The Bottom

At a hotel, a man in his early 40s could be seen walking out with a woman who had a horrified look. He held her in his arms, to which she took comfort after the horror she had just gone through.

"Good thing you butt remembered me and called me." The man said trying to lighten the mode, causing the girl to almost cry.

"Thats not funny... maybe in a few months I can look back at this and laugh." She said with some tears, she was drugged on a business trip and was almost raped. She was indeed lucky that she had butt dialed him, she had enough sense to feel the happening in her phone, so she was able to tell him where they were taking her while at the same time not alerting the man, who was now inside the hotel with a broken jaw.

"Sorry... I guess the fact it has been so long since I hit someone got me in the wrong state of mind. I will drop you off at home, just take time to clear your head. I will call in a few days to check up on you and maybe take you out to clear your head or something." He said softly,

"Thank you... I don't know how I will repay you. Thank you," She said softly, to which he nodded lightly while helping her into his car. which was a new model car which just hinted that he had a lot of money.

He got into the car and drove her home while talking to her with some small talk. It didn't take long for her to be dropped home, where he walked her inside her large home. 

"Do you want me to cook you something? if you want something quicker, I can go order a pizza or something." He asked to which she just cried,

"... I think I just need some space to myself." She said softly, to which he nodded lightly, before giving her a hug, which only made her tears grow. She wanted to hug him back, but knowing he was married stopped her, as she felt like it was wrong.

"I will get the gang back together, just us going out to do dumb stuff like the old days." He said with a smile, to which she smiled slightly while nodding.

"No heavy drinking, at least without us." He said to which she nodded while seeing him off, before heading up to her room, where she just rolled up into a ball and went to sleep...

Meanwhile, the man headed off back home... who was this man? It was me, I was currently 43 years old. that girl I just helped was called Ava, who was a childhood friend of mine. Back then, we were dating and were almost married. but we ended up going our own ways. she didn't want to start a family as she wanted to put her attention to her business. meanwhile, I wanted to split my attention between a family and making money. In the end, although we broke up, we remained friends. 

It has been more than 20 years, and currently, I am married with two daughters. Growing up, I was the troublesome kid. Getting into fistfights was something common for me growing up. But I wasn't the same man as in the past, I was now a family man.

Pulling up to my house, I entered and couldn't wait to be greeted by my children. but All I saw was my 18-year-old daughter giving me a hateful look while taking her younger sister upstairs, leaving her mother who was in tears while holding a picture. I instantly knew something was off,

"Emily... what's wrong?" I asked in confusion and unease. I walked over to her, just for a tight, hard slap to land on my face. I instantly froze, just looking at her in shock and disbelief 

"How could you!" She yelled while showing me the picture of me and Ava walking out of the hotel. I froze looking at the paper, the question of how she got that crossed my mind, but it fell out of the window as I realized how bad this was.

"it's not what you think. Ava had butt dialed me, she was drugged..." I said wanting to explain things, but Emily just shook her head. She just showed me a picture of texts between myself and Ava. how we made plans to go out and have sex, how we mocked Emily, and the list went on. it went back months, leaving me not knowing what to say. There were even secrets only I knew of my wife in the picture as we mocked her in the texting. 

"thats fake. we can go back to the hotel and you can see the camera of what happened," I said seriously, to which she just shook her head. for months, she had the phone which was proof of cheating. but she still held out hope and hired a private investigator to watch me, today they brought back such proof. I was in the hotel for hours and came out with a woman. was that clear proof?

"Leave, I will have my lawyer call you," Emily said causing my face to go blank.

"Are you not even going to listen to me?" I asked coldly, to which she just hatefully glared at me, having nothing to say.

"Just leave already!" my eldest daughter, Hannah said with tears. I looked at her and looked back at my wife.

"I will come back with a copy of the hotel recordings," I said before leaving, 

It was clear I was set up, but by who? Ava? I found it hard to believe, but there was a chance. how lucky she was to butt-dial me. How lucky she was I got there before anything happened to her. something about that was off, but her tears were real... but girls can cry. but what would she want from all of this?

