When I awoke the next morning, my body told me to stay in bed and rest some more, my heart and head screamed to look for Quinn. Something was wrong, I should have heard from him by now. First thing I did was grab a shower; it had been at least four days since I had one and I hoped it would help clear my head. It felt wonderful to be under the hot water, I could have stayed in there forever. When I opened my eyes and saw the glass door and the four walls so close to me, I began to feel closed in and I struggled to breathe.
My hands frantically reached for the door. I jumped out of the shower to catch my breath and didn’t dry my feet off, which caused me to slip and fall on the floor. My head bumped hard against the tile floor of the bathroom and I saw stars. The towel I had pulled from the closet was just barely out of reach, so I scooted myself over to the sink and grabbed it. Everything seemed to be going wrong, my life was so happy and now it felt like nothing could go right. Emotions took over and I leaned up against the sink and bawled uncontrollably. “Quinn, where are you?” I choked out.
My mom knocked on the bathroom door, "Parker, you're going to be late for school."
When I arrived at school, I ran to the first place I could think of to look for him. Quinn wasn’t at his locker, but I knew he didn’t keep it locked so I opened it up, it was empty. Next I tried Jackie’s locker which was unlocked as well, but was full of all her things. Well, I don’t know if that is a good sign or a bad sign. Heading to class, I opened the door, hoping to see one of them in there. Instead, I find Will in Quinn’s seat. He smiled at me and waved, so I went to sit by him. He leaned over and kissed me on the mouth. I jerked back. What the…? I wasn’t able to respond because Mr. Carter started teaching. We were definitely having a talk after class though.
Class seemed to last for ages, Mr. Carter called roll, but he didn’t even say Quinn’s name. He did mention Jackie’s and said he remembered that she called in sick. I pulled out my phone and texted Quinn.
Me: I'm really starting to worry about you, please get in touch with me and let me know what's going on. I'm at school, I love you.
My phone beeped a minute later with an error message that stated that the call failed, number could not accept texts. It was all I could do to fight back fear now, I started rocking back and forth in my seat and stared at the clock anxious for the class to be over. I had to get out of school and find Quinn, Jackie, and Mitchell because something was very wrong here.
Finally, the bell rang and I took off out of the class, like a bat out of hell. Will called after me, but I ignored him, I would deal with that kiss thing later. I left school grounds and headed straight for Quinn’s house. When I got there it looked abandoned, the windows were boarded up and there were cobwebs on the porch. The door was open so I stepped inside. The place looked like it hadn’t been lived in for years. What's going on here? There was nothing here that even belonged to Quinn, how can that be? I couldn’t have been in that cave more than a couple of days based on the amount of food I had left. A sick feeling crept over me, a feeling deep in the pit of my stomach.
This time I texted Jackie.
Me: Hey girl, heard you were sick, is that just wolf talk? Get back with me, I can’t find Quinn.
My phone beeped a minute later, before looking I closed my eyes and begged that it was a reply and not another error.
Looking at the phone I was relieved, it was a response from Jackie.
Jackie: I have some kind of stomach bug, don’t know what you mean by wolf talk…are you feeling ok? And who's Quinn?
Me: That’s not funny Jackie, I'm really worried about him, is he with Mitchell?
Jackie: Mitchell's out of town with his parents for Thanksgiving, I’ve never heard him mention anyone named Quinn, what's up with you Parker?
I couldn’t catch my breath. I sat down on the floor and rocked back and forth as I panicked. I don’t understand any of this, Quinn was real I know he was. There is no way I imagined the last couple of months. How hard did I hit my head this morning? Maybe it was like in the movies and I hit it so hard that I'm in a dream state right now. In a few hours, I will wake up and Quinn will have been sitting next to me holding my hand the whole time.
Getting in my car, I went back to our waterfall to see if I could find any clues. I stepped inside the cave and found all my stuff including the sleeping bag that I shared with Quinn during the day. I picked it up and sniffed it. No! I only smelled my scent. This can’t be happening. Grabbing everything together, I ran out of the cave and threw myself on the ground at the base of the fall. I didn’t even know about this waterfall before I met Quinn, which meant he was real. I couldn’t hurt this much if he weren't…right? Please let him be okay, please don’t let me lose him. My phone rang and it was Will, I ignored it. I can’t talk to him right now.
