Stay

Stay - Chapter 4

Ooh, ooh, ooh, the reason I hold on
Ooh, ooh, ooh, 'cause I need this hole gone
Funny you're the broken one but I'm the only one who needed saving
'Cause when you never see the light it's hard to know which one of us is caving.

Adriana's POV:

I grabbed the switchblade that I always kept in my back pocket and opened it up as I jumped off the pallets. There was some weird noise coming from the bushes behind the dumpster a few feet to my left. I cautiously stepped towards it, then came to a dead stop when I saw something moving, causing the branches to shake.

I held the open blade out in front of me, ready to strike. "Who the fuck is back there?" I called out, trying to sound as threatening as I could.

I waited but received no response. The bushes swayed a little more, and I came to the conclusion that if there was something – or someone - dangerous lurking back there, my little knife was not going to do much good. I backed away, slowly at first, and then once I reached the corner of the building, I spun around and ran as fast as I could.

Until I hit a brick wall. A wall otherwise known as Happy Lowman.

"Whoa...where the hell are you going, little girl?"

My body literally bounced off of Happy, and I would have fallen backward onto my ass if he hadn't grabbed a hold of my arm and kept me upright. My switchblade clattered to the ground between us.

While I was thinking how odd it was that these were the first words Happy ever spoke to me, the sound of laughter invaded my brain.

I looked at him in a semi-confused state, still reeling from the collision. Happy was bent at the waist, roaring with laughter. He reached down and scooped up my knife and held it up in the air, putting it on display for the world to see.

"Really? What the hell is this? Don't tell me you think you can protect yourself out here with this?" He snorted, waving the switchblade around.

"I...I heard something. I think there's someone behind the dumpster." I stammered, feeling red heat crawl up my neck and spill out onto my cheeks.

"Where?" Happy asked me, stifling a laugh while trying to appear vaguely concerned.

I pointed it out to him. "The bushes moved and I heard a noise."

Happy pursed his lips and tilted his head at me, disbelief etched all over his face. He handed me the knife back, and reached behind him, pulling the Glock from his waistband.

"Wait here," he instructed, shoving me back. I held my breath as Happy made his way over to the dumpster. Gun drawn, he used his other hand to push back some of the branches.

As he rustled through the bushes, he called over to me, "Nothing back here, Adriana..." and then in a softer voice, he added "Oh, wait a minute. Aww...hey, buddy."

Happy's head disappeared momentarily from view, ducking down behind the dumpster, and then reappeared within seconds. He stuffed his gun back in his waistband and walked back to where he had left me. In his arms, he cradled a black and white puppy, just a few months old, caked in dirt and shaking like a leaf.

"This was your big, bad monster," Happy chuckled, holding the puppy up to view. "Please tell me you weren't going to stab it with that kitchen utensil of yours."

"No!" I yelled at him, pulling the puppy from his grasp. "I could never! I really thought there was a person back there. I didn't know..."

"You shouldn't be back here by yourself, little girl. What even made you come here? One minute you were on the couch and then the next..."