"Family Means No One's Left Behind"~ A Greenflame and Children Story

Chapter Twenty One: Questions and Answers

Kai's Point of View~
All of us were waiting for Sker to come home, but Skylor was pretty worried. "He should've been home by now, what's taking him?" She asked herself anxiously. "Don't worry, I'm sure he'll be home soon." I said, trying to calm her down. "Maybe he's helping to clean up at the noodle house." May said. "Perhaps." Said Kabaz. A few minutes later, there was knocking on the door and someone was calling our names. "That's Mia's voice, but what is she doing here?" Akidah said. I went over to the door and opened it to a worried Mia and I asked, "Mia, are you okay? What's wrong?" She looked over her shoulder, nodded, and looked back at me. "It's Sker." She said. "What?!" I shouted. Then, a boy about Sker's age emerged from the darkness, carrying him into the light. Sker's eyes were closed and he was lifeless. His breathing was shakily and he was shivering a bit. I quickly allowed the two to come in and everyone reacted from they came inside. "Oh my God, Sker!" Skylor said frantically. The boy placed Sker on the couch and took a few steps back. "What happened to him?!" Akidah asked. "And who are you?" Kabaz asked. "I'm Joseph, Mia's older cousin, and I saw some of what happened." The boy responded. "What did you see?" Lloyd asked. "Well, I didn't know who he was or the people who were running after him. It was dark, so I assumed that it was just someone running away from the police or something. I then, saw him get tackled, but what made me verbally react was when I saw him turn into smoke and reappeared behind the attacker. That's when Mia came and asked what was going on, and I told her what I had just seen. She was quite before saying that might be Sker. After she said that, she ran out. I looked back out the window and saw a girl strike him in the back of his head. Then I followed after Mia. And when we arrived, he seemed lifeless. Mia told me to bring him here, to you." Joseph explained to us. "Did you see what the attackers looked like?" I asked. "I think it was a blond girl and a brunette boy. That's all I could manage to see." Joseph said. "I bet it was April and Jonathan." Lari said. "But why would they be out this late?" May asked. "Who knows?" Kabaz said. Then, there was a small groaning coming from Sker. "I think he's waking up!" Skylor gasped. We all went over to him and Sker was slowly beginning to open his eyes. "Ugh...mom? Dad? What...what happened?" Sker mumbled as he was waking up. Skylor and I immediately hugged him and Skylor said, "Sker, I'm so glad you're okay." Sker hugged us back and sat up. "Mia and her cousin Joseph brought you home. You should thank them." I said. Sker looked over at them and said, "Thank you, Mia and Joseph, for saving my life and bringing me home. If you didn't, who knows what could've happened to me. Thank you so much. Is there anything I can do to repay you?" They both smiled and Joseph said, "You're very welcome Sker and don't worry about repaying us, it's fine." The two stayed over for a few minutes before leaving. We turned back to Sker and began to ask him questions. "Sker, do you remember what happened?" I asked my son. Sker placed his hand on his forehead and groaned a bit before replying with, "Uh, I...I don't remember. I really can't." I was shocked. "Well, what do you remember?" Skylor asked. "And take your time to think about it if you need it." Lloyd added. Sker was silent for a moment before speaking again. "The only thing I can remember is working at the noodle house, that's all." He spoke. "Are you sure that's all? You're not forgetting anything important to tell us?" Skylor asked. Sker nodded. I sighed. : "How 'bout you kids go get some rest, it's pretty late and you've got school tomorrow." Lloyd said. "Okay." They all said, then going into their rooms. But before Sker left, he wanted some medicine for a headache he said he was having. We gave a small dosage of a chewable pill before sending him off to bed. Soon, Lloyd, Skylor, and I got ready for bed. "Do you think it's temporary amnesia?" I questioned. "I'm not really sure, but it might be a possibility." Skylor responded. "Maybe he'll be able to remember by tomorrow, after a good night's rest." Said Lloyd. "Maybe." I said as I laid down. We all soon fell asleep.