It occurred to me, Quinn had been in my car and I remembered he put a blanket and picnic stuff in the trunk the last time we were here. Standing up, I practically tripped over my own feet running to the car. My hands fumbled the keys as I tried to open the trunk. I dropped the keys on the ground, took a deep breath, picked them up and took a few more deep breaths to calm myself as I put them in the trunk lock.
One more deep breath, I closed my eyes and lifted the trunk. Opening my eyes, I looked and there were a blanket and a picnic basket. I didn’t imagine it…he is real! I lifted the blanket and breathed in; his scent was still there. I sent up a silent thank you. There were still more answers to find though, so I headed back home.
One problem, that I can’t explain, is Jackie acted like she never heard of Quinn. I don’t know what to make of that. Pulling into my driveway, a car pulled in right behind me. In the rearview mirror, I noticed it was Will in the driver’s seat. We both stepped out of our cars and walked toward each other.
“I’ve been calling you, why haven’t you answered? I have been worried about you since you ran out of school in such a rush.” He said as he put his arm on me and kissed my cheek.
I placed my hands on his chest and shoved him away from me. “Why do you keep kissing me?” I demanded.
He looked a bit hurt when he said, “That’s usually what people dating do…isn’t it?”
Ok, now I am really confused. “Dating? Since when are we dating?” I asked.
“Uh…For at least a month now, since you found me on the road hurt and we bonded over the fact we're both wolves…” he started to say.
I cut him off, “Wait, that was months ago. I’ve been dating Quinn since before I met you and then you died…or so we all thought…until you saved me from the cave where I'd been trapped.”
Now Will had a confused look on his face, “First, who is Quinn, second, I never died, and third what cave…the one under the waterfall…our cave?”
I smacked him across the face, “That'll never be our cave that's Quinn's and my cave. I don’t know what you're trying to pull Will Carpenter, but I won’t listen to this crap!” I stormed off into the house and slammed the door behind me. I eased the curtain back and peered out the window. I made sure that he had driven away before I called Jackie.
I asked her again where Quinn and Mitchell were and she repeated the same story as before that she didn’t know Quinn and that Mitchell was out of town with his parents. I grew angry and demanded she tell me the truth. She rebutted angrily saying I had gone crazy and that Will told me the truth and that I needed to quit smoking whatever drugs I had because they were messing with my mind. I hung up on her, grabbed my keys off the counter, and headed out the door.
Things were getting better between the four of us and I didn’t understand why she had reverted back to the angry person she had been the last few weeks. I headed straight for Mitchell’s home. There were no cars in the driveway, but I knocked and rang the doorbell repeatedly. I walked around to the back of the house and found the hidden key for the back door then let myself in.
For Mitchell’s
16th birthday, I helped Jackie sneak into his house and decorate his room up as a surprise. This is how I knew where the hide-a-key was and the layout of his house. Sneaking up to Mitchell’s room, I found that his luggage was still there in the closet and it didn’t look like he’d been home in a while. I went through his desk looking for any clues and found a piece of paper with a number on it…Quinn’s phone number. Clutching it to my chest, I dialed Mitchell’s number, no answer.
Something happened to both Quinn and Mitchell and someone has brainwashed Jackie and Will. That was the only answer I could come up with to explain all the craziness going on. A memory hit me, I grabbed at my right shoulder and there was no bandage and no sore there anymore. It was infected yesterday, how can it be gone now? Something really strange is going on and I'm the only one who can find out what it is. I can’t trust Jackie or Will because they may have been influenced somehow. Now I felt like it was me who watched too many soap operas.
Will called my phone and left a message when I didn’t answer. His message said, “Look, Parker, I'm not sure what's going on with you right now, but I care a lot about you and we need to work through this. You can explain to me who this Quinn is and maybe we can work it out if you still care about me too, the way you used to at least. Anyway, just call me.”
His message sounded like he wanted to say more, but didn’t know how to word it. I felt sorry that I smacked him if he was brainwashed then it’s not his fault that he thinks we're a couple. I guess for now I will have to play along with Wiand Jackie so they don’t try to put me in the loony bin. Now I have to come up with a convincing story as to why I have acted so weird the last two days.
