Moonlit Craters

(7.2) 296.64

Music: Halsey, Control 
February 9th, 2020

"Howie?" she called back, voice trembling. It wouldn't be the first time they had used him against her.

"Stell?" he tried again.

This time the hoard moved to the side. They scurried as if burned by the light surrounding her friend. Stella let out a breath that she hadn't been aware that she was holding.

"Lopez, Jones," Howie greeted the two officers. He nodded coldly in their direction.

Stella didn't recognize the look on his face. He didn't appear happy with either of them. 

There was no way this was her friend. 

The Howie she knew was polite to everyone.

"Chang," one of them greeted.

"I'll take over from here. She and I were supposed to meet for dinner." Howie placed a protective arm around her waist, drawing Stella up against him.

She could feel that there wasn't any room to escape. Stella knew he was all too aware of all of her tricks to escape. 

There were also still the other officers to consider; if she didn't act just right, they would send her to the ER with a recommendation for enough Haldol to knock out an elephant. "Thai, right?" she tried to smile at him. Going by the look on his face, it wasn't successful.

"Thai," he agreed.

One of them, Jones maybe, gave her another once over. The two officers looked at each other. The other one shrugged their shoulders as if to ask who cares? With an unspoken agreement, both officers walked away.

Stella relaxed. "So, I'll just be going home." She tried to wriggle out of his iron grip. She found herself unable to as he tightened his arm around her waist. "How?" she asked, unable to finish her question.

"I'll take you home. Let's go get your shopping bags," he said, gesturing to the bags strewn around the path. 

Stella struggled against his grip. How could he hold her so easily with only one arm? "I'll be fine on my own, really."

Howie didn't say anything to her. He guided her over to the park bench, where he somehow managed to pick up all of her bags with one hand.

Stella struggled along next to him. She was hoping Howie The Impostor would loosen his grip so she could escape. She stumbled along next to him as he guided her towards his car. She fought him every step of the way, trying to make it as difficult as possible; if she could escape, then everything would be alright. 

She could go find the real Howie. 

He would make this impostor disappear.

Instead, she found herself somewhat unceremoniously tossed into his back seat. The door shut behind her. She tried the handle, but the door didn't budge. She turned to try the other door but stopped when she saw the black hole next to her. Her eyes widened as she took it in. It stared back at her, watching her with its menacing eye. Stella felt the door dig into her back as she flattened herself against it.

Stella labored for breath as she watched the black hole. She knew it was sucking the air out of her. Her face turned blue and her lungs screamed in pain as she held her breath. She chanced letting out some of the air she was holding in. She almost breathed out the rest of her air as the pain eased. 

If she let it all go, would she be able to survive?

Then, who cared about survival? 

She would be able to escape all of this.