Chapter 8

Alex POV

Riker had just left my room to take a shower. I was lying in bed watching Netflix. Angel was curled up next to me under the blankets. All of a sudden, the clothing rod in my closet fell down, making a loud thud. Angel was immediately woken up and got scared. Since she was under the blankets, she used my wrist to pull herself out from under and run away. I screamed as blood started coming out of 3 large scratches on my wrist.

I was sitting there staring at my wrist, still in shock of what had just happened. The pain started to get sharper, so I held my wrist tightly, staring at it.

Riker had come running into my bedroom wearing only a towel around his waist. He stood in my door way, leaning on the side of it. His face went pale and he looked scared and like he was about to faint.

Riker POV

I stared at Alex's wrist. Blood was coming out fairly quickly.

"Oh god! Where's your first aid kit!?" I asked.

"In the bathroom closet."

I ran back to the bathroom and yanked the closet door open. I saw the first aid kit, grabbed it, and rushed back to Alex's room. I helped her get out of bed and on the floor. She sat against her bed, and I sat next to her. I gently took her wrist in my hand, and I felt her body tense up. I looked up at her and she was just staring off into nowhere, away from her wrist, tears falling down her face.

I opened an antibacterial wipe and I took her other hand in my mine. I gently wiped the blood off her wrist as she squeezed my hand so hard it felt like it would pop off. I took a paper towel and held it against her wrist as I tried to stop it from bleeding.

I wrapped up her wrist with a bandage and started packing up the first aid kit. I put it back in the closet and went back to Alex's room. I sat down next to her again. I realized we had been completely silent through all of that.

"How does your wrist feel?" I asked.

"Horrible," Alex said in a whisper.

"What happened?" I asked.

"My cat got scared when the clothing rod fell down and this just sort of happened," she whispered again.

I looked toward her closet at all of her clothes on the ground. We sat there for probably 10 more minutes, completely silent. Alex started laughing. I looked over at her.

"What?" I said, as a smile crept across my face.

"I just can't believe you," she said, still smiling at me.

"Why? What?"

"Well first, you came running out of the bathroom when you heard me scream. Second, you fixed my wrist up, despite how terrified you looked. And third, um… You're wearing a towel…"

She started laughing again, and so did I, but I could feel my face getting hot. This was so embarrassing. I must look pretty ridiculous. Sitting on the floor, in nothing but a towel. My hair must have been weird too since I hadn't combed it yet. And on top of it all, I could barely see, since I didn't have my contacts in. Great first impression…

"Well… I'm going to… uh, go get dressed now…" I said. I felt so awkward as I walked out of Alex's room.

I got dressed and combed my hair. When I came out, I walked back to Alex's room. She was sitting in bed watching TV. She looked over at me.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey. I just… wanted to make sure you were ok before I left," I said.

"Yeah. I am. But thanks. For everything."

Just then I heard someone knocking on the front door. I went and answered it for Alex, since she looked comfortable in bed.

"Rydel? Ellington? What are you doing here?" I asked.

"You weren't answering any of our texts and you've been here for over an hour. We wanted to make sure you were ok," said Rydel.

"Oh. Thanks," I said.

"How's Alex?" Asked Ellington.

"Uh, why don't you two go talk to her. I'm going to pack up my clothes and stuff," I said.

They both walked down the hall to Alex's room. I could hear Alex telling them she had gotten scratched by her cat and I fixed her wrist. She talked about it like it was no big deal, and left out that I was practically naked.

I was glad she didn't tell them that minor detail. I already do enough embarrassing things around the house. They didn't need to add another one to their list. Rydel and Ellington walked past me and told me they would meet me at home. I walked into Alex's room to tell her goodbye.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey, I'm going to go home now."

"Ok. Thanks for fixing up my wrist," she said.

Alex got a text. I watched as she read it. I could tell by her face that something was definitely wrong.