Akidah's Point of View~
The next Friday morning, everyone got ready for school, all except for my brother. Sker woke up with a bad migraine and a really upset stomach. He was in a lot of pain and Lloyd had gone out to grab some treatments for Sker's head and stomach. "We're off now! We hope you feel better soon Sker." May called out. "Okay, and Kabaz, you mind grabbing Sker's work?" Dad said. "Sure thing." Kabaz replied. Then, we left for the bus stop. As we walked to the stop, we ran into Sonia. "Hey, guys!" She called to us as she smiled and waved. "Hey Sonia, it's been a while since we last spoke. " Yeah, I guess it has." Sonia said. "How have you been lately?" I asked. "I've been good, but I heard what happened to Mia a couple of days ago. I also heard about what happened to the hikers." Sonia responded. "Yeah, so many bad things have been happening lately. So far, this Winter pretty gloomy." Kabaz said. "Hey, um, where's Sker? Is he sick?" Sonia asked.  "Um, yeah. He's got a bad migraine and his stomach was really upset." Lari responded. "Oh, I hope he feels better soon." Sonia said. "Yeah, we all do." I said. The bus arrived and we all boarded on and took our seats. When we got to the school, we all went to our separate classes. May and I saw April walking with something orange in her hand. What's that thing in April's hand? Wait, that looks like a...a phone. But...but why would April have an orange phone case? She hates the color orange. I thought as we continued to walk down the hall. We went into our class and I saw April place down the orange object in her hand faced down on her desk. When she did that, I got more of a view of the object. That is a phone! And to be exact, it's Sker's phone! I thought as my eyes widened. "Hey Akidah, you look kinda focused on something. What's up?" A voice asked me as they placed their hand on my shoulder. I turned my head and saw Mia and May looking back at me with May's hand on my shoulder. "It's April, she has Sker's phone! Look!" I said as u pointed in that direction. The two of them looked and their eyes also widened. "What is she doing with your brother's phone?" Mia asked. "I don't know, but let's find out." May said. We walked over there and April stared at us. "What do you want?" She asked. "Why do you have my brother's phone?!" I asked. "Oh, this, I was just about to give it back to you. I found it last night while I was with Jonathan. He was attacked and the two people had his phone in their grasp and dropped it when they saw us. I then picked it up to take a closer look at it. Then, when I saw Mia and some other boy, we took off. I didn't realize that I still had the phone in my hand and today, I wanted to return it, but I didn't see him here this morning." April explained. "You're lying! It was you and your stupid boyfriend who did that to Sker! You're the ones who attacked him and stole his phone purposely!" May argued. "You have no proof that we did." April sneered. "And that boy that was with me when we came, that was my cousin, Joseph, and he saw what you did." Mia said. "What did he see then?" April asked. "He saw your boyfriend tackle him and then when he stood again, you punched him in the back of his head, hard enough to knock him unconscious. Then, you had his phone and ran off when you saw us coming." Mia explained. "Fine, you're right, we did. But he shouldn't have been snooping around." April said. I was furious that April and Jonathan did that to Sker. "Why did you do that?!" I asked with anger in my voice. "You're not getting any answers if you know what's good for you. Now, take the stupid phone, I don't need it anymore." April said as she pushed the phone towards us with her pencil as if it were something she wouldn't touch with her bare hands. We didn't say anything else because we knew that April wouldn't give any answers, so instead, we took back Sker's phone and went back to our seats. The rest of the day passed by and we were getting ready to go home for the weekend. But as we were getting ready to head out the door, April shoved her way through us and scratched arm a bit, just above my wrist. This scratch didn't feel like other scratches that I've felt before, this one felt like a small blade cutting my arm. "Ow." I said faintly. I looked at my arm and saw that the area where I was scratched was pretty red and stung a bit. I didn't think much of it and continued to walk. When we all got home, including Mia and Sonia, I handed Sker's phone back to him. "Thanks, sis, but why did you have my phone?" Sker's asked. "I didn't, April did." I said. "What do you mean?" Lloyd asked. "April and Jonathan were the ones who attacked Sker's last night and for some reason, they took his phone." May said. "I can't believe it! Those two doing something like that! That's unacceptable behavior!" Mom lashed out. Everyone started discussing what happened and asked us questions we were and weren't able to answer. My arm was still stung and it felt like it was burning, but I did my best to try and draw attention. Then, I felt something slide down my arm all the way to my fingertip. I darted my eyes down at my hand and saw a trail of blood. I gasped and quickly covered my hand. "I'm going to the bathroom real quick." I said. I quickly went to the bathroom and locked the door. I rolled up my sleeve and saw my arm bleeding out. I turned on the faucet and let the cool water run a bit before placing my arm under it. I winced a bit as the water made contact with the cut. Once it was done and I didn't see any blood, I took out a roll of bandages and wrapped them around my cut. "There, that should do it." I said. I rolled down my sleeve and went back out to everyone.