Obsession

13

It's been a while. How's everyone doing?

Recap: Rhian has been rescued by Monique. He's in her house when he receives a message from Taylor.

"Please let me leave," I begged as I fumbled to my feet. My tightly bandaged arm was still hurting, and I could barely see anything in front of me, but I staggered toward what I perceived to be the door. That message had changed everything, and I needed to speak to Taylor, whatever the cost. Monique, though, was not willing to understand that.

"Whatever it is, it can wait. You're not in good shape," she advised, much to my frustration as I fell back into the  chair with a groan.

"What now?" I asked, wondering what I would be doing here if she wasn't going to allow me to leave.

"You're going to tell me why you were in the forest yesterday, and what happened to your hand."

"I could do that, or we can watch TV," I offered, hoping to take her attention away from the incident.

"What happened last night?"

"CSI? You like CSI?"

"Rhian!"

"I don't know how to explain it to you, not that I want to in the first place. Please let this issue go. I'm glad you found me before I covered myself in a pool of my own blood, but let it end there."

Monique was silent for a bit, then gave me a sly smile."Will you at least tell me why you're so eager to leave?"

"Do I have to?"

"You aren't going anywhere if you don't."

"Well there's this girl I really like, and leaving here right now is the only way   I'm going to have a shot with her. Now will you please let me leave?" I begged.

The smile on her face widened, and the caring look in her eyes had been replaced by a glint of mischief."How much do you value your life? No, wait that came out wrong. How fast do you need to get where you're going?"

"How fast can you drive?" I responded, and thirty minutes later, I deeply regretted it. Monique was on a rampage, making sharp turns at high speeds and giving mini heart attacks to her poor passenger. Telling her to slow down only resulted in her going faster, almost as if she was hearing the opposite of what I was saying.

When her car finally came to a stop in the parking lot of the apartment complex I knew so well, I was tempted to kiss the pavement in honor of arriving safely.

"Wow, Rhian, you look really pale. Thought you could handle a little speed?" she teased.

"It's not as if I almost bled to death or anything. Let's blame the paleness on your GTA driving. Thanks for the ride though," I responded as slammed her car door shut.

"You're not going to invite me inside?"

"Nope. Have a good whatever time of day is."

"It's morning, and that's rude!"

"Rude? You just tried to kill me!"

"You tried to kill yourself first."

"First of all, that's a low blow. Secondly, there's a difference. You can leave now."

"Oh. I really wanted to meet your sister," she said as she sped away.

Walking up those treacherous stairs was painful and annoying as usual, but knocking on Mr. Blackmore's door was worse. He greeted me with a pat on the shoulders, and began to tell me about his week and he had gotten scammed recently without even offering to let me inside. When I had had enough, I asked if Taylor was around, only to be told she was with her mother.