I went to the hotel to try and get the video of what happened, but it turned out that the camera was down at that time. This left me in a pickle, it would not be believable if I returned home without any proof. So, I went to the police as they arrived after I left. but they for some reason played things off as if they had no idea what I was talking about as they didn't get any calls from the hotel.

I was lost and confused, I was even questioning myself. Was I and Ava doing such things? I gritted my teeth, before returning home to make my argument, which I didn't have as all of the proof was aimed towards me being the cheater. Should I head to Ava and get help? but would they believe that?

"... why are you not calling the lawyers?" Hannah asked seeing her mother looking outside from time to time, 

"If he has the recording..." She said softly, although in the back of her head, it was telling her the best thing to do was not feed into my lies, she was still holding out hope.

"he cheated. That hotel location, the text messages, and the secrets told between him and Ava... how could any of this be fake?" She said in tears. she loved her father... well, she used to as he instantly disgusted her seeing he was a cheater. For the past few months, she had been with her mother in trying to collect proof. She had seen the pain her mother had been in holding onto straws to hope it was all a lie or something.

She refused to let her mother suffer like this, the sooner her mother was gone, the sooner she could help her father get back on her feet...

So, when I returned, they didn't open the door and forced me to leave as they warned me they would call the police since I didn't even come back with the proof... that day I slept in the car as I was too embarrassed to sleep anywhere else, and the hotel didn't feel right.

The following day, I was hit with the divorce paper... and I was destroyed. She didn't have just proof of cheating, she even wanted to make me pay, so she and my daughter filed abuse charges. With both of my daughters coming forward to side with her, I lost heavily. adding many more things they used, I found myself losing my job, car, home, and a good amount of my money...

It all felt like a dream, I just blinked and I found myself outside on the streets, a homeless man without anyone to help me. I went from the heavens to the bottom, a homeless man who didn't even know where to start to start putting his life back together.

With a lost look, I headed towards a supermarket I knew my ex-wife loved to go to... I guess I still wanted to explain things, I still wanted to fight... but for only a week. I planned to stay there for a week, waiting for her... and so I waited.

3 days, she did pull up. but seeing me, she instantly, left. Throughout, I survived thanks to people who gave me money or food. I was never homeless and didn't know the ways of such things, plus I was staying in one spot.

on the 7th day, I got up and left. I didn't know where I just walked. I was defeated, by who? I didn't know and I just didn't care anymore. I just wanted to be alone.

Back at my old home, Ava stood at the door. She took a deep breath before knocking on the door. After a moment, Emily opened the door and her face dropped seeing Ava. Ava was confused, but she spoke

3rd POV

"Hey Emily, I'm here to see Daniel," Ava said softly,

"You have the nerves to appear here you home wrecker?" She yelled before jumping at Ava, who was caught off guard. That day, Ava found out that Emily could launch out a mean right hook, which sent her flying to the ground. Ava fell backward while holding her face in pain.

"What are you talking about?" Ava said while getting herself off the ground and getting away, she knew better than to fight. but her words only enraged Emily, who wanted to throw more fists, just to stop at Ava's next words.

"You just assaulted me, don't think because you're his husband that I will not destroy your life." She said coldly, making Emily grit her teeth. Ava glared at her, before calling the police, which came and took Emily away.

She didn't press charges, just under the condition she and Emily talked. So, they were given a personal room.

"What did you mean by calling me a home wrecker?" Ava asked while looking at Emily who was holding papers.

"You have the nerve to ask me that?" She asked while angrily giving her the papers. she would have thrown them if not for the police who were on standby. Ava looked at the papers, they were pictures of text messages between herself and Daniel, followed by the picture of her and Daniel leaving the hotel, which made her enraged.

"These are all a load of shit. This is my phone, you can go through the texts with him and me. I can even contact my phone providers to get you the information if you think I lied." Ava said while Emily went through the text messages with Ava and Daniel, just to see they didn't text as they stopped talking to each other ever since she and Daniel began dating.

"I began to distance myself from Daniel. I can also get proof of where I was on those days that said we should meet up. I will admit, that I have been jealous of you and Daniel. He was my first love, but we both had different goals in life." Ava said calmly while taking notes of the days she and Daniel were said to meet up.

