Chapter 4
Riker POV
I knocked on Riley's front door.
"What do you want?" Riley asked.
"Riley, I need to talk to you."
I pulled Riley into her bedroom.
"Riley, I need you to tell me the truth, ok?"
"Why?"
"Because this is important."
"Ok."
"What happened to the bottle of pills that was outside?"
"I got it this morning, and brought it in."
"Did you take any? Riley? Answer me."
"Yes."
"Riley! How could you!?"
"I started thinking about Dylan, and I just wanted to be able to think straight again!"
"Riley!"
"I'm sorry! I couldn't help myself!"
I sat down next to Riley on her bed.
"Riley, you need to listen to me. You can't take any more of those pills. It's dangerous, and the way they're affecting you isn't good."
"But Riker, it's killing me inside!"
"Riley, please! You can't take any more of those pills!"
Riley wrapped her arms loosely around my neck.
"Riker…"
"Riley, please. I don't want anything to happen to you!"
"I'll try. That's the best I can do."
"That's all I'm asking."
Riley laid down on her bed.
"Are you ok?"
"I'm just tired."
"Why don't you take a nap, then?"
"Ok…"
Within minutes, Riley was fast asleep. I took this opportunity to find the pills in her closet. I stuck the bottle in my pocket, and went back over to my house.
"Rocky! Look what I have!"
"Drugs!?"
"It's Riley's pills!"
"Why did you take her pills?"
"Because she's not supposed to be taking them anymore. But she took one this morning, and now she's all crazy!"
"So you took them because…?"
"So she can't take any more and hurt herself!"
"What are you planning on doing with them?"
"I'm going to dissolve them in water, and then wash them down the drain."
"Ok."
Later…
Riker POV
Riley's dad called me to ask if I could watch Riley this afternoon while he and her mom were away. He didn't want Riley to be alone until Dylan was found. Of course I said yes. But when I got over there, Riley was still under the effects of the pills, and she knew I had taken the rest of her pills. She was furious. But I looked at the label on the pill bottle. They only lasted 6 hours, and I only had 1 hour left until she was normal again. I was sure I could wait it out. It was just going to be very exhausting.
I walked into Riley's room, and she practically exploded.
"Riker Anthony Lynch! You took my pills!"
My eyes widened. She was mad. Really mad.
"You give me my pills back right now!"
"I don't have your pills, Riley," I tried to say as calmly as I could.
"Yes you do!"
"No I don't!"
"You're such a liar!
"Riley, I swear, I don't have your pills!"
That wasn't a complete lie. I didn't have her pills. Rocky did. He was dissolving them and getting rid of them for me.
"Give me your sweatshirt."
I took off my sweatshirt, and handed it to her. She checked the pockets, and didn't find anything except my phone, a pack of gum, and keys to my house.
"What's in your pants pockets?"
"Nothing!"
"Empty your pockets!"
I pulled a few coins out of my pockets, and put them on her bed.
"Where are my pills?"
"I don't have them!"
"But you took them, didn't you!?"
I didn't answer that.
"Riker Lynch! Answer the question!"
"Yes, I took your pills."
"Well go get them!"
I couldn't tell her they were gone, otherwise she'd kill me. But I thought of a plan. Her pills looked just like Tylenol. I went back over to my house, got a Tylenol, and gave it to Riley. She took it, thinking it was one of her pills, and she calmed down quite a bit.
Riley went back to sleep, while I sat in the living room, watching TV. Hopefully when she woke up, she'd be normal, and I would never have to see her like that again.
Later…
Riker POV
Riley came walking out of her room, looking exhausted. She sat down next to me.
"Why did you give me another pill? Why couldn't you just say no?" Riley asked, leaning her head on my shoulder.
"I didn't. I gave you a Tylenol."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Oh, thank god…"
"Do you feel back to normal now?"
"Yeah. But I was confused because I thought I had taken another one, but I felt normal. Ugh! Riker, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for taking the pill, acting ridiculous, screaming at you, and the whole breakfast thing. I didn't mean any of it."
"It's ok."
"I hate having the temptation though!"
"You don't anymore."
"What do you mean?"
"They're gone."
"Forever?"
"Forever."
"Good."
"Are you ok?"
"I'm just really tired. And my head kind of hurts."
"Do you want something to eat?"
"No. I just want to lay here," Riley said, laying down on my lap.
I continued watching TV while Riley slept. After an hour, I figured I better wake her up, otherwise she'll never be able to fall asleep tonight.
"Riley? Riley, wake up," I said, shaking her.
"Mmmm…"
"Riley, come on. You need to get up."
"Why?"
"Because if you sleep now, you'll be up all night."
"Mmmm…"
"Don't make me use your technique."
"You wouldn't dare…"
"Oh yeah, I would. Except I'll put my own little twist on it."
