Chapter Text
Damn, I didn’t realize it was getting this late already… I better hurry up and start walking faster before it gets dark. After all that shit that happened Friday and Saturday, I wouldn’t want to be caught out here on these streets after the sun goes down, you thought to yourself as, after glancing at the new wristwatch you had bought yourself today while out shopping, you shifted the plastic bags you were carrying on your elbows to your hands since they were starting to tire your arms out.
The weight temporarily lifted from your sore joints, you couldn’t help the miserable sigh that escaped your lips as you felt a breeze brush past you, thereby causing the new grey dress you had also recently bought to brush your sore legs that had been walking around shopping all day in the process. Clicking your tongue in annoyance, you felt a slight blush cross your face while you tugged on the hem of your dress as you found yourself regretting your fashion choices for the umpteenth time today while your feet began to move a bit quicker along the pavement.
Oh well, this should be my last trip for the day to the store, and since I don’t have that much stuff this time around and I’m only about 15 minutes away from my hotel, so long as I pick up the pace a bit, I should get back before the sun goes down completely! Since yesterday was daylight savings time, whenever I go out tomorrow, I’ll just have to make an effort to leave the hotel earlier if I plan on making multiple trips so that this doesn’t happen again…
You see, ever since the aftermath of the previous job you had taken a few days ago, a job that had given you a decent $700,000 in cash as well as the opportunity to splurge on yourself temporarily (something you hadn’t had the chance to do since you had worked as an accountant once upon a time ago), you had decided to take advantage of the seemingly kind candle man’s advice by setting up a checking account in town at a chain bank so that, once you decided to finally leave town, you wouldn’t have to worry about transferring your money around from place to place. In other words, after thinking over your current situation (i.e. not having a designated bank to deposit your money in or a house to go back home to since your latest job was over), you made the choice to take Lamp’s advice to heart before going to set up a checking account at a franchise bank*1 so that you could travel with lighter pockets (something you hadn’t had the chance to do since you were fired from your old accounting job, much less open a checking account).
From this point, with your newfound earnings safe and sound, you headed over to a local library that had been kind enough to let you loiter for the majority of the day to do some research on the cheap but still decently safe hotels in the area, and after using the library’s phone to book a room, that same afternoon you had headed over to a nearby cell phone store to get a disposable phone that you would be using till you skipped town for convenience sake.
All of this had been about 2 days ago, and with Thursday quickly approaching you faster than you could blink, you now found yourself walking back to your hotel room late Wednesday afternoon after having spent the vast majority of the day going from store to store to stock up on clothes, first – aid supplies, toiletries, and quick/easy non – perishable foods (ramen, canned soup, etc.) to take with you via some new suitcases you had also bought once you finally decided to leave the hotel and the surrounding area in about a week. However, since your driver’s license had been expired for a year now (never mind the fact you weren’t exactly in a position to get it renewed in the first place at the moment), you couldn’t rent a car to get you around town, much less carry your items around in the first place.
As such, you had had to plan out your time here accordingly to make sure you would be able to make multiple trips throughout this week and the next until you were finished gathering all of the supplies you would need to carry with you when you were ready to leave (your plan after leaving being that you would find a decent place to rent and stay there until you were contacted for your next job since your newfound earnings weren’t nearly enough to pay off your debts but were just enough to give you a temporarily comfortable living situation so you would no longer be homeless and poor), with the promise to yourself that, once you finally crossed that bridge, you would make sure to get a cab to more than make up for all of this exercise you were putting yourself through.
Unfortunately for you, that bridge also happened to be quite a ways away from where you were currently at on the calendar at the moment, so on this particular Wednesday you had decided that, after seeing how nice the weather would be for today, you would treat yourself by wearing one of the cute outfits you had bought after eating a nice lunch at a local café back to the hotel while carrying your groceries in hand. Still wearing the comfortable flats the nurses had given you after they had discharged you from their care at that warehouse following that jar catastrophe, you were now currently wearing an equally comfortable, grey sundress you had found on sale at a dress shop by the café where you had eaten. However, comfortable as it may have been, it wasn’t until you had made your 4th trip out to shop after changing that you noticed how short the skirt of it was, and with the wind picking up like it had been for the past 2 hours or so, you couldn’t help but wish you could change back into the simple jeans and t – shirt you had been wearing prior to changing.
Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not like the skirt was super short or immodest looking by any means, nor were there any creeps openly leering at you as you walked down the street with your bags. Rather, since you had only decided to wear and buy the dress in a spur of the moment feeling, the skirt being short coupled with you not technically wearing any underwear at the moment (your only clean bra and panties had apparently been lost after the nurses taking care of you had misplaced your clothes while looking after you, unfortunately) caused what little nerve you had managed to work up to even put it on in the first place to quickly desert you each time you felt the wind blow and the sun sink further in the sky every time you looked up.
Yeah, no, this was a bad idea after all. Oh well, just another block and then I can put on my old clothes again… They may not be as nice as this dress, but at least I won’t have to worry about flashing anyone. I swear, what the hell was I honestly thinking, I usually couldn’t even pull this thing off with underwear!
