I'd Kill You First: when bad meets bad

Chap. 46

BRODY:

I didn't understand.

Why was she doing this?

We just wanted to help her.

"I already told you, nothing happened to me. I fell down some stairs when I was running from the little cafe. I woke up in an alley where Keenon found me, and the next thing I can remember is waking up just now with you three here, waiting to question and examine my life like your mouths are freaking microscopes," Soda said irritably, sitting upright in her hospital bed with a tray of disgusting mush sitting in front of her for her lunch.

"You and I both know that's not what happened," Keenon said in a deep, aggravated voice as he leaned forward in his chair and pressed his elbows into the sheets. "Why are you doing this? We can help you and you damn well know it!"

"I don't need any help!" Soda hissed back, glaring at him. "I had a simple accident and now I'm fine."

"You told me in the alley after I found you all beaten up that a guy named Drake had made you remember," he held up his hand when she tried to cut in, "And before you even try to refute me, the evidence that you are lying is right in front of us. You remember! You said Drake made you get back your memory, and whoopdeedoo, it's back! Case closed!"

"The fall from the stairs must have made me remember!" she countered defensively. "I don't even know a Drake!"

And this, ladies and gentlemen, was the back and forth banter that had been ongoing for about an hour now.

I sat back in my uncomfortable chair and rubbed over my face with my hands in irritation. I had originally thought that, yes, of course Soda was lying, even though it didn't make sense. But it's been an hour, and she hasn't once slipped up or changed her story. It's really starting to sound convincing. Maybe Keenon had gone mad over the last few months by himself and made up the conversation in the alley. I mean, he was the only one in the room that had ever said the name Drake like it meant the world to him. Soda seemed to have no clue who that was.

"Keenon, just give it a break maybe, okay?" Matt said softly, locking nervous eyes with me for a short minute.

I knew in those few seconds that he was thinking the same as me. He was beginning to doubt Keenon's side of things, because I hate to admit, I believed Soda over Keenon any day of the year. Although it sounded too cliche to be true, maybe she had fallen while running. There was no plausible reason to lie about being beaten up, so why shouldn't we believe her?

Keenon, on the other hand, was a different story. The more I thought about it, the bigger my headache became. He had every reason to make up a wild story about Soda being in danger. It gave him the perfect opportunity to get back into her life and possibly redeem himself if we managed to catch one of her attackers.

"Take a break?" Keenon spat out at Matt. "She's being stubborn! Something is up with her and I want to know what!"

Matt shot me another look of doubt and I returned it, but Keenon saw it.

"You..." He said slowly, looking back and forth between us. "You don't believe me, do you?"

When we stayed silent with our eyes trained on the ground, he stood up from his chair and paced around the room. "Unbelievable," he muttered.

"It's not that we don't believe you," Matt insisted weakly, "it's just that we believe Soda too. Maybe you misunderstood something-"

"Are you being serious right now?" Keenon growled dangerously, turning cold eyes to Matt. "I did not misunderstand. It is obvious something happened to her, and you're telling me that even though she went missing for hours and was found beaten in an alley, that you actually think she just fell down stairs? For hours?!"