps retreating. When he heard the guy open the door of the supermarket, he finally turned, leaving Pooh behind, and followed the mysterious figure out of sight, not without promising that he will come back.

'Pooh turned around.'

Pooh stilled when he heard a familiar voice echoing in his head. It's the same voice he had been hearing for years. His eyes glued to the aisles in front of him, wanting to ignore the voice. But the voice repeated and repeated again so loud in his head, making a headache growing in his head.

"Fine," he sighed under his breath before turning around. He realized years ago that complying with what the voice wanted actually could make it stop faster. Which felt dumb because most of the time there was nothing for him to inspect, just like at the moment as he was met with nothing but the normal view of the supermarket.

Wait. Where's P'Babe?

Pooh snapped his head around as he scanned past the shopping aisles frantically for Babe. Panic set in when Babe was nowhere to be found. Pooh quickly retrieved his phone from his pocket and dialed the older's number.

With each unanswered call to Babe's phone escalating his anxiety, Pooh's mind raced with worst-case scenarios. "Please P'Babe, where are you?" Panic began to rise in him as ugly images of potential things happening to the older played in his head. Last time Babe was missing, he ended up finding him in a bad state; he feared it happening again.

'Pooh, let me help,' came the voice in his head again amidst his growing frustration. "Shut up," Pooh snapped back at the voice, pleading for silence. He was getting overwhelmed by fear and uncertainty about Babe's safety, and it was not the right time for him to begin hallucinating. He needed to find Babe quickly.

'No, for real, I can help,' the voice insisted, and Pooh had enough. Putting down the basket he was holding on the floor, he reached for his pills in his pocket, hoping to silence the intrusive voice. They were inside a small tube that he could bring around easily without anyone knowing. Since he had been hallucinating a lot lately, he had started bringing his pills around again.

'Put that shit away, kid,' the voice sounded mad as he started pouring the drugs into his hand. He brought the pills into his mouth, but before he could consume it, a sudden sharp blow struck him hard on the back of his neck. Everything went black as Pooh crumpled to the floor of the supermarket.

A person on the rooftop let out a confused grunt as he observed Pooh using his sniper rifle. It had been his mission to keep a close eye on Pooh's movements while others took care of their other target. After almost half an hour waiting in the same spot, he only needed his boss's next command to take action against Pooh, who at the moment was plastered on the floor unmoved. Confusion washed over him as he tried to make sense of what had just happened. It's weird how out of nowhere his target fell to the floor like he just shut down. It was just a matter of time for the other customers to realize someone had passed out in the same room with them.