Sighing internally, you once again shifted the bags in your hands up to your elbows to give your wrists a break, only to wince in pain slightly as you felt the plastic of the bags scrape across your wrists, wrists that were still very much sore given the amount of cuts and bruises they were littered with courtesy of the handcuffs you had been forced to wear for hours while being held by that maniac what’s – his – name a few days ago.
I swear, I can’t believe those nurses told me he still kept those damn handcuffs on me even after I fainted in his lap after he broke that damn jar. You know what, I’m actually glad I can’t even remember his name, the tall bastard! I hope that it turns out he was wrong about that glass he made me stand by while banging his hands on that control panel being reinforced, that bastard could take a few hits to that inflated ego of his, among other parts of himself, I’m sure. Although now that I think about it, can anyone take a direct hit to the face with a robot arm at full force and survive? Truly a question for the ages…
Lost in thought (i.e. trying to distract yourself from the pain of your wrists and legs since the pain killers*2 you had taken around lunch had started to wear off a half hour ago and you wouldn’t be able to take anymore till you got back to your room), you found yourself suddenly gritting your teeth as you felt a flare – up of agony travel up your abdominal area.
“O-ouch, that kinda hurts, I, um, I need to rest for a minute after all, I guess?” Trying not to whimper as you covered your mouth, you winced while holding your stomach before stepping into an abandoned alleyway with a dead end after making sure there wasn’t anyone close by you to notice you do so.
Satisfied that you would be undisturbed while catching your bearings, you found yourself closing your eyes to give yourself some relief as you pressed the back of your head against the cold bricks behind your back. You honestly weren’t 100% sure what was causing these aches and pains lately, although if you had to guess it was either due to stress or maybe overworking yourself when breaking into that damn factory Friday night, but ever since you had been discharged from that warehouse the other day, you had been feeling awful to say the least.
In addition to your already sore wrists, you had also had to deal with an ache around your abdomen that made it difficult for you to walk for the past few days (not that your shopping around was doing your legs any favors), as well as a headache that came and went at random times and which sometimes made it feel like you were having a bad hangover despite not having had alcohol lately. As such, it was only as you closed your eyes while leaning against the bricks behind you that you thought once more for the 10th time the past few days about just saying ‘fuck it,’ and going to a proper hospital despite not having any insurance, only to sigh knowing that there was no way on Earth you were going to blow all of your hard – earned money on medical bills.
Or, you know, potentially risk getting arrested once they discovered how you acquired said injuries (although since you hadn’t heard or seen any news about someone breaking into that factory you had gone to, you were still hoping you were in the clear legally speaking)…
Nah, I’ll be fine, I just need to rest up and I’ll be good to go! Yeah, I think I’ll just sit here for a few minutes and then head back to the hotel in a bit. After all, the sun has still got a ways to go, so I’m sure me sitting here for a bit won’t hurt me. Besides, my body’s aching so badly… if I don’t rest for a bit, it feels like my legs are going to give out from under me…
Looking down at said limbs, you couldn’t help but wince slightly as you shifted your weight from one foot to the other, only to click your tongue in irritation as you once more leaned your head back, the pain you had tried to briefly alleviate having only gotten worse.
Fuck it, I’ll set aside some traveling money starting tomorrow and start taking a cab around town if I need to go out. I mean it’s not like this town’s all that big, so as long as I keep an eye on the meter whenever I get to where I’m going, I shouldn’t be spending more than $200 a day on a taxi while shopping, right? But if I end up doing that, since I’m spending $200 a night on my room and it’s only Wednesday, will I need to go to a different hotel to save money or will I just need to load up more on groceries if I go out tomorrow to make less trips? I mean, if I’m taking a cab, then I can carry a lot more, sure, so that should cut down on the time I’m out and about, but what about my food budget too? And then, of course, don’t even get me started on my budget for everything else…damn, my head hurts… I really need to brush up on my math skills, huh? I swear, and to think I used to crunch numbers for a living not too long ago…
Opening your eyes before looking up at the darkening sky, you sighed before looking down to check the time on your watch, your tongue clicking again in annoyance as you closed your eyes since you would have to leave soon.
I mean, in all honesty, I guess I haven’t spent too much of that money yet, but after all that shit with the jar it might be a while before I get another job to tide me over once all this money runs out, so I don’t think me worry about budgeting is too much, right? After all, the whole reason I’m leaving town is so that I can maybe find myself a cheap place to stay until someone reaches out to me again, and that takes a decent amount of money to get along with potentially paying bills and stuff, never mind the idea I was thinking of maybe getting a car and renewing my license… I swear, I’m glad that candle guy gave me all this cash, but at the same time I’m starting to see what he meant about me watching it like a hawk. Like, it’s a lot but also not, I guess? I can’t even begin to pay off my debts, but I can live comfortably for a short while, so I don’t know, I guess I just need to take this one step at a time…
“Holy shit it’s you, it’s really you! I knew following you a few blocks back would pay off, although I have to give you credit, you really put me through the ringer making me walk this far this late. Thank God no one else ended up walking back this way, so now we can catch up uninterrupted!”