"Mmmm…"
I picked Riley up, and walked out the front door.
"Where are we going?"
"You'll see," I said, smiling.
I walked down to the docks. As I started walking out on one, Riley freaked out.
"Riker no! Please Riker, stop!"
I kept walking until I was at the very edge.
"Riker, please don't throw me in. Please don't! It's really cold out, and I don't feel good. Riker, please don't," Riley said, holding onto me pretty tight.
I kept standing there, deciding what I should do.
"Riker, please don't," Riley whispered, holding on tighter.
"Fine… I won't. But I'm not carrying you all the way back up there."
I put Riley down, and she hugged me.
"Thank you. Riker?"
"Yeah?"
"I don't have shoes. How am I supposed to walk up there? The road is made of rocks."
"Didn't you walk up one time without shoes?"
"Yeah?"
"Well can't you do that again?"
Riley just stared blankly back at me.
"Fine, I'll carry you up. But get on my back this time."
I carried Riley back up to her house, and we sat down on the couch. Riley was leaning against me, and I had my arm around her.
"Riker?"
"Yeah?"
"We were gone, and we left the house unlocked, and now we're back. What if we're not the only ones here?"
"You're referring to Dylan?"
"Yeah…"
"Riley, as much as that is a possibility, I don't think he would show up in the same exact 5 minutes we were gone. Especially since it's still light out. I think if Dylan were going to come back, he'd do it at night. But even if he is in the house right now, I'll make sure nothing happens to you."
Riley sighed.
"Riker?"
"Yeah?"
"Why did you decide not to throw me in the water?"
"Because I knew you really didn't want me to, and I love you, so I didn't."
"Do you have your phone?"
"Yeah."
"Can I see it?"
I handed Riley my phone. I looked over, and she was looking at the weather.
"I knew it was supposed to storm tonight. I was just checking to see what time it would start."
"How long?"
"We have about 30 minutes. But I really like storms. It's fun to watch scary movies during them, but there needs to be a ton of pillows and blankets."
"So you want to watch movies then?"
"Yeah. But would it be weird if I wanted to take a shower first?"
"No. Why?"
"Because you're here. And I don't know if you would feel weird being in my house while I'm not really here. You know what I mean?"
"Yeah. Riley, it's fine. If you want to take a shower, go for it. I'll set up the movie and stuff."
"Ok."
Riley moved her head from my shoulder to my lap.
"What are you doing?"
"Resting."
"I thought you were going to take a shower."
"I am."
"Well you should go soon!"
"Why?"
"Because it's supposed to storm, and you're not supposed to shower if there's thunder and lightning."
"Oh… That's stupid."
"I don't care. I don't want you showering while there's a storm."
"Give me 5 more minutes to lay here."
"Fine."
By the time Riley actually started her shower, it had started to rain. I found a ton of pillows and blankets in Riley's closet. I spread them out on the floor, facing the TV. Next, I went to the kitchen to find movie snacks. I made popcorn, using a lid this time, and I brought a few cans of soda into Riley's bedroom. It had started to thunder now.
"Riley! Hurry up! It's thundering!" I yelled, knocking on the bathroom door.
5 minutes later, the shower went off, and the lights went out. Riley screamed. I ran down the hall to the bathroom.
"Riley?" I called.
"Riker! What happened!?"
"The power went out."
"It's pitch black in here!"
"I'm sliding my phone under the door, ok?"
"Ok. Riker?"
"Yeah?"
"Can you wait outside the door?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Because I'm creeped out!"
"Ok…"
I backed up to the bathroom door, and slid down until I was sitting on the floor. When Riley was done and opened the door, I almost fell backwards.
"Riker! You scared me!"
"How? You told me to wait here!"
"I know, but I wasn't expecting you there!"
I stood up and walked with Riley to her bedroom. We both heard a knock at her front door.
"Who in the world could that be!?" Riley asked, concerned.
"Relax. It's Rocky. I had him bring over my pajamas, some candy, and some movies."
"Oh…"
I answered the door, took the stuff from Rocky, and went back to Riley's room.
"Did you lock the door?"
"Yup."
"So we should be safe, right?"
"Yup."
"Ok…"
I rolled my eyes. I was convinced we were safe, but I knew she wasn't.
"Wait. We can't watch the movie now because the power's out," Riley said.
"Oh yeah…"
"Well what can we do now?"
"We could play a game."
"What game?"
"A card game."
"Cards? Can't we do something more interesting?"
"Ok. Like what?"
"Like… I don't know!"
"Cards it is then."
"No! Wait! How about we play truth or dare?"
Oh this should be interesting…
"Alright, fine."
"Riker?"
"Yeah?"
"Truth or dare?"
"Uh… Truth."
"Scaredy cat. Ok… Um… Oh here's your phone back by the way… Uh… Would you rather… live with no internet for a week, or live without me for a week?"
