The Violin, The Girl, and The Fire

Chapter Sixteen

(Thank you for reading!)

"Taya?" a voice echoes around me. "Taya?" I'm running through the field of sunflowers, she is behind me. The sun is warm, and suddenly we end up at a stream of water. I dip my hands in it, it's ice cold.

"Taya!" something splashes onto my face and I open my eyes, waking me up from my dream. I look up to Zander's symmetrical face.

"Wh-where am I? What happened?" He takes a deep breath, looking away from me.

"Let me help you up." he grabs my hands and helps me sit up, as soon as I do this my head begins to pound like crazy.

"Damn it!"

"What is wrong?"

"My head is pounding."

"Let me get you some water, I will be right back." he gets up and leaves the room, closing the door behind him. I notice my backpack sitting right next to me, I swear it wasn't there before.

"I thought I left this at Cole's place..." I open it up and examine the contents inside. All of my clothes are in here, along with the clothes I left. I take out most of the clothes and peeking from under a black shirt is a bright light. I slowly pull the shirt off of the light, and it reveals a shard. I pick it up and turn it so it shimmers.

"It's the hell shard." Someone says. I notice Zander standing in the doorway, holding two glasses of water.

"But... How did it get in my bag? How did my bag even get here? How did I get here!?"

"Taya, calm down," he sits down on the edge of the bed. "Come sit with me." I do as he says, and he hands me the glass of water. "Listen." I take a sip of the water as I wait for him to say more. "I knew Cole was going to take you to that party, so I went. Taya, do you remember what happened at that party?"

"We danced, and then we sat down for a bit, and he kissed me, and I passed out. I think I had too much to drink, but now I'm here." His face begins to tense.

"Did he give you anything to drink?"

"Yes, it was just like some pineapple-mango vodka I think, well that's what it tasted like. Why?" His eyes furrow and his nostrils flare slightly.

"I'm gonna fucking kill him!" his fists clench together and he stands up.

"What, why?"

"Taya, he fucking spiked your drink!" he stands up.

"What?

"He spiked your drink, and I am going to kill him!" he begins to walk to the door but I grab his hand.

"Please don't, it's over with, and plus we have the shard now. Isn't that what matters?" he looks at our hand holding his and to my eyes.

"Fine," he snaps his hand away and looks at the ground. "Did you and Cole do anything?"

"Like what?"

"Like did you... you know." he narrows his eyes at me.

"What if we did? Why does it matter?" I know we didn't do anything besides kiss, but it's nice to see Zander a little jealous.

"It does not!" he quickly replies.

"Then why are you asking?" I can't hide the smile slowly forming in the corner of my mouth.

"I don't know, Jesus." he rolls his eyes.

"Well, I'm going to take a shower," I grab some clothes on the floor that I took out of my backpack before, and I head for the bathroom. But before I close the door, I turn towards Zander.