Replay: Amnesia | BOOK 1

Chapter 8

You can't focus. Ever since You Know said the things he did over the phone, you haven't been able to relax. Thoughts plague your mind, and it doesn't help that you're alone with nothing to distract you. You could read, and you tried, but you couldn't focus and ended up rereading one of the pages about five times before giving up.

If you could be tracked by using the phone, then why haven't the people who have been looking for you found you yet? You'd been using it all day yesterday. Plus, You Know kept calling you and texting you. Not often, but still, he did. Was he tracking you, too? Is that how he knew you could be tracked?

That can't necessarily be it, you tell yourself, your fingers caught in your hair. It's easy to track people now with the kind of phones we have, isn't it? Location services always on, posts on social media tagging where we are... It's not hard to track someone down. You didn't even think to look into your settings and edit them as you always used to do to keep your privacy protected as much as possible.

You sit up at yet another small recollection of who you were. So you would go through your phone and make sure your privacy was protected. You were cautious and knew a bit about technology, but would that help you in any way? It's not like a memory, more like a spurt of truth about who you used to be.

You take a shaky breath in and slump into the expensive couch. If anyone knew what lied behind the door, you're sure Karika would be a frequent victim of robbery.

Karika's bedroom door opens and she storms out, her tired face angry.

"Is there a reason Chris is blowing up my phone?"

Her accusational glare is mixed with her angry tone as you wince.

"I had to throw my phone away. Apparently I can be tracked by whoever took me, so... I... got rid of it."

Her eyes seem to soften but her face doesn't do the same. Tossing the phone onto the couch next to you, she yawns and makes her way to the kitchen.

"Since I'm up, you want a sandwich or something?"

"I'm sorry for indirectly waking you up," you apologize sheepishly, standing up and following her into the kitchen where the appliances are shiny and expensive-looking.

She scowls. "You'd better be. Now call that boy back before he has an aneurism."

You nod and click on his name. The phone automatically begins to ring and you hold it to your ear. He picks up right away.

"Karika, where is she?"

"It's me," you say. "Sorry I said that so suddenly."

"Oh—are you... are you okay?"

You take a deep breath. He seems to be saying that a lot to you. "Yeah. You Know called again. He said I could be tracked and told me to get rid of the phone. Turns out that I was kidnapped and... am involved in some kind of trouble with You Know or something. He..." your throat closes. "I think... He called me and he sounded like he was saying goodbye."

There's silence on Chris's side of the phone. Then, "I'm so sorry."

You shake your head, looking up at Karika, who's eyeing you over the island where she's making two sandwiches. At a loss for words, you're glad Chris begins to speak again.

"Was he worried these people were already pursuing you? Or that they were close? Did they track you down yet?"

You shrug. "I don't know. He didn't say anything else about it. It is kind of weird he wasn't worried about it until this last call, though. He'd texted and called before... I wonder if something changed." You're talking to yourself at this point, trying to understand the situation. Karika continues to watch you between her creating, taking in your every word. Her hands work swiftly on the bread and she finishes just as Chris speaks again.