02 |
• I Can't Remember •
✧･:Quartz's POV:･ﾟ✧
I was up even though it was too early. The clock that was hung up on the wall was saying so. It was seven in the morning when I was scanning Aaron's book collection. Most of them were educational and some were involved with medicine.
I felt like a stalker while I was scanning, but I was doing it to distract myself from thinking about the horrible events from last night. The only thing that I could remember was waking up in that cabin, escaping, getting chased by wolves, passing out, then ending up in Aaron's house. I didn't even know who he was.
After all, I was very much grateful for how much he helped me with. And I felt a lot better compared to last night.
Even when I tried to read a few pages from one of his books, the same question kept on popping up in my mind.
What were Veronica and I doing in the middle of the woods yesterday?
The fact that I left her there made my heart sink. I wished I could go back and save her from whatever that made her scream in agony, and at the same time, I didn't want to do it. Thanks to being afraid of the unknown.
"You like to read these types of books?" A small, female voice startled me. Turning my heels to look at the owner of the sweet voice, a petite girl with long wavy brown hair stared back at me. She seemed to be around the age of four.
I gazed at her in awe. She was breathtakingly beautiful with her big, emerald eyes. I assumed she was Aaron's little sister since she resembled him. She was referring to the book I was holding up and reading from. I didn't even look at the title before I opened it.
I flipped the book to see the cover and the title. "The Wolf's Hour."
It was a werewolf book. It had been a long time since I've read one of those. My mom used to read them to me almost every night. And before she would leave my room, she would say, "Sleep tight and don't let the werewolves bite."
Not to mention that I would get extremely terrified that I would stay up all night. But whenever I think about that memory in these days, I laugh at it.
"I always wanted to read it but Aaron wouldn't let me. Why's that? Is there a kissing scene?" The little girl asked me.
I chuckled at her cuteness, then plopped down on the couch as I gestured to her to sit next to me. I was a little surprised that she didn't ask me who I was or what was my name. She sat down next to me, waiting for my response.
"There is no kissing scene. It's something really scary that would keep you up at night," I said dramatically just to watch her emerald eyes widen in fear, and a small gasp filled the air.
"What is it?" She whispered as she leaned in.
"Big ears, bulging eyes, and sharp teeth. Can you guess what creature that is?"
"Wolves," She replied with a smile. "But they aren't scary, they're cute."
"It talks about werewolves." I pulled my index finger to my lips. "Don't tell Aaron that I told this."
"I won't," She intoned. "Do you think werewolves are real?"
"No, these creatures were made up by a guy who just wants to scare children because he hates them. That was what my mom used to tell me."
"I'm a big girl, I don't get scared. Can you tell Aaron that for me so he could make me read the book?" She pleaded, her eyes not leaving mine.
"Not yet." My head whipped towards the end of the room, where Aaron was standing and watching us.
"I'm a big girl." His sister stomped her small-sized feet towards him, giving him the puppy eyes. "I'm almost..." She paused, holding up her fingers to count. "One, two, three, four, five!" She held up five fingers to him. "I'm almost five."
"You don't want to be my little princess anymore?" Aaron feigned hurt, making her giggle.
"It's time for me to become a queen," She responded.
"Alright, Queen, how about you wait in the kitchen until I make pancakes for breakfast?" He changed the topic to make her forget about the book.
Her eyes lit up with excitement. Without another word, she rushed into the kitchen, leaving me and Aaron alone in the living room. Moments passed with neither of us talking until his eyes caught the book I was holding. "You're interested in mythical creatures, yeah?"
"Slightly," I answered, getting up from my seat and walking towards him with steady steps. "She's a cutie. What's her name?" I referred to his sister, nudging my head towards the other room where she disappeared.
There was a long pause until he spoke, "Aubrey. Would you like to have breakfast with us?"
I glanced down at my watch and figured out that I had to pay a visit to Robert and Olivia, Veronica Morrison's parents. I had to find out if she was safe and at her house.
After doing that, I had to check up on Liam. I got three missed calls from him and multiple text messages asking where I was and if I was okay. I felt sorry for leaving him home alone with nothing to eat.
"Thank you so much, Aaron, but you've already done a lot for me. Besides, I have some stuff to do today," I gently declined.
"I hope we'll meet up again." He nodded his head in understanding, opening the door for me. "Take care."
Once I was out the porch, the door closed behind me. I remembered that I left my car in the woods, so that meant that I had to walk to Veronica's house, which luckily, was fifteen minutes away from where I was.
I started heading to the path that would take me to her house. Grabbing my phone, I quickly texted Liam to ensure him that I was fine and that I would be home within an hour.
In the fifteen-minute walk, I pondered what I would tell Veronica's parents if she didn't return to her house last night. Surely, her parents knew that I was the last person she hung out with, so they would be throwing questions at me.
How could I answer their question when I didn't even know what happened?
I walked onto their porch. Taking in a deep breath, I brought up my closed fist to the door and knocked. After a moment passed, it swung open, revealing Olivia. Veronica resembled her so much from her medium length, auburn hair to her dark charcoal eyes.
Her face brightened up. "Quartz, it's nice to see you. Come in." She opened the door wider for me to walk inside. I stepped in, only to become face to face with Robert, Veronica's father.
