⚠️⚠️Triggers: Mentions of vomit⚠️⚠️
Published: June 8th, 2022
Edited: N/A
The sky wore a veil of the darkest blue sequined with pinprick stars. Wisps of fading clouds blew across the great expanse. A great crescent in the sky shone with a cool light, bathing the land below in a mystical white glow. It illuminated the rooftops, reflecting off of the few remaining puddles that had been spared by the sun. In its soft glow was stillness; a peaceful quiet ruled the city. The quietness was broken sharply by the sudden sound of creaking rusted metal.
The sound of the fire escape jolted [Y/N] awake. Immediately, they knew that they had slept for longer than they meant to. The sun had set, and the moon was shining distantly in the sky. They had remained in the position that they had originally fallen asleep in, Chloe sleeping on their stomach. They gently moved her, trying not to wake the snoozing feline, and pushed themself into a seated position.
They quickly rose and looked out their window. When they couldn't see anything, they walked over to it in an attempt to get a closer look. Even as they leaned slightly out in order to see more, they saw nothing out of the ordinary. The wind ruffled their hair slightly. It was cold. Very cold.
[Y/N] continued their search for the cause of the sound. They were nearly convinced that it had simply been a random creak due to the age of the rusty metal fire escape until they caught sight of a low picnic basket. In the dark it was a bit difficult to see much. The silhouette of the basket revealed that it was full of something, though they were unable to discern what it was.
Cautiously, they reached out to take it. It was on the same level as their window and only a few feet away, so they wondered how they hadn't seen it earlier. [Y/N] leaned out further to grab the handle on the basket.
As they pulled it inside, they were still unable to tell what the contents of the basket were. They set it on the floor with a sigh. Chloe was now awake, walking over to the basket to sniff at it. She herself was also nearly hidden in the dark, her reflective blue-green eyes glowing slightly from the small amounts of moonlight that managed to enter the room.
The teen grabbed their bag from its resting place in the corner of the room. It had been the only thing to suffer damages from the rain. The bag itself was a little wet on the bottom, but most of the clothes inside had stayed dry. What they were looking for was a flashlight. They believed that weeks ago they had thrown one in it, but were unsure.
At last, they found the promised item. It was old, small, and was probably about to run out of battery, but from what they remembered, it would get the job done. They tried pressing the switch on the handle, frustrated when it didn't turn on. After hitting it a few times and trying again, the flashlight reluctantly began working.
They immediately pointed it towards the basket sitting on the floor where they had left it. Chloe was still sniffing it, and was startled by the sudden light engulfing the area. With the basket within the circle of light, [Y/N] was able to clearly see its contents.
Inside were two apples, an orange, a loaf of bread wrapped in plastic, a bottle of either juice or soda, and a paper bag. All of the items were placed on a small white and yellow quilt. They were stunned at the food which seemed to have appeared out of thin air.
Before allowing themself to feel any sort of excitement at the items which would have been difficult to find and way too expensive for them to afford in a place like L'Manburg, they told themself that the fact they had no idea where the basket had come from was the most important thing. Instead, they decided to investigate further to decide whether the items were poisoned or something.
Stepping closer to the basket, the smell of something baked and sweet hit their nose. It was almost like pancakes which they had once had the absolute pleasure of eating, but also smelled faintly of cream or something similar. [Y/N] wasn't too familiar with desserts seeing as they could hardly afford normal foods.
They ignored the heavenly smell as much as possible. Their stomach begged them to eat whatever it was, but their brain kept them from doing so. As soon as they decided it was safe to eat, they would do so. That moment never came.
A piece of paper attached to the basket with a string caught their attention. They hadn't noticed it before, but they could see it clearly now. Written on the paper was the letter "W". Their mind went into overdrive. It was painfully obvious who this was from.
Wraith. Of course he had followed them. What if he had been the sneeze behind them in the alley? What if he planned to give them something like this to distract them from something? What if he had called the cops or some other agency to put them back into the system? They already knew he was a hero, which in their book meant he was probably doing this for his own profit.
