HOLLOW CREEK

Chapter 4: The Gas Station Incident

Aiden sat in the driver's seat, his hands firmly gripping the wheel as the car rolled down the road. Lisa sat beside him, her gaze fixed straight ahead, her thoughts seemingly lost in the passing scenery. In the backseat, Todd stared out the window, his mind wandering as he observed the changing landscape.

"I wish we had flowers growing on our side," Todd remarked suddenly, breaking the awkward silence that had settled in the car.

Lisa welcomed the talking point, turning slightly to face Todd. "You know, it's not always been like this," she said, her voice tinged with nostalgia. "My mom told me that when she was my age, flowers were almost everywhere... well, everywhere until they came into town."

Aiden interjected, correcting her gently. "Yeah, pops said the same thing. Hollow Creek had flowers everywhere. It wasn't the fault of an entire group; it was just a misunderstanding."

"Yeah, yeah, it's never anybody's fault; it's always a misunderstanding, huh?" Lisa replied, her tone growing agitated as she turned away from Aiden and stared out the window, frowning.

Aiden, still focused on the road, maintained his composure. "Yeah, a misunderstanding," he affirmed calmly.

Todd attempted to interject, his confusion evident. "Then what actually happened? I mean, if it's not the vampires' fault as a group, and it can't be us... wait a minute, there's no way us getting territorial changed the landscape..."

But before Todd could finish, Lisa cut him off, her voice tense. "If it was just a misunderstanding, then why haven't you apologized?"

"Huh?" Todd exclaimed, taken aback. "Why would Aiden apo—"

He was interrupted again, this time by Aiden. "Maybe I shouldn't apologize for something that we both agree was miscommunication," Aiden said, his tone growing stern as he adjusted his glasses and drove with one hand.

Todd began to murmur to himself, trying to make sense of the situation. "Why would Todd apologize, and why is Lis... wait a minute, are you guys even talking about what I'm talking about? Because I am so confused right now..."

Aiden pulled into a gas station, bringing the car to a halt. He turned to Todd and Lisa, asking, "Do you need anything from the store while we refuel?"

"Why don't you get me a bag of misunderstandings then," Lisa retorted sarcastically.

Todd suddenly realized his misinterpretation of the situation and thought to himself, *Ohhh boy, I misread the room, I misread soooo bad.*

Aiden let out a sigh, adjusting his glasses once more. "A soda and a bag of chips it is," he said defeatedly. "What about you, Todd?"

"A soda will be fine," Todd replied, his smile forced and nervous. "If it'll get you out of this car faster."

Aiden sighed again and headed into the store, leaving Todd and Lisa alone in the car. Todd started whistling nervously, trying to break the tension. "Yeeeahhh, I'm just gonna go and uhhhh let you cool off..."

Lisa's gaze through the rearview mirror could've frozen molten lava, and Todd quickly retracted his statement. "I mean, I'm gonna go talk to Aiden."

Todd hurried out of the car and into the store, where he found Aiden browsing the book section with an empty cart. Todd thought to himself, *Ohhhh boy, Aiden looks pissed.*

Aiden turned to Todd, looking a bit confused. "Whose pumping the gas?" he asked.

"Lisa is," Todd replied as he peered through the store window and saw Lisa pumping gas. Their eyes met, but Lisa ignored Aiden's wave.

Todd felt a wave of secondhand embarrassment wash over him as Aiden let out a silent sigh. "Dude, can you grab the sodas while I get the chips?" Aiden asked.

Todd nodded and rushed to the fridge, where he bumped into a shady-looking guy in a hoodie. "Sorry," Todd muttered, but the guy paid him no mind.

Scanning the fridge, Todd noticed only off-branded sodas but flavors he liked. "Soooo, would you like orange or black currant?" Todd called out to Aiden.

No response came from Aiden, and Todd called out again, growing increasingly concerned. "Dude, orange or black currant? They don't have anything in raspberry here, so we can't be picky. And I know Lisa loves black currant."

Still no reply from Aiden, who was now occupied with the chips. Todd shrugged and grabbed three bottles of black currant flavored soda and a bottle of water before turning to find Aiden.

To Todd's horror, he saw Aiden standing in front of the teller with a hooded guy pointing a g*n at them. "Hey... uhhh, friend, we don't have to do th—" Todd began, but the hooded guy cut him off.

"SHUT UP! I'VE HAD A BAD DAY TODAY AND I NEED YOU TO SHUT UP," the robber shouted.

"Ok, ok, ok, I'll shut up, no problem," Todd stammered nervously. "But then again, if it's money you want, you can have mine. No need for anyone to get hurt."