Alex POV

Just as Riker was leaving, I got a text from Katelyn. She was texting me to say how much fun she was having and she hoped I was having a horrible time here.

I wanted to scream.

"Alex? Are you ok?"

"What? Yeah, fine. I'll see you tomorrow?" I said.

"Uh, yeah, are you sure you're ok?" Riker asked.

"Yeah, fine."

"Ok, I'll see you tomorrow then."

Riker POV

I walked out of Alex's house. I sprinted across her yard, the street, and my yard, and flew through the door.

Rydel, Rocky, and Ellington were all sitting in the kitchen looking at me. It seemed like they were waiting for me.

Rydel POV

Riker came flying through the door. Being scared of the dark, this was normal for him. I could tell something wasn't right though.

"Riker? What happened after we left?"

"What do you mean?" He replied.

"Riker. I'm your sister. I know when something's wrong. Talk," I said.

"Well, Alex got a text right as I was leaving. For a second she looked like she wanted to cry or kill someone. I asked her if she was alright, and she said she was fine, but I don't think she is," he said.

"She's not telling us something. We have to find out what's going on. I think it has to do with whoever's texting her," I said.

"Yeah, but let's do that tomorrow. It's past midnight already," said Ellington.

Rocky and I turned to head upstairs when Riker asked to speak to Rocky privately. I knew he was going to yell at him for what he did to Alex. Ellington had told me what happened, and he'd already yelled at Rocky.

The Next Day…

Alex POV

I got up and got ready for school. It was a half day today. Tomorrow Katelyn would be coming back… I walked out the front door and headed to the bus stop.

"Hey Alex!"

I turned around. Riker was sitting on his front porch eating breakfast. He was waving at me.

"Hi," I said.

I continued walking down the road. I got on the bus, and went to school.

Riker POV

I watched as Alex walked down the street until she was gone. A few minutes later, Rydel came out and sat beside me.

"What are you doing up so early?" I asked.

"I couldn't really sleep last night. And I have to pick Alex up from school around 10:00. I figured I would just get up now instead of lying in bed doing nothing for the next few hours. I knew at least you would be awake," she said.

Rydel POV

I watched Riker as he kept playing with his cereal. He looked like he was deep in thought.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing. I'm just thinking."

"What about?"

"Last night. It got pretty crazy. I don't know. I'm just thinking," he said.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked.

"Not really," said Riker.

"Well, I'm going to go inside and get dressed and stuff," I said.

"Ok."

A Few Hours Later…

Alex POV

Rydel had just dropped me off at my house. She had asked if she could come over and shower. I said of course she could. I was doing my math homework when she came over.

"After I take a shower, can Ross take one?" Rydel asked.

"Yeah. What happened to the plumber that was supposed to come?"

"I don't know. Riker called him again this morning. He's supposed to come over tonight," she said.

"Ok. Well, have a good shower," I said.

I decided to put on my bikini and lay upstairs on the deck. It was really sunny, and I was really pale. I put in my ear buds and fell asleep listening to R5.

Rydel POV

When I was finished showering, I went to Alex's room to talk to her. I was going to see if she wanted to hang out or go somewhere with me. But she wasn't in her room.

"Alex?" I called out.

No response. I walked back out into the kitchen and saw the sliding glass door open upstairs. I figured that's where she was. I walked up the stairs and over to her deck. She was sunbathing and sleeping. I didn't want to wake her up, so I went back to my house to tell Ross he could go take a shower now.

"Ross!"

"What?"

"You can go over to Alex's and go take a shower now. But don't make a lot of noise. Alex is sleeping up on her deck. She's sunbathing," I said.

"Ok, I'll try my best to be quiet," he replied.

Ross POV

I walked to Alex's house. The door was unlocked, and I went in.

"Alex?" I called loud enough for her to hear if she was awake, but not loud enough to wake her up.

Silence. I would have to find the bathroom on my own. I walked down the hallway and I found the bathroom.