"as for the hotel. As you can see, I called him. I had butt dialed him as I was being drugged and was going to be raped. These are my medical records from when I went to the doctor the next day to ensure the drugs had no lasting effects on my body. this is the police report I made and the man I'm searching for right now. but he had disappeared. someone had dressed up as a cop and had taken him away. It's clear someone wanted to break you and Daniel up... and I honestly don't give a shit about you right now. Where is Daniel?" Ava asked coldly, she had a gut feeling this woman wasn't the one for him. her regret in life was letting Daniel go.

Seeing Daniel happy with his family always made her wonder how it could have been her and him. but she admitted that it was too late, and threw herself into work. it was the path she picked, and now it was too late to do anything.

"..." Emily's head went blank at Ava's work, 

"... No, Jack gave me the proof," Emily said in tears, making Ava roll her eyes as it all clicked in her head.

"Jack, the same guy who had always had a crush on you? it just so happened he is the guy who led to the business opportunity to happen. the same thing that led to me getting drugged. It's clear he set you and us up... and let me guess, he had been playing the role of a shoulder for you to cry on?" Ava asked, causing Emily to break down as it was a reality she didn't want to face.

And so a hunt for Daniel broke out. Emily rushed to the spot she had avoided as Daniel was there, but he was nowhere to be seen. they asked around, and by viewing the street camera, they saw him just walking aimlessly. but it had been 1 week since Daniel left that spot, they had trouble finding him, but with money they found him.

First POV

"It's going to take time to get used to, but I'm sure I can adapt." off the grid, and within the forest, I was looking at the ugly small tent I built made out of blankets and other stuff I managed to get.

"There might be snakes and other stuff. So, I might die... but fate has already beaten me down, is death so scary." I said with a sigh, just to sigh again realizing just how much I have been talking to myself lately.

"good thing I have been going camping, so I have some survival skills. but I wonder how easy it would be catching a fish with a spear." I said while looking at the wooden spear I had created by sharpening a long stick. I sighed before going to the water, where I looked at the fish through the clear water.

So, hours passed of me stabbing the water and missing a few times, but I also caught a few fish. I also began to make a campfire, where I took dry sticks, as well as dry leaves, and began to try and make a fire.

It was hard, but I didn't give up until I soon had a small fire which I grew using more sticks and dried-up stuff. I sat back with a smile, before going on to start cooking the fish using sticks. 

"So long as I distract myself, then the less likely I would die of boredom," I said while looking at the clear blue sky. it would take some time to get used to, but this would do. while keeping the fire going, and at the same time enjoying the stars in the sky, I was lost in thought. but soon, the sound of a helicopter hit my ears. drawn over by the flames, it soon stopped above me.

I just looked at the helicopter in confusion. I didn't care to run or get scared... I just didn't have it in me to care for such things. all of my energy was used up.

it took some time, and soon I watched as Ava moved some tree branches out of the way, before she looked at me from across the river. She had a tired look, she sat behind a table most of her life, so this new stuff was new to her. She wasn't dumb enough to come here without some help as police officers were with her.

"Daniel... you son of a bitch, you know how hard it was tracking you down?" She asked softly while looking at the fire, and back at me.

"I kind of didn't want to be found," I said with a smile while taking the cooked fish and just eating it. I sighed softly at the taste, before just looking at her.

"I have no interest in returning. I made my speeches and arguments, I had nothing else to say." I said lightly.

"Then come back with me. just a few days ago, I was coming to say goodbye to you. I was going to leave the city and go somewhere else. I can accept you not wanting to see them again... but I will not accept you staying here." She said 

"I have no interest in anyone pitty, or being a leach," I said in a soft voice.

"Really? So you're saying you not going to see the end of One Piece?" She asked making me freeze for a good long seconds... a few minutes later, I was in a car. returning to the city...

Elsewhere, ripples were happening. a seal that has been around for nearly 2,000 years was opening, releasing unknown energy into the world. energy which began to affect the lifeforms on earth, from ants to humans.