Maybe You're the Reason Why

Chapter 4

I can feel my headache behind my eyes, and I groan. I grab my head, scrunching my eyes closed in an attempt to numb the pain.

"Rada? Are you awake?"

"Shhhhhhhhh. SHH. Shut up. My head hurts enough as it is," I groan trying to tune out the world. Let me tell you a little secret; IT DIDN'T WORK.

"Rada," oh my god, I love the way he says my name. Maybe it's the deepness of his voice or the way he says it but I find my face turning warm.

"Did I not just tell you to shut up?" I roll my eyes and regret everything in my life up until this point.

"Haha, calm down Spitfire. Take some medication." His dark, worried expression turned into one of laughter and it annoyed me. He hands me a cup of some neon green syrup and I grimace.

"What is this radioactive liquid? Are you trying to kill me?" My eyes grow wider against my heads protest.

"It's lime flavored," he says deadpan, and I grab the cup from his hand. I take it like a shot, and he's not wrong, it is lime flavored. It's like really sour and burns my throat on the way down.

"The hell dude! You could've told me it was sour!"

"Well, if I did, you wouldn't have wanted to drink it. Am I wrong?"

I look away, not having a rebuttal against his argument. I am fuming when I realize that either the hammer in my head finally broke free and I had a huge gaping hole through my skull or the radioactive liquid that was given to me finally did its job. I reach up trying to sneakily feel my skull just in case there was a hole, once satisfied I look up and say,

"Nikolas, what happened to me?"

"Well, you strained yourself to much in the simulation and you fainted. You shouldn't have been able to break free from the grass."

The room got so silent; I could hear a pin drop.

"So, what am I?"

He takes a deep breath, and the worried expression returns on his face, making him appear darker than I know him to be. He hands me a note and says,

"Go to this location in about an hour." A sense of confusion washes over me.

"What? Why? What am I?"

"Just- JUST TAKE THE NOTE, OKAY?"

I jump back, taking the note with me. How. Dare. He? I feel shocked not knowing why he snapped. Did I push him too far? Nikolas turns around, opens the door, and clicks it shut behind him. I just stare, confused on what the hell just happened. I just sit there trying to understand what to do next. I can't bring myself to open the note next. I'm still just trying to unpack what happened a few minutes ago. What did I do? I feel so scared and helpless. And then, I start to cry. Through my tears I try to unfold the piece of paper Nikolas handed to me.

7844 NIKOLHARDY LANE

08:00 P.M. SHARP

DO NOT BE LATE SPITFIRE. DO NOT BE LATE.

Nikolhardy Lane. Seeing those two words make me cry harder. I curl up into a ball on the testing table and sob. I sob, and sob, and sob, until I can't sob anymore. Then, I fall asleep, hoping to wake up and realize this was a part of the test, or better yet, a dream.