Chained

Chapter 21

~Zita~

I suddenly awoke when I felt a warm sensation on my back. When I turned around, I found out the sensation was Andrew sleeping next to me. Naked. I let out a scream and he jolted up from my pillow.

"Wha- what's goin' on?" he mumbled, rubbing his sleepy eyes.

"You! What- how are you- do you think- get out!!!!!"

He scrambled off the bed and I flew along with him. He stood up and I was sprawled on the floor, dangling from his wrist. The chain had shortened to the way it was in the beginning.

"What is this?" I said, standing up and pulling at it.

"I-I don't have a clue." Andrew said.

"Well, before you try and find out, cover up."

He looked down and blush, not noticing he had nothing on. He quickly grabbed my sheets and wrapped it around his body.

"I really don't know." he mumbled, rubbing his face. "It's all... fuzzy. I remember feeling a little sick, weird even, and Ani help me to my room and then... blank."

I thought over his symptoms and something clicked in my head.

"Were you dizzy?" I asked. "Feeling like you were gonna puke?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

I sprang out the door and went over to Lanny's, knocking up a storm.

"Lanny? Lanny! You okay in there?"

I heard the soft ruffle of sheets and Lanny grunt. I waited a few seconds and then heard him scream, followed up by another scream.

"I'm barging in!" I warned.

I backed up and ran into the door. I bounced off and crashed into Andrew.

"What's going on?" he said, fully awake now.

"I haven't a clue."

I went back to the door and twisted the door knob. It clicked open and I flushed. Stupid. I opened the door and found Lanny and Cross, sitting at the far sides of the wall, opposite of each other, with only sheets wrapped around them.

"Oh, hell." Andrew whispered behind me.

"Ohmigod!" Lanny gasped, tears brimming his eyes.

Cross was frozen with his mouth gaping open like a fish. Lanny then started to cry and he shut his mouth.

"Hey," I said, running over and hugging him. "Shh, it's alright."

"It's not alright," he mumbled. "It's not."

I looked over at Cross and he was grimacing. He wasn't very happy about this either. 

"You guys felt sick the other day, didn't you?" I asked.

They exchanged awkward glances that each other and nodded.

"Yeah," Cross said. "It felt like I was on a boat during a tsunami."

 "What do you think is the cause of that?"

"Um, I don't know. Probably something that I... ate."

I waited for an explanation but nothing came up.

"The muffin," Lanny finally said. "Ani's muffin. After I ate that I felt kinda weird."

"No, it can't be Ani," Andrew said, crossing his arms. "She would never do something like."

"Oh really?" I said, glaring at him. "How well do you really know her, huh?"

"I've known her for practically my whole life. How long have you?"