eastside

chapter sixteen

Piper sighed as she dug her toes into the grainy sand beneath her feet. She stood with the ocean in front of her, eyes closed as the sun warmed her face and the breeze whipped through her hair.

She slowly breathed in the salty air, listening as the waves crashed onto the shore when she felt two arms wrap around her waist from behind, pulling her back slowly before a delicate kiss was placed on her shoulder. She lolled her head back as she sunk further into the embrace, her arms hugging onto the ones around her.

She could have stayed that way forever, just her and Eddie in the heavenly solitude of the beach.

The longer they stood together, the more something began to feel off.. like something was wrong.. The earth around her started to shift as she heard a maniacal laugh and felt two large lumps pressing into her upper back causing her eyes to shoot open. She turned to see Beth holding onto her before two shot glasses formed in her hands as they were suddenly back in the hallway.. but it was darker than before and dilapidated as the walls had holes and cracks.

"You didn't have what he wanted, so he got his old favorite instead." She said with a cocky grin plastered across her face.

Piper felt herself becoming sick as she turned to run but she smacked face first into someone instead, causing her to fall back hard on her ass. She slowly followed the legs up to the chest, breathing a sigh of relief as she saw Eddies clothes. Unfortunately that relief was soon cut short when she got to the face and saw the creep staring down at her with a sickening grin spreading across his lips.

"Cmon we can be friends, ya might notta had what he wanted but ya definitely got what I want."

He dove towards her as she let out a blood curdling scream. She tried to move backwards as she kicked him away but her body felt like it weighed a thousand pounds, her legs like jello as she moved them. The creep finally grabbed ahold of her as she screamed again when she felt another firm grip on her arms, shaking her awake.

"Piper, wake up... hey it's okay.."

She snapped her eyes open to see Chris hovering over her, a look of concern washed over his face.

"Hey... there she is, welcome back." He spoke softly while brushing some of the hair out of her face. She stared at him wildly as she tried to process her surroundings, her heart racing out of her chest. She couldn't think straight and felt as if she had been hit by a semi.

"Where are we?" She managed to croak out. Her mouth was dry, like she had ate a load of sand.. and that was a good possibility seeing as she passed out in the parking lot.

Chris rubbed at the back of his neck nervously as he looked down at her. "Your apartment.. Don't be upset... but I needed help getting you home... so Eddie's out there.."

He felt as if he were trying to defuse a bomb.. and obviously chose the wrong colored wire as her face morphed from confusion to being absolutely pissed.. so he quickly explained to lessen the damage.

"I told him that he needed to leave after we got you inside but he said he wasn't leaving without talking to you."

Piper shot up, instantly regretting it as a wave of nausea hit her. She squeezed her eyes shut as the nausea peaked and slowly began to dissipate, replacing itself with pure anger.

"I don't want him in my fucking apartment, Chris. I don't have shit to say to him.."

Chris studied her face for a few seconds before he slowly nodded and stood from the side of her bed. He left her room without a word as he pulled the door shut behind him.