The robber pointed the g*n at Todd and demanded his belongings, and Todd's eyes started turning blue as he reached for his wallet. Aiden's voice echoed in Todd's mind, reminding

him, *No, we can't expose ourselves here. Humans should never know we exist.*

"What do we do then?" Todd whispered to Aiden. "We can't just let this guy steal from this shop."

"I know, trust me on this one. I've got it covered," Aiden replied telepathically.

Todd agreed, and Aiden approached the robber slowly, his hands raised. "Dude, chill out, okay? We all have bad days. Trust me, I know," Aiden said calmly. "But no bad day is worth you doing something stupid. Just put the g*n down and let's sort whatever this out."

The robber laughed incredulously. "So, you're telling me a guy with his hands raised is more of a threat than a guy like me with a g*n? We'll see..."

With a sudden shift in demeanor, the robber pointed the g*n at Aiden and fired, hitting him in the abdomen. Aiden fell to the ground, clutching his midsection in agony.

Todd rushed to Aiden's side, applying pressure to the wound as he tried to stem the bleeding. Meanwhile, the robber turned his attention to the teller, ordering him to empty the cash register into a bag.

As the lights flickered and the tension mounted, Todd couldn't help but giggle nervously. The robber, bewildered by Todd's reaction, pointed the g*n at him and demanded an explanation.

"What's so funny, my guy?" the robber growled.

Todd looked at him condescendingly. "It would've been so much cleaner if you'd have told me your name," he quipped.

Enraged, the robber c****d his g*n and aimed it at Todd, but before he could shoot, the lights went out, plunging the store into darkness. Amidst the chaos, Todd heard windows shattering, a loud growl, and screams.

When the lights came back on, the robber lay on the floor, his throat slashed and his guts spilling out. Lisa rushed in, her eyes widening in shock as she saw Aiden on the floor.

She knelt beside him, calling for an ambulance as Todd looked on, his heart racing with fear and uncertainty. The teller, trembling, pointed out the blood on Lisa's face.

"Must be the ketchup from the hot dog I had in the car," Lisa replied shakily, wiping the blood away.

As the chaos began to settle, Lisa sprang into action, knocking the g*n out of the robber's hand. The teller, shaken but determined, rushed to the back and retrieved the bandages. Todd quickly began patching up Aiden's wound, applying pressure to stop the bleeding.

With Aiden seated against the wall, Todd glanced over at his brother, his concern evident in his eyes. "You'll be fine, Aiden," he reassured him, though the worry still lingered in his voice.

Lisa rushed to Aiden's side, her expression filled with genuine concern. "Why aren't you healing? What's going on?" she asked telepathically, her thoughts filled with worry.

Aiden, coughing up blood, managed to respond, his voice strained. "I'm not the alpha yet. We haven't done the necessary proceedings. As I transition, I lose a bit of invulnerability," he explained, his words punctuated by pain.

Todd nodded, understanding the situation. "He'll be fine," he repeated, though his own uncertainty lingered beneath his words.

Soon, the sound of sirens filled the air as the ambulance and police arrived on the scene. With relief washing over her, Lisa watched as Aiden was carefully placed on a stretcher and loaded into the ambulance.

As the paramedics worked feverishly to save the robber's life, Todd, Lisa, and the teller, Brad Olsen, found themselves outside the gas station, facing questions from Officer Brooklyn Emery, a rookie officer with a determined demeanor.

Officer Brooklyn Emery twirled her pen as she introduced herself to Todd, Lisa, and Brad. "Hi, my name's Officer Brooklyn Emery. And your names are?"

"Todd," Todd replied first.

Brooklyn raised an eyebrow. "Got a second name there, bucko?"

Todd cleared his throat nervously. "Sorry, my name's Todd Aspen."

Lisa followed suit. "I'm Lisa Kenya."

The teller, Brad, chimed in. "My name's Brad Olsen."

Brooklyn grinned mischievously. "So we have a Brad Olsen, a Lisa Kenya, and oooohhhh a Todd Aspen... like Aspen from the Aspen household?"

Todd nodded awkwardly, confirming her suspicion.

Brooklyn continued, "So the guy in the ambulance is Aiden, right?"

Todd agreed, curious. "How'd you know?"

Brooklyn replied with a shy smile, "Your folks were pretty popular around here, your mom in particular. She helped out a lot of kids back in the day, me being one of them."

Turning to the matter at hand, Brooklyn asked, "Can you all tell me what happened here?"

Brad started recounting, "Well, Officer Brooklyn..."

Brooklyn interrupted, "You can just call me Brooke."