Then again, what if this was just a kind gesture for a misfortuned kid? [Y/N] had always acknowledged that they had a bias against superheroes due to the fact that they purposefully avoided places like L'Manburg where they were probably needed the most.
With so many thoughts darting through their mind, they had no idea how much time had passed until they finally returned to the present. The only reason they had snapped out of their thought tornado was because of a sudden meow. They shifted their attention to Chloe, who was now playing with the slip of paper. The sight made them grin a little, but they still had to figure out what to do with the food items.
After a few more seconds of thought, they made the difficult decision. They weren't starving anymore. There was no excuse to eat suspicious food, even if it smelled heavenly. Whatever mystery baked good was hidden within the paper bag was certainly the origin of the scent. Maybe they would just get a peak at it...
It was a flaky baked good. It looked delicious, but [Y/N] resisted the urge to devour it right then and there. They weren't sure what exactly it was, but it had a light brown crust with a bit of something creamy on top. They had never seen something like this before.
[Y/N] quickly took a step back from the basket. Taking a deep breath through their mouth, they let out a sigh. It was a shame that they had to throw out something that appeared so heavenly. At one point, they would have wolfed down everything in the basket no questions asked. They realized that they couldn't afford to be that careless anymore.
They once again took the handle in their grasp and picked it up. Chloe was a bit mad at them for stealing away her new toy, but was curious as to what they were doing with the basket. With it securely in their fist, they walked back over to their window. They kept the flashlight in their other hand, turning it off to conserve what little battery it still had.
[Y/N]'s plan was to toss out the food into the dumpster in the alley. Throwing food into the bathroom trash was a little too rude even by their standards, seeing as it would surely rot and attract rats or other pests. At least the rats outside would get to enjoy the food next time they went dumpster diving.
After placing the basket on the platform outside their window, they climbed out themself. The cold hit them like a freight train, nearly making them gasp. Already, they could feel the chilled wind freezing their nose and cheeks. They tried to move faster so they wouldn't have to stay outside for as long.
Once they were standing on the fire escape, they again took the basket in their hands. Chloe had followed them outside. She didn't seem to mind the cold as much. [Y/N] was nearly envious of her white and gray fur which acted as a natural buffer against the breeze. Compared to their own dirty and thin graphic t-shirt, it was much more effective at retaining heat.
The pair began to make their way to the ground level. [Y/N] tried to travel as quietly as possible while Chloe naturally moved silently. The fire escape stayed surprisingly quiet, making almost no noise despite the old and rusted metal. They were thankful for it, but it made them wonder what could have caused it to creak so loudly previously.
After crossing many platforms and climbing down many stairs, they finally reached the ladder attached to the second floor platform. They realized that they had no idea how to climb down the ladder without dropping the basket first. Praying that the glass bottle wouldn't make much noise, they positioned it over the ground below and dropped it.
The sound of shattering glass filled the air. [Y/N] cringed at the familiar noise. The drink bottle had toppled out of the basket and fell to the pavement below. The liquid it had contained spilled out, staining the ground. Not that they could see it though, since it was nearly pitch black in the alley.
[Y/N] shoved the flashlight into their back pocket. They climbed down the ladder, landing on the dumpster lid below. Then, they slid off, their thin converse shoes hitting the ground with a quiet thud.They quickly took the flashlight back in their hand to survey what exactly had happened. Fumbling with it slightly before finding the switch, they turned it on.
The basket had fallen onto its side, the yellow and white quilt unfolded slightly. The bread and fruit had fallen less than a foot away, the apples still rolling around a little. Large shards of glass lay on the ground, with two main pieces which used to be the base and the neck of the bottle still holding some of the drink. Most of it had spilled onto the ground, turning the pavement from medium to dark gray.
Strangely, the pastry was nowhere to be found. It didn't take them long to find the paper bag where it had been previously, but the pastry itself must have slid much further. [Y/N] didn't pay mind to it, seeing as the rats would eat it regardless of its location.
