Book of BxB One Shots

Never Walk Alone

Inspired by reading Chapter 10 of Omega by Tricks1998.

Written Dec. 21st, 2016. Posted Dec. 24th, 2016. Word count: 1552.
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It was dark outside, the moon hidden behind rooftops and trees. The chilled night air nipped at my face and hands, the only exposed skin on me. Fear and anxiety churned in my stomach, making me apprehensive of my surroundings.

My parents were fighting again, their voices too loud to drown out with music. I had tried to sleep, tossing and turning in my bed. You would think they would have tried to keep their voices down at half-past one in the morning. I didn't know what the fight was about, and I didn't want to know. Peace and quiet was what I craved, but obviously that wasn't going to happen. So after slipping on a pair of jeans and hoody, I shoved my feet into my sneakers and climbed out my window, phone and wallet buried in my pockets. It was practically like second nature by now, the placement of my hands and feet on the old oak tree outside my window. My hands gripped the branch above, my feet finding the larger branch below. I kept to the inner part of the tree, knowing that the further I went out on a branch, the less of my weight it would support. The sound of my sneakers hitting the packed earth below was little more than a dull thud. Within minutes I was trekking up the sidewalk, hands buried in my hoody pockets while I kept my head down and my feet moving. I didn't want to bring attention to myself.

It hadn't taken long for me to find myself in a part of town I didn't recognize. Well, that wasn't entirely true. As I looked at the buildings around me, each between two and four stories high, I realized I was in the small business district. Every window I passed was dark, their occupants gone for the day.

I pulled my phone from my pocket, only to see that it was now four minutes after two. I had been walking for about thirty minutes.

Stuffing my phone back in my jeans, I started walking again. This time, however, I could just barely make out another pair of feet almost silently walking behind me. My skin broke out in goose bumps, the hair on the back of my neck standing on end, while my ears twitched and strained to hear the person behind me. They seemed to keep pace with my slow walk, never gaining nor losing distance between us. The thought of them trailing me sent a jolt of adrenaline through me, causing my heart to race. Trying not to be too obvious, I quickened my pace, my instincts screaming at me to just run, run, run! But I couldn't do that. If I ran and they weren't following me, I would look like a paranoid idiot. If they were following me and I ran, they might take off after me and catch me. No, I needed to be calm about this, or as calm as I could be while my body went into fight or flight mode.

Rounding a corner, I turned down a street that I knew would lead me toward a more populated area. I could only hope that people wouldn't choose tonight to not hang around the fast food joints and bars that sat only a ten minute walk away. The buildings around me blocked the McDonalds sign from my view, but I knew it was there, along with the Tim Horton's sign.

The footsteps once again kept to the same speed as me. At first.

I thought my heart stopped when I heard the person getting closer.

A cold sweat spread through my body, nerves churning in my stomach. Everything in me told me to run, and so I did. Forcing my legs into a sprint, I took off up the sidewalk, the burn of the sudden strain on my leg muscles both comforting and alarming. I wasn't a very fast runner, and my stamina wasn't very high. Within seconds whoever was behind me caught up to me, their hand encircling my wrist. They pulled me to a stop, and their other hand came up to cover my mouth, just as a scream tore from my throat.