First things first, I called Will. “Hey Will, look I am sorry about earlier, I don’t know what came over me. If you still want to see me, meet me at the park in a half hour. Quinn's nobody important I’ve realized. I just want to be with you. I’m sorry about slapping you, that was uncalled for.”
I had to leave that as a message, can’t really blame him for not answering. Couldn’t exactly act like I made Quinn up. Otherwise, they will really think I'm nuts. So instead, I'll act like there was a chance for me to cheat on him, but then I realized he means too much to me. Going along with the craziness was the only way I could find out the truth it seemed.
Will was there when I got to the park, and he had flowers. He was smiling at me as I walked up. I felt guilty going along with this because he looked genuinely sincere. He handed me the bouquet of daisies.
I smiled and breathed them in. “Why are you giving me flowers? I'm the one who has groveling to do,” I said to him and stood on my tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss. He grabbed me around the waist and pulled me to him for a more passionate one. Oh brother, this was too weird, like making out with a brother. Yuck. As gently as I could, I pushed him away, faked a giggle, and said, “Easy there, stud-muffin.”
He took my hand and led me over to the picnic table. It was best to get this part over with, so I explained, “Look about what happened before, Quinn means nothing to me. I thought at one time he did, but he ended up being a jerk and I feel like an idiot for falling for it and, in the long run, hurting you.” As I said this, I put on the saddest face I could and caressed his face lovingly.
He looked back at me the same way Quinn does, with actual love in his eyes. This threw me for a loop and I pulled away from him abruptly and looked away. He reached out and touched my arm, “What’s wrong sweetheart?”
Before thinking, I snapped, “Don’t call me that!” And with some quick thinking, and without looking at him, I lied and said, “I’m sorry, I don’t feel like I deserve to be your sweetheart. I feel so terrible about what happened earlier is all. I’m really sorry.”
I brought my hands up to my face to cover it as though I was truly devastated, but mostly it was so he couldn’t see I wasn’t. I poked at my eyes a bit to make them water and turned to face him again. He had a concerned look on his face, “Don’t cry. I’m not mad, I promise.” He put his arms around me and hugged me tight, the only thing I could do was look up at the sky and wish this hug was over already.
Will walked me home, even after I insisted he didn’t have to. I wanted to be away from him as soon as possible. It’s not his fault that his mind has been screwed with, but it felt like I cheated on Quinn and it sucked.
He walked me to the front door and as I unlocked it and stepped through I could feel that he was following me. I turned abruptly, kissed him on the cheek and said “I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”
He looked a bit taken back, but replied, “Ok…I love you.”
Smiling I said, “Me too. Bye,” and shut the door quickly.
Once inside, I propped up against the door for a minute and took a deep breath, this was going to be difficult. Keeping up this ruse, while trying to find Quinn and Mitchell, was going to be close to impossible.
That night I could barely sleep, I kept thinking about Quinn and wondering if he was even alive still. What could have happened to keep him away like this, to leave me in that cave locked up. He never would have done that on his own, he must be worried sick about me like I am about him. The bit of sleep I did get was riddled with nightmares.
“Parker! Parker! No, she needs help! Please, let me go to her!” Quinn shouted. Someone stood over me and my shoulder was on fire as they rubbed some medicine on it. I could hear Quinn screaming my name, but I couldn’t find my voice to say anything. I felt so groggy, everything around me was fuzzy. Whoever bandaged me got up to leave, I pulled myself up and tried to follow, but I was weak and stumbled.
My eyes were blurry and I could only see shapes and a bit of light shining through a small opening. I stuck my hand through the opening and someone grabbed it. “Parker, sweetheart, I love you, don’t forget that. I'll be back for you, I promise,” Quinn said. He kissed my hand and I felt his hand pull away. I tried to hold on, but someone was pulled on him. He kept screaming my name as his voice faded and I felt the sting and stumbled backward and the light was gone.
I sat up straight in bed and I was sweating and shaking. It was a dream, just a dream. But what if it wasn’t, could it have been a memory? Who would be strong enough to pull Quinn away from me when he was so upset? Walking to the window, I opened it up and stuck my face outside in the cold air.
“Quinn, where are you?” I whispered.
Chapter Sixteen