They took the next few moments gathering the food items which had remained intact. Once they held the bread and fruit in one arm, they made their way over to the dumpster. Moving the flashlight into their mouth to use their hand to open the lid, they were hit with the most awful smell to ever exist. They gagged, only refraining from vomiting because they didn't want to lose their flashlight.
After dumping the food into the disgusting abyss, they dropped the lid and quickly took the flashlight from their mouth. Again, they nearly puked due to how retched the smell of garbage was. This was no ordinary garbage. This was a disgusting concoction of drugs and rot and whatever other nasty stuff people shoved into it. It wouldn't surprise them if there was even a corpse or two in there.
Once they recovered from their sick spell, they turned their attention back to the scene they had left. Everything remained in its place, almost like a crime scene. [Y/N] had to decide what to do with the basket and quilt now.
Deciding that it was probably safe to keep non-food items that were definitely not poisoned, they refolded the quilt to place it back into the basket. The edge which had been closest to the bottle was damp and sticky, confirming that the liquid was probably a soda or other sugary drink. Maybe a coke? Clearly Wraith or whoever else had created the basket arrangement was a big fan of the stuff. A full bottle wasn't necessarily a normal thing to just give to a stranger.
Aside from the stickiness, the quilt was surprisingly soft. It was made of thicker material than the blankets they were familiar with, so it would probably be good for warmth in times like these. They were suddenly reminded of how cold they were. A shiver ran through their spine, and they brought their free hand up to their opposite arm to rub some of the chill away.
[Y/N] turned off the flashlight and dropped it on top of the quilt in the basket. At this point, they didn't need the light to climb the fire escape to get back to their apartment. They had had so much practice over the past couple weeks that they could probably do it in their sleep. They bent down to pick up the handle.
As they walked back over to the dumpster, the basket hit against their leg as they walked. They didn't try to stop it, seeing as they truly didn't mind it. It was somewhat fun to push it away with their knee, only to have it swing back like a pendulum.
They set the basket on the closed lid of the dumpster, thankful that they wouldn't have to smell whatever mess was in there again for a long, long time. Following the basket, they pushed themself up onto it. Once they were standing properly, they once again took the basket in their hand.
It was easy enough to climb up the ladder carrying the basket now that it was much lighter. On the second floor platform, they found Chloe waiting for them. The cat had probably been watching them the entire time, wondering why they were throwing out good food. [Y/N] even began to wonder that themself. Maybe they should have just kept the food? Were their issues with trust really interfering that much? In any case, it was too late to go back now. The only things that would be eating those now things were roaches and rats.
[Y/N] gave Chloe a scratch on the head, and once again began to cross the platform. Only this time, they were leaving with a new notion bouncing around in their head. Some food for thought, if you will. Maybe it was really time to start trusting people, things, and stuff in general. It would surely make life easier, but would also make them infinitely more vulnerable.
Just as [Y/N] was about to take a deep dive into their own thoughts, a shiver coursed through their body. This time, it wasn't caused by the cold. They suddenly felt as though they were being watched, even as unlikely as it sounded. Immediately, they changed their focus from inside to their surroundings.
They kept still, mostly trying to hear anything that would give them some information as to why they suddenly felt like a pair of eyes were staring at them. Their eyes would be virtually useless in the dark alley, as the alley itself was dim even in the middle of the day.
Against their best effort, they couldn't hear anything. This was the second time this evening that they felt another presence. They sincerely hoped that they were simply being paranoid, but they didn't want to take any chances.
After what felt like ages of straining their senses to no avail, they decided what would be the next best thing. Probably run back to their apartment and probably hide under their new blanket. That's exactly what they did.
Words: 2597
A/N: Sorry that this chapter is mostly filler lol. I hope you guys enjoyed anyway! I've been trying to write more these past few days to make up for my break during finals week. However, I will probably be posting less for another two weeks because I'm going on a trip. I hope you guys understand! Anyways, thanks for reading this chapter! Bye! ( Don't ask me how I've turned a pretty short and simple period of events into a 2,500+ word chapter. Just don't.)