"Obviously no internet."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Ok. Truth or dare?"
"Dare, because I'm brave, unlike someone!"
"I dare you to… try to do a handstand."
"Are you sure about this?"
"Yes."
"Can I use the wall to help?"
"Sure."
Riley somehow got herself upside down, and was now staring at the floor.
"Can I get down now?"
"Yeah."
"Riker?"
"Yeah?"
"Help."
I helped Riley get down, and then we sat down facing each other.
"Truth or dare, Riker?"
"Dare, are you happy?"
"Yes. I dare you to drink one of these sodas as fast as you possibly can."
I sighed.
"Fine."
After I did Riley's dare, I felt really sick.
"Riker?"
"What?"
"Are you ok? You look kind of weird."
"I feel sick."
I groaned and laid down on the floor.
"Are you going to throw up?"
"No, I don't think so…"
"Well what do you want to do now?"
"Actually, Riley, I had a question for you."
"What?"
"Tomorrow, a bunch of my family is coming to my house for my uncle's birthday. I was wondering if you wanted to come."
"Why would I come?"
"Because you're my girlfriend, and you're really special to me."
"Really?"
"Yeah. So will you come?"
"Uh… I don't know…"
"Why not?"
"Because I'm not going to know anyone! And it's going to be weird and possibly boring. I don't know…"
"Well it might be boring. And you won't know anyone, but that's why you're coming, so you can meet everyone. Please, Riley?"
"Fine. When is this? Tomorrow?"
"Yeah."
"What time?"
"It starts between 2:00 and 4:00."
"I'm coming at 4:00 then."
"Ok."
"But what if the power isn't back by then?"
"I don't know. Hopefully it will be."
"But what if it doesn't come back?"
"Then things will get pretty interesting."
"Do you feel any better yet?"
"A little. My stomach still kind of hurts though."
All of a sudden the power came back on.
"You want to watch a movie now?" Riley asked.
"Sure. But I don't think I'm going to eat anything."
"Yeah, ok."
Later…
Riley POV
My parents came back and found me and Riker in my bedroom watching a movie.
"Alright. The movie's over, and your parents are back. Should I go home now?"
"No way! If I'm losing you tomorrow night, then of course you need to stay tonight!"
"Isn't it a little weird that I'm sleeping over every day though?"
"No because Dylan hasn't been found yet, and you said you'd protect me!"
"Fine."
Later that night…
Riker POV
"Riker! Riker, wake up! Riker!" Riley said, shaking me.
"Mmmm…"
Riley shook me even harder.
"Alright, alright, what?"
I looked up and saw Riley was crying, like when she had nightmares, but something was different this time. She looked really scared, even more than normal.
"Riley, what happened?"
Riley started crying even harder, and she couldn't talk. I held her in my arms, trying to calm her down.
"Riley, what it is?"
She still couldn't speak. She was too upset.
"Ok, I'm going to go to the bathroom. When I come back, you'll tell me what's going on."
"D-don't you d-dare open that d-door!"
Oh boy…
"What?"
"Don't open the door!" Riley said louder, holding onto my shoulders.
"Riley please. I need you to calm down and tell me what's going on."
Riley only cried harder. I could tell she was really upset over whatever this was.
"Riley, shhh! Please calm down."
I pulled Riley close to me, and wrapped a blanket around us. When that didn't help, I moved her to my lap, and started rubbing her back slowly, as she cried into my shoulder.
"Riley, can you tell me what happened now?"
"I-I had a nightmare…"
"But Riley, you're way more upset than usual."
"It wasn't a usual nightmare!"
"What?"
"All my nightmares are memories. But this one wasn't."
"Ok, so what happened?"
"We woke up in the middle of the night. I don't know why, but you wanted to leave my room for some reason. When you opened the door, he was standing right there, and he…!"
"He what?"
Riley started crying really hard again.
"Come on, Riley. What did he do?"
"He killed you!" Riley said, exploding into even more tears.
My eyes widened. That's why she's so upset…
"Riker, I can still see him in my mind! He's standing at my door with a knife! He had these creepy glowing yellow and red eyes. Riker it was so awful! You opened the door, and he was right there! There wasn't any time for you to even do anything!"
Riley hugged me even tighter.
"Nothing can ever happen to you. I need you here with me forever!" Riley said, crying harder now.
"Riley, everything's ok. I'm fine."
"It seemed so real! I thought you were gone!"
"Riley, I'm right here. Everything's ok."
"I know but I was so scared!"
"Shhh! It's ok, Riley. I'm going to go to the bathroom now, ok?"
"No! You can't open that door until morning!"
"Riley, I can't wait until morning!"
"You can't open that door!"
"Riley, I have to go!"
"Please Riker, don't!"
I sighed. I need to figure a way out of this…