Memories Fade

Too Much Tea

"How much did you give her?" Asher didn't flinch when Shin's hand met the back of his head. Gia's heart raced at the sound of their voices but she didn't think about opening her eyes.

"I don't know," he shrugged, "Not much." They were staring at the girl in front of them, the sun streaming through the windows and Do-No was laying half on top of Gia's legs and a half on the couch.

"She's going to have questions," Shin took in a deep breath, "even if she doesn't remember."

"She'll remember the woods and the wolf." Asher jutted his chin towards Do-No who snarled slightly. 

"What's going on?" The light pouring in from the window had made it's way to her eyes as she started to come back to the world. She slowly blinked herself awake as she looked down at the wolf, who moved from her legs towards the door quicker than she thought possible, and towards the siblings who glared at each other.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Shin's tone became honey-sweet as she turned her attention towards Gia. She walked over, knelt in front of Gia, and placed a slender hand on Gia's forehead. Her night-blizzard eyes seemed to pierce through Gia's core.

"I'm fine," she thought for a moment. She knew the people in front of her but how she knew them seemed shady,  "Where am I?" Gia looked around and slowly started recognizing the room, the people, the wolf. Her eyes settled on Asher and he gave her a slight head nod.

"Boy," Shin's hands smacked her legs and she stood up all the way, "you were out of it. You doing okay? Yesterday was pretty rough for you-"

"Have we heard about Hannah?" Gia asked with a sudden burst of energy, no remorse for interrupting Shin was found inside her.

"Who?" Asher looked from Gia to Shin, a hand out to his side.

"Hannah?" Gia couldn't hide the annoyance from her tone, "She's one of my friends, they found her in the snow yesterday and took her to the hospital?" The look on Shin and Asher's faces made her doubt herself, "I'm pretty sure that was real."

"Honey," Shin said sweetly her hand going to the top of Gia's head this time, "No one was found yesterday."

"That's not funny," Gia's eyes started to fill up with tears and Asher choked down some air, "They found her, they found her in the snow and took her to the hospital. My dad asked me to stay here so that he could be with Hannah and her parents. He needed to be there with them because... in case," Gia let the pain and tears take control of her.

Asher shifted where he was, the pain of awkwardly being present while someone cried was all over his face. Shin sat down and let Gia cry on her shoulder.

"Where's my dad? Why am I here if he's not at the hospital?" Gia lifted her head and looked towards Asher.

"Your dad got a job, he's working overnight and since your friends are missing, he didn't want to leave you alone," Asher answered with a shrug. His eyes were focused on something out the window.

"He should be here soon to pick you up, we told him to just take a quick nap before coming to get you so he wouldn't be too tired driving up here." Shin smiled, "Better safe than sorry, right?"

"Yeah," Asher joined in, "Wouldn't want your dad to go missing too." Gia and Shin glared at him from the couch. It was a sight that would make anyone want to run out the door and never come back.

"Asher Monty Jonson! That was not funny!" Shin was up and next to him before anyone could blink. Asher knew that another quick slap to the head was in store for him.

"I'm going to get a bump if you keep hitting me there!" He said ducking out the door and taking Do-No with him.

"I am so sorry about my brother's callousness," there was an air of disappointment and sincerity in her voice as she made her way back towards Gia, "he means well, he's just bad with people."  Gia looked down at the ground and nodded.

"It helped, at least" she looked up towards the window where she saw Asher walking towards the cold woods, "I wasn't thinking about my friends for a moment so, at least it distracted me." Shin nodded.

"I'm going to make some breakfast, do you want to help?" Shin pointed towards the kitchen with her thumb and started making her way there.

"Sure," Gia stood up, got dizzy, and sat back down, "Just let me wake up a little more and I'll be right there." She tried standing up once more and felt the room twist away into fluorescent lights and a soft beeping sound. She thought she saw the orange of Cadence's hair for a second. When she came back to the little house she had her head between her legs and Shin was rubbing her back.

"You drank too much tea," Shin said sternly, even with her body pulling her every which way, Gia heard Shin cursing her brother under her breath, "Asher, you idiot, you'll kill someone someday."

"I guess I did," Gia ignored Shin's remarks about her brother and sat up slowly, "How long till I can walk again?"

"Give it a few minutes, you'll be fine." Shin's smile started to disappear as she turned her back towards Gia.

"Once I can stand up, I'll be there to help you!" Gia called after her with a thumbs up she was certain Shin couldn't see.