The Missing Linck

• TWENTY •

I jolt awake, frantically looking around. Quenna gets up from her seat and nears me, the memory of the feral horror that was her biting me springing up in my mind and making me cringe away from her.

"Hey, Tasha, relax. I don't bite," she tells me in a soothing voice, her hand slowly brushing my hair.

My eyes widen as I take in the hospital room around me. What happened after she bit me? My hand touches my neck but it's clear. Absolutely no sign exists that it was even poked. How-

"Tasha, you hit your head pretty hard and had a concussion. Reid found you when he came back to see if he could help you in any way to implement your 'party plan'. You were unconscious for quite some time, you know? We were all so worried!" she says upon noticing my expression of extreme confusion.

"Oh, I totally forgot! Your parents were so worried. I forced them to go get some food because they wouldn't move an inch from here so I'll go get them," she tells me and rushes out of the room.

Wait, she said party plan? So, none of anything that happened after the pigeon thing actually happened? But, how- it all felt so real! Come to think of it, there is no proof that anything happened. My arm doesn't have that gash, Quenna biting me left no mark, my ribs don't hurt. In fact, the only pain that is there is the one I remember from hitting my head on the windowsill. Was it all really only a terrifying dream?

I look up at the sound of footsteps and see Reid running in and squatting by my side, his breathing laboured like he had run a lot.

"Tashar, are you alright? I was so worried! I found you unconscious near Quenna's room. Do you remember how that happened? Do I have to kill any of those people you hired?" he gushes on, barely being able to talk legibly as he's short of breath.

"Reid, calm down and breathe first. Then, tell me what you found because I don't remember much clearly."

After a couple of deep breaths, he tells me he had gotten bored with the conversation Quenna and his parents were having and had ambled back home to see if he could convince me to add a little surprise for Quenna as her birthday was drawing close. He had walked in and asked the guys where I was and one of them had pointed to the floor above. He'd climbed up the stairs and looked in his room and then was nearing Quenna's room when he found me lying unconscious outside it.

I was sprawled out on the floor and was breathing very lightly. The door to Quenna's room was slightly ajar and he'd figured out that I could've slipped and hit my head on the door or the door frame. So even the pigeon didn't happen?

"Wow, I really don't remember that."

"Oh well, at least you're okay now, right?"

"Right," I reply and smile at him, bringing out one of his swashbuckling smiles in return.

"Quin!" a voice yells and I lift my head to see that it's Mom. She enters the room and sits down by my side while Dad follows her inside and glares at Reid.

"Dad, why are you doing that?" I question him.

"We trusted you with her and you land her in the hospital, boy?" he growls at Reid.

"Dad, that's not fair! I slipped and fell, and, if it hadn't been for him, I wouldn't even have reached here!" I retaliate, infuriated that he's blaming Reid for the situation.

"Tasha, he's right. I should've stayed behind and not-"

I interrupt Reid, "No, you shouldn't have because I forced you to leave and I'd have been even more mad if you hadn't left. And Dad, slipping is a common thing to happen. Nobody's responsible for that except maybe the person who fell because they could've been more careful. You can't blame him for that. Also, Reid, you've got to get those tiles changed in her room, they're quite slippery."

Dad sighs in defeat and mumbles an apology to Reid before he tells me he was only worried and was only being a good father. After some light conversation, I remember the party and ask Reid what happened of it.

"Oh, we postponed it to the day after. You can bring along your parents if you want to. By the way, your decorations were spectacular, thank you a lot for that!"

I look at Mom who tells me I can go but it's unlikely that old her and her husband would want to attend.

"My parents will be there too," Reid tells her.

"Mom, I have a feeling you'd get along really well with Reid's mom," I say, to be greeted by laughter from Reid and Mom.

"Alright, we'll be there, but for now, let's get you discharged," Dad says and walks out with Mom to sign the paperwork while Reid goes out to fetch Quenna.

I'm still at a loss as to what actually happened and what didn't. I retrace my steps in my head. I walked upstairs and then went to Quenna's room and then the door shut and then I went to Reid's room and then the rest. Nothing was quite out of the ordinary. Hmm, what have I gotten myself into?

"Sinister things," a voice whispers in my head. For all I know, that is my reality.

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Hey, I'm done with making excuses so I'll try to update as frequently as I can. The story is now actually coming together the way I had initially planned it to so I'm thrilled. Alright, see you soon!

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