Brad nodded and continued, "Okay, ummm well, Brooke, Aiden pulled up to get some gas and snacks. His brother followed him in to help out. The robber came in, waved his g*n around. Todd and Aiden tried to diffuse the situation. Aiden then got shot, the lights went out, and I could swear it sounded like a bear came in and tore the guy apart."

Lisa and Todd exchanged nervous glances as Brooke picked up on their unease. "Is this true?" she asked.

Lisa replied, "I wouldn't know. I came rushing in after hearing gunshots."

Todd added, "It was too dark for me to see anything."

Brooke made a note of their statements. "Okay, none of this makes sense..."

Meanwhile, the paramedics attempted to tend to the robber, who was clinging to life. With his dying breath, he weakly pointed at Lisa and whispered, "De...mon..." before passing away.

Lisa looked shocked, and Todd appeared disappointed. Brad chimed in, "That's what I remember. Whatever he got, he deserved."

Brooke jotted down a few notes and then turned to Brad. "You guys have 24/7 surveillance here, right?"

Brad nodded, and Brooke continued, "Well, I'll need those as evidence. Can I get them now?"

Brad agreed, "Yeah, sure. This is the only time I've seen or been a part of some action in this town. I'll get a few days off, so..."

Brooke just stared at Brad, who quickly gestured to the back of the shop and jogged off to the surveillance room.

Turning to Todd and Lisa, Brooke teased, "Wow, for a boyfriend, you really aren't good at the comforting thing, huh?"

Todd looked surprised, and Lisa blushed shyly. "Uh, we aren't together," Todd clarified.

"Yeah, we're just friends," Lisa added.

Brooke walked over to Todd and joked, "Could've fooled me, haha. Anyway, we're all done here. I'll get back to you guys if anything relevant comes up, so no leaving town without my knowing, cool?"

Todd and Lisa both agreed, and someone called out for Brooke to wrap up the questioning.

Brooke, visibly annoyed, put on a fake smile and shouted back, "Yeah, Chief Liam, just getting the surveillance files, all good in my hood, sir."

Chief Liam instructed her to hurry up, and Brooke replied with a quick "K, sir." She then bid Todd and Lisa goodnight as she headed to meet with Brad, who was returning with the file.

Todd whispered to Lisa, "It's all good in my hood?"

Lisa stifled her laughter, and Brooke noticed something on Lisa's hand. "Hey, you okay? That cut looks nasty."

Todd and Lisa stopped giggling, and Lisa explained with a smile, "Must've been one of the glass shards from the shop. I cut myself trying to help Aiden."

Brooke, still a bit unconvinced, urged her to get it patched up to avoid a second death on the case. Lisa agreed, and they parted ways.

Todd and Lisa headed to Aiden's car, buckled up, and Todd suggested going to Aiden's location, but Lisa insisted they head to the Crimson spot first to move things along.

Todd reluctantly agreed, and Lisa emphasized the urgency of sorting things out quickly. They then drove away.

Back at the station, Brooke sat at her desk, surrounded by surveillance video footage. Her coworkers had all gone home for the night, leaving her to wrap up the day's work. Chief Liam approached her desk with a smile on his face.

"Close up when you're done, will ya? And don't stay too long. You've got a big day tomorrow," Chief Liam reminded her.

Curious, Brooke asked, "What's going on tomorrow?" as she continued typing on her computer.

Chief Liam leaned in, giving Brooke a slight bump on the head. "You're no longer a rookie as of tomorrow. You passed under me, which is kind of a big deal, you know, with me being a hard a*s and all."

Brooke stopped what she was doing, her emotions overwhelming her. Clutching her golden butterfly pendant, a tear rolled down her face. Chief Liam's soft voice brought her comfort as he reassured her, "Take the night off. This is a small town. The case is going to be here when you get back in the morning. You deserve it. You've been working your butt off this past year, and your mum would be proud."

He glanced at a picture of Brooke's mum on the wall, who also had the same pendant as Brooke. With a smile, Brooke shut down her computer, wiped the tears off her face, and smiled at Chief Liam. She embraced him tightly, feeling a rush of gratitude.

"Whoa," Chief Liam said playfully as he returned her hug, "Yolanda would've been so proud."

After the hug, Brooke looked up at Chief Liam and asked, "Can I get a ride home?"

"Sure thing," Chief Liam replied with a nod.

Brooke switched off the lights, locked the door, and headed off to Chief Liam's truck. As she walked, she thought to herself, "I did it, Mum. Tomorrow, I get to be a town cop, just like you." She kissed her pendant, a silent tribute to her mother's memory, and rushed to the truck.