After my shower I came out and I didn't see Alex. I figured she was still sleeping. I had gotten a text from Rydel telling me to make sure Alex was ok. I quietly crept upstairs.

Alex POV

I had woken up when Ross got out of the shower. I came inside from the deck and was leaning over the railing, staring at him. He was looking at his phone. He started to walk upstairs, so I hid behind the bathroom door, waiting to scare him.

Ross was walking quietly, probably because Rydel had found me sleeping and told him not to wake me up. I watched as he got closer and closer. He passed by the bathroom and walked toward the door leading to the deck. I silently followed behind him, waiting for him to turn around.

"BOO!" I screamed.

Ross didn't scream, but he jumped back against the glass door to the deck, and fell to the ground, looking up at me.

"Did Rydel tell you to check on me? Don't lie to me. I've noticed that every few hours, on the hour, one of you comes to my house needing something," I said.

"Uh, yeah, she wanted me to check on you. She said you were sleeping out on the deck," said Ross.

I held my hand out to Ross, pulling him to a standing position.

"Thanks," he said.

"Haha, sorry I scared you. I just wanted to have some fun. Well, and find out if you guys really were checking up on me, or if I was just crazy," I said.

"It's fine. My brothers scare me all the time," he said.

I walked Ross home to see if Rydel wanted to come over. I knew she would probably try asking me what was wrong a bunch more times, but I was lonely, and I wanted someone to hang out with.

"Hey Alex," said Rydel.

"Hey. I wanted to know if you wanted to come over and hang," I said.

I looked over to see Rocky and Riker on the couch, looking at me with slightly strange expressions on their faces. Whatever. I ignored it.

"Yeah sure."

Rydel and I headed over to my house. We were hanging out in my room. We watched some TV, and just hung out like we'd known each other our whole lives. I could tell Rydel felt so comfortable being around me even though she hadn't even known me a full week. She had told me so many embarrassing stories about her brothers. I knew she trusted me. But I also knew she expected me to trust her just as much. I wasn't ready for that yet. I had a hard time trusting people.

While we were talking about Rocky tipping the kayak over, I got a text from Katelyn. "Coming home tomorrow… I want to talk to you when I get back."

"Alex?"

"Yeah?"

"What's wrong?"

"What do you mean?"

"Every time you get a text, you get this weird expression on your face that looks like you're watching someone hurt a puppy."

"Um, well I'm not."

"Who's texting you?" She asked.

"Nobody."

"Alex-"

"Rydel, please. It's my business. If it were something serious like a stalker or something, I would tell you. But it's not, so I'm not going to," I said.

"Ok, fine."

The rest of my day was totally irritating. Every time I reached for my phone, Rydel would give me a strange look. It wasn't just when I got a text. She watched me like a hawk anytime I was on my phone, looking for any sign of… I don't know…

Eventually Rydel had to leave. A plumber was finally at her house, hopefully fixing whatever the problem was. We hadn't really talked that much all day, but I had a horrible headache. Around 6:30 I got in bed. I didn't feel like taking anything for it. I just wanted to go to sleep and forget about everything. Up until this week, my life was going great. But since then, I had lost my best friend, gotten 3 large scratches on my wrist, and gotten dunked into freezing cold lake water. Sure there were good things, like R5 moving in next door, and the way Riker took so much care into fixing up my wrist. But my head was pounding, and I just wanted to fall asleep, and not wake up for a few days.

After about 45 minutes, I knew I wasn't going to be getting sleep anytime soon. My head was pounding so bad that it wouldn't let me take a nap. But there was really nothing else to do besides lay in bed. I couldn't do anything. If I tried to sit up, the room would start spinning, and my head felt like it was being hit with a hammer. Even changing positions in bed was a task. Moving my head at all sent fireworks of pain shooting to my head. Everything seemed to make it worse. Light. Noise. Anything. Especially the knocking at my door…