…huh? W-who is that? Who’s there?!
Your eyes shooting open immediately, you cursed yourself for even closing them this long in the first place and letting your guard down as you found yourself coming face to face with the last person on Earth you’d want to see – or rather, the last man you’d hope to see ever again…
Oh God, oh crap!!! It’s him, it’s the tall bastard, he’s back, oh God! What’s he doing here, what the actual hell does he want? I didn’t even hear him approach me, where the hell did he come from?! Don’t tell me that Lamp guy changed his mind about me keeping that money after all and that he sent his assistant to collect it…? But if that’s the case, is he armed? He said he’s been following me for a while now, right? Maybe I accidentally said that bit about not remembering his name earlier out loud and now he’s here to get revenge or shit…? Who the hell knows, this guy’s crazy!
Eyes widening as he continued to approach you, you couldn’t help the shiver that ran up your spine as you resolved to not make eye contact with him, a whimper of fear caught in your throat.
Isn’t it bad enough he almost got the both of us killed by breaking that jar and that he kept me prisoner for hours on end…? I mean don’t get me wrong, aside from him scaring the crap out of me and cuffing me, I don’t really remember too much of what he did while he held me captive, but still seeing him is scaring the shit out of me!
Your mind running almost as fast as your heart beating in your chest at this point, you tried your best to remain calm as the man finally closed the distance between the two of you now so that his face was inches away from your own, only to lose what little composure you had as you saw him place his hands on either side of your head while looking down at you with that damn smile of his.
A smile which not only continued to keep you up at night whenever you thought back on your near – death experience at the hands of the bastard in front of you, but which was now also causing another chill to travel up your spine as your body (which at this point was quickly becoming paralyzed by fear) began to shake of its own accord.
“Hmm? What’s wrong kid, did I say something bad? Don't you recognize me...? I never thought I'd see you again, don't you miss me?”
“Miss you?! I don’t even know anything about you, much less where you came from… What the hell do you want, why are you here?!”– is what you wished you had the courage to scream at his face as he continued to stare down at you with a shit eating grin that caused your blood to run cold. Hell, if your body wasn’t so aching and exhausted from all it had been through the past few days, you would have tried to at least assert yourself so that he would get out of your personal space.
However, instead of standing up for yourself, much like how you had found yourself abducted by him back when he had taken you into that accursed warehouse, all you could do in the present was try not to cry as you moved your shopping bags to cover your front, praying that if he actually was here to attack you, at the very least the items on your person would slow him down since you were too much of a coward to fight him and too exhausted/terrified to run away from him at the moment.
“What’s with the silent treatment? Oh, I know! You think I’ve been stalking you this whole time, huh? Don’t worry, I only started yesterday afternoon after seeing you at that lingerie store. I mean after what happened to your clothes, I’m not surprised you’d be buying new ones, but after seeing you walk out empty handed and everything, I got curious, you know? I figured they must not have anything you liked or that they didn’t have your size, and after thinking on this, one thing led to another, and well, since I have plenty of free time during the day until I go to work at night, I thought why the hell not, you know?"
“…y-y-you’ve b-been s-stalking m-m-me…? …b-but why, I don’t…” Mumbling to yourself more than him as your eyes widened in horror at his confession, your stomach churned while tears began to prick at the corner of your eyes as you saw him move one of his hands to grab your shoulder, alarm bells going off in your head as you felt his grip tighten once he had made contact with your flesh.
I’m going to be sick…why is he touching me?! M-maybe if I ask him to stop, he’ll be merciful and back off? Yeah, nice thinking, like an international criminal like him is going to listen to anything you say! Wait a minute, how do I know that he’s an international criminal…? If I was able to remember that after thinking for a few seconds, maybe if I concentrate hard enough, I might remember his name since that candle guy, er, Lamp, told me it? And then, if I humor him by talking for a few minutes then he’ll leave me alone after admitting that that whole stalking story was a joke… Yeah, he was just joking, so let me think, what was it, what was his name…? Oh, I know!
Trying not to completely lose your cool as you continued to look up at him in terror, you finally averted your eyes before clearing your throat to speak to him, your shaking limbs betraying your tone to be much more broken and terrified than you’d like for him to hear.
“Hello, um, Mr. Hamegg, how are y-you doing? I-it’s nice to, er, see you out this l-late at night, and, um, stuff… D-did Mr. Lamp send you here to, um, collect that money back? Like, did h-he change his mind, because I already spent some of it and, um, I know you’re probably joking about the s-s-stalking me thing, so let me, um, give you back what I have and I’ll just get the rest for you two later and –”
Rambling at this point as you continued to avoid making eye contact with the man in front of you (who, mind you, was still staring down at you like you were a mouse caught in a trap or something along the lines of that) while also trying not to hyperventilate in your panicked state, you couldn’t help the whimper that left your throat as the man, probably tired of said rambling, tightened his grip on your shoulder thereby causing you to shut up immediately afterwards.
I want to go back to my room…