Memory Glitch (Book 2 in the "Glitched" Series)

[SIX - He Can't Swim]

'Tobi, can I go now?' Vik whined loudly, all of the blood rushing to his head as he sat with his legs in the bed, and his head on the floor. The Medic turned at the sound of his name and chuckled when he saw how his (Technically adopted Son) patient was sitting, walking over and crouched with a clipboard in his hands 'I would say that you're free to go, but maybe all of the blood flowing to your brain has damaged-'
'It hasn't damaged anything, I'm absolutely top health, a hundred percent!'
'Seems legit. Go check out the Parkour arena, I'm sure Bodil and the guys will be happy to see you again - Stay safe, alright?' The mocha-skinned teenager nodded, eyes bright as he practically sprinted towards the door before the older male caught his arm 'You might wanna put on a shirt, Vik.'
'Oh - Right. Thanks Tobi.' After throwing on a blue t-shirt, he looked outside and pulled a face before pulling a dark hoodie over the top 'I should be back in a few hours, tell Simon not to make a search party for me while I'm gone.'
'I'll sure I'll remember that, thanks. Have fun!' Waving himself out, Vik made his way downstairs and into the darkening village centre where the monument was erected. What the monument was, I hear you ask? A simple statue of a white hart, surrounded by lush flowers.
Snapping out of his thoughts, the Brit continued along the paths until he found the parkour arena. It was still brightly lit, with two or three people on the course, but he decided to walk over to his friends who were watching one of the climbers near the top.

'Top of the evenin' to ya, guys!' Vik chirped, causing Kenny to scream and jump away while Mitch's eyes widened as he moved to stand infront of someone 'H-Hey, Vik! Lovely ground - Weather, I said weather.'
'What're you guys hiding from me.'
'Nothing! Nothing, we're not hiding anything - What're you hiding?' The Canadian accused, his voice a few octaves higher than usual as whoever was behind him let out a quiet sigh.
This is useless, he doesn't remember us anyway. A small voice in the back of Vik's conscious spoke, causing him to flinch and shake his head as he looked up 'Anyway, why's Bodil just standing there?'
'Preston got stuck at the top, and now he's too afraid to come down.' Mitch explained, but the boy had already zoned out by the time he'd finished "Preston's stuck? That lava mob really can't keep himself - Who am I thinking about? What's a lava mob?"

Whilst stuck in his thoughts, he couldn't actually hear anything else, which was probably best for his mental stability at that moment in time. 'He's remembering Preston, but he loses the memory a moment later,' Lachlan explained softly, glancing at his old companion every now and then, 'I can't tell if it's hurting him or not, but it's - Like there's a spell or something, pushing those memories to the back of his head.'
'So what do we have to do, tell him what happened?'
'Too risky. If we accidentally give him too much information, he'll probably forget even more important things.' The blond shook his head in defeat, letting out a small sigh as the rain began to slow down and looking back up to the parkour course to see that Rob had now caught up to the older male, though it was hard to see since both the sky and the clouds were darkening as night fell.

Speaking of Rob...
'Preston, please, just come to the edge of the platform!' The brunet called, eyeing the jump between himself and the finish line. He'd never seen something like this before, but he would perform the jump to get to Preston.
He would do anything to see his lava mob once more.
'Rob, I-I'm scared!' Preston whimpered, suddenly more afraid than he'd been beforehand. The wind was far stronger, thought the rain was stopping, and a fall from this height to solid earth could paralyze him forever.
If he was lucky.
'I know, I know, but it's gonna be alright. I'm right here, okay? You don't need to be scared,' Robert coaxed gently, leaning forward an over his own platform's edge in a feeble attempt to reach his younger friend, 'What's wrong?'
'If I fall, I'll die!'
'He'll land in the water under the course' Bodil pointed out and gestured to the large pool underneath their platform, causing Rob to facepalm and groan quietly before looking back to the finish podium 'Why doesn't he just jump down? His platform's about three feet higher than this one.'

The Bulgarian simply shrugged, taking a few steps back before attempting the jump once more. He failed, again, mere inches away from the solid material until a lightly tanned hand shot out and grabbed his arm 'You're still trying to complete the jump?'
'I might as well, but this doesn't count because you helped me out.' Bodil grinned cheekily at the Texan, who simply rolled his ember eyes and continued pulling him up until he was on the podium 'Who said anything about me pulling you up? I don't know what I saw, but I'm pretty sure you just completed it yourself.'
'You flatter me too much... Hey, you want to get down, right? There's a far easier way than jumping.'
'Really? What is-'
'Falling,' He said bluntly, shoving the younger parkourist over the edge, 'Sorry Preston, but it was the only way.'

It was unlikely that Preston heard the apology, due to the loud screams echoing in his ears - It only took him a second to recognize them as his own "Just breathe, just - Oh who am I kidding, I'm gonna die! Do I even know how to swim?" Well, he was about to find out.

He hit the water hard, with cold liquid encasing him and seeming to drag all of the oxygen from his body. He wanted to get out, but he didn't really know how - His arms just flapped about in the pool, really. There was a heavy splash from a few feet away, and his panicked eyes met the startled set belonging to the one and only Robert Latsky. Flashing with recognition, they directed upwards along with his hands; Go up.
'Are you mad?!'
'Can't you swim?'
'Never had to learn how!' The Canadian rolled his eyes once more, taking ahold of his old friend's arm and pushing himself upwards. As soon as their heads breached the surface Preston took a deep breath of air, coughing up water as Rob dragged him to the edge 'Not exactly how I planned our reunion,' The older brunet smiled playfully, gently patting his back before noticing how much he was shaking, 'Hey, you alright?'.

The former fire hybrid said nothing, instead throwing his arms around Rob and burying his face into his wet hoodie 'I-I thought I would-would never see you again...' He muttered, unable to take in the fact that the wolf hybrid was still alive.

'What, did you think I would let some Orespawns kill me?' He teased, bringing the two to the shallow part of the pool before holding his friend at arm's length 'You're not hurt, are you? Have they tried anything, threatened you or-'
'Be quiet, you cactus. Hey, where've your ears gone?'
'I could say the same for - Well I can't, because you were - I'll just shut up now.'
'You do that.'

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY RAVEN!

I cAn'T sWiM

Ah my little OTP, they grew up so fast:)

Literally. 'Cause y'know, massive timeskip and all that hahahahhahaaa sorry.

See you all in the next chapter, and have a great Morning - Afternoon - Evening - Dawn - Dusk - Midnight - Paranormal Timezone!