"How are you, Shnookums? Are you up to play football with me?" He asked in a sweet tone.
He always called me 'Shnookums' ever since he saw Veronica and I watching that cartoon show called The Shnookums & Meat.
"I'm good. I'm here to look for Veronica." My eyes scanned the room in search of her.
"She isn't here. We thought she slept over at your house last night." Olivia furrowed her eyebrows in thought.
We usually have sleepovers every Saturday, but yesterday wasn't our lucky day.
Once Olivia and Robert noticed the disappointment on my face, their smiles faded away. When Robert nudges his head towards the living room, I knew it was the time they would throw many questions at me.
The look on her parents' faces didn't make me feel any better. They were frantic and extremely concerned like any other parent would act if they were in a situation like this.
The rain poured heavily, dripping down on the windows, the sound of it satisfied me.
"When was the last time you saw her?" Olivia asked, leaning forward.
"We were having a girls' night in and she told me that she wanted to drive to a restaurant to get something to eat, but she never came. It was 10 PM at that time." A lie slipped through my lips, smoothly.
I couldn't just tell them that I woke up in the middle of the woods, with no memory of whatever that happened, or else they would think that I was being crazy.
I didn't know the reason why I had this urge to keep it as a secret, although I knew that it felt more than right.
"Do you know which restaurant she headed to?" Robert questioned.
Make up a story. Make up a story.
But no story would be convincing to the police without any evidence. And I knew they would call the police to tell them all the lies I was telling them. Although, there was no other option for me to do, so I just continued with my lies.
"She went to buy tacos." I sat on my hands, so I could stop fiddling with my fingers.
Taking in their expressions, Olivia seemed to buy it. However, Robert shook his head and ran his hand over his wrinkled, exhausted face. "But Veronica never eats at nighttime."
I nodded my head, looking directly into his concerned eyes. "She usually buys food for Liam before she comes over."
Studying them once again, they both looked convinced. Veronica's parents made a call to the cops, telling them about Veronica's disappearance. They told them to report the situation at the police station as soon as possible.
I watched them while I was sitting down on the couch, feeling useless. I felt sorry that I lied to them.
What if they find out that I made this all up? And that would lead me to lose their trust.
I was getting quite uncomfortable, shifting in my seat. "Excuse me." I stood up. "I need to go back home. It's getting late."
"Be careful outside, won't you?" Robert scrunched his eyebrows in concern, and Olivia was giving me the same look.
I hugged both of them and kissed Olivia on the top of her head. "Yes, no worries," I assured them, before making my exit. It was cold outside, even though the golden leaves were falling; it was early in Autumn.
Once I stepped outside to the violent rain, water washed over my skin so strongly that it felt as if I was in the flow of a river rather than a rain shower. My clothes and my hair clung onto me as I continued walking.
Walking home with weather like this was still completely fine with me. I liked it since it reminded me of the old days when my little brother, Liam, and I used to go outside with our raincoats on and hop onto puddles, giggling whenever we did so. We stopped doing this ever since our neighbor got splashed because of us. We were grounded for two weeks straight after that day.
I wrapped my arms around myself, my bottom lip trembling. Sauntering away, my mind drifted to that night, where I left a perfect soul behind in the woods. My actions were unacceptable and wicked. It was very unacceptable that I didn't know if I'd be able to look at myself in the mirror ever again.
Once I finally reached my house, I stepped onto the porch. The wooden floor creaked beneath my feet with every step that I took. Unlocking the door, I headed into the cozy living room, careless that my wet clothes were dripping on the floor.
I slumped down on the couch, bringing my feet up on the coffee table, and released a long, exasperated sigh.
I heard a clinking sound, coming from the kitchen. I watched the kitchen's doorway until Daisy showed up with her tongue out. With her short legs, she jumped up to my lap and started licking my chin. She was like a little fluff ball with thick white fur. She was our dog ever since we had moved away from London to Canada, which was about four years ago.
"Woah, what happened to you?" My head shot to my right, only to see Liam examining me.
Liam was fifteen, only two years younger than me. He had the same features as mine. Golden hair and slightly tanned skin, except for his eyes. They were bright blue and round-shaped, whereas mine were amber and almond-shaped. My hair was dyed blonde and my roots were dark brown.
Once Daisy stopped licking my chin, I spoke up, "It was raining outside. Didn't you hear it?"
He shook his head and pointed his index finger towards my arm. "I'm talking about this bandage."
"It's nothing. I just fell when I was hanging out with Veronica." I shrugged, running my fingers through my damp hair.
That wound wasn't nothing. It was burning and aching me. With every move that I did, it would throb even worse.
"Really? How did you fall?" He said, taking a step forward and looking at me with curious eyes.
I closed my eyes shut tightly, my heart beating rapidly. "Change the topic now," I ordered, my words harsh and firm.
He looked surprised at my unexpected behavior. "Umm, where did you go this morning? I thought Saturday mornings were for making pancakes together with Veronica."
Hearing her name didn't help this situation. I scrunched my damp hair, then abruptly got up. "Nice talk. See you later." Patting his shoulder a little too rough, I made my way to my bedroom, leaving him perplexed.
I put on dry clothes and jumped onto my comfy queen-sized bed. My body relaxed underneath the white sheets that gave me extreme warmth.
One question was stuck in my mind, is she even alive?