Hatchetfield Stories

You Have Bad Customers And You Have Terrible Customers

I was very sleep deprived and I was like 'You know what would be fun? S T A B B I N G'

TRIGGER WARNINGS:

-Stabbing

-Blood

-Injury

-Hospitals

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"You're supposed to sing." a voice said.

Emma turned around, "What?"

"I tipped you. So sing."

"Dude, don't tell me what to do. If I sing, I can't make your coffee. Is that what you want?" It was almost the end of Emma's shift and she was exhausted. Her leg was hurting more than usual today and a crying kid had been in the shop for an hour and the mom didn't even pay attention to him, she was just on the phone. Emma didn't want to deal with any more drama.

But this guy really wanted to hear her sing. He grabbed her bow and yanked it towards him. She stumbled against the counter. "Dude, what the fuck?"

"Listen here, you bitch. I tipped you to hear you sing. You will sing or I'll make you pay." His face was close to hers and she spat in his face. He let her go, desperately trying to clean his face. "That's it!"

He slapped her across her cheek. Emma was working alone this shift and there were no other customers, so no one could help her. She threw the cup of coffee at him and walked to the back of the shop, where customers weren't allowed to come.

But this guy didn't care. Emma turned around when she heard footsteps behind her. "Dude, seriously, stop-" She went silent when her eyes fell on the knife. He had a knife. He was going to stab her. She backed away. "Okay, okay, I'll sing..." she said, but she couldn't get the words of the song over her lips.

The man grabbed her shoulder and Emma screamed as the knife broke through her skin. Pain exploded through her side and when she touched it, she felt a warm, sticky substance staining her hands. Blood. The man pushed her back, causing Emma to fall against the wall. He grinned and left without saying a word. "Paul..." Emma whispered. "Help me..."

She gathered all her strength to grab her bag, and after a few painful seconds, she was holding her phone. Her vision was blurry, so it took her a few tries to unlock her phone and find Paul's contact. "Hi Em, what's up? Do you have to stay at work or anything? Or do you need me to pick you up when you're done? What is it?" His voice calmed her down, and for a few seconds, she forgot about the pain.

"Paul..." she said, her voice was shaking.

"Yeah? Emma, is there something wrong?" He sounded concerned.

"Paul, I've been stabbed."

"What? Emma? Are you okay? What happened? You're at work, right? Hold on I'm on my way, just keep breathing."

"Yeah I'm at work, there was this guy and he was so rude and then he pulled out a knife." She tried to steady her breathing. It hurt so bad, she really had to concentrate on staying awake. "Paul... It hurts so bad."

"Are you alone right now?"

"Yeah, I think so. I think he left but I'm not sure. I'm scared."

"I'm in the car right now. I'll be there in a few minutes, just keep talking to me. Where in the shop are you?"

"I'm in the back. Oh my god, Paul, someone's at the back door!"

The door opened and Zoey came in. "Emma! Have you seen my make-up bag? I think I left-"

"Zoey!"

"Emma? What are you doing on the floor? And why is your uniform covered in blood? What happened?" The girl sat down next to Emma.

"Is Zoey there?" Paul asked through the phone.

"Yeah..."

"Can you put me on speaker?" So Emma did.

"Zoey? How bad is it?"

"I don't really know. There's a lot of blood."

"I'm almost there." Emma had never really liked her manager, but her presence calmed her. She let her head fall back against the wall and grunted in pain. The floor was cold, and she was almost grateful for the feverish sweat that overtook her body.

The bell that implied that someone entered the shop jingled, and after a few seconds Paul was crouching down next to her. "Paul..." Emma mumbled, "I'm so happy you're here... It hurts so bad."

Paul took her hand in his. "Emma, I need to look at it okay, we'll probably have to call an ambulance."

No. She wasn't going to the hospital. She hated that place. "No, it's fine. I'm fine. It doesn't even hurt that bad." She tried to convince him by pushing herself up. She let out a pained scream and fell back down.

"Emma, calm down, okay? Don't waste your energy."

He allowed her to squeeze his hand while he ripped her shirt open and bent down to look at the wound. "Zoey, can you call an ambulance?" Zoey nodded and grabbed her phone.

"No! Paul, I don't want to go to the hospital!"

Paul took the shaking and crying girl in his arms. "Em, it's okay. I'll be with you. I'll keep you safe."

"They're on their way," Zoey announced.

"Thank you, Zoey. Em, keep talking to me, okay?"

"You're the best boyfriend ever," she said, before passing out in his arms.

*** *** ***

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Emma slowly adjusted her eyes to the bright lights of the hospital. "Fuck..."

"Emma! You're awake!" Paul was sitting next to her and grabbed her hand.

"What... What the fuck am I doing here?"

"Emma, you were stabbed. What kind of man wouldn't take his girlfriend to the hospital?"

Emma chuckled. "Thanks, Paul. I love you."

"I love you too." He planted a kiss on her forehead and put her hair behind her ear.

A doctor came in. "Miss Perkins, I'm glad to see that you're awake. You've had surgery a few hours ago and you're on quite a bit of pain medication right now. We'd like to keep you here for a few days. Anyway, I have two visitors waiting for you. Would you like me to let them in?"

Emma nodded. The doctor walked away and not even a minute later Zoey and professor Hidgens entered. "Emma, dear!" her professor said, "What happened? Who did this to you?"

"I don't know, just some rude customer." She looked at Zoey. "I think I deserve a pay raise."

To her surprise, Zoey didn't make a sarcastic comment, she just laughed. "I think I could fix that."

Professor Hidgens sat down next to her and grabbed her hand, careful to not touch the IV that was sticking out of her skin. "Are you in a lot of pain?"

"Yeah, it hurts like shit. But I'm happy you're all here. And Zoey?"

Zoey looked up from her phone, "Yeah?"

"You're not as shitty as I thought you were."