Miss Quick

Chapter Thirteen

I had to end the last chapter there because I am a SUCKER for cliffhangers.
Anyway...

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Chapter Thirteen
Aftermath

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was trees. Stupidly I thought, "Wait, this isn't my bedroom!"

Actually, I couldn't remember actually going to sleep. Then Smith's face came into focus and I remembered everything that happened yesterday. Yesterday? No, today. It's the same day.

"Ari? Are you okay?" Smith asked.

I sat up quickly. Too quickly; dizziness rushed to my head and I squinted. "Yeah, I'm fine. But...that girl!" I suddenly remembered. "There was a man in a hoodie-she's getting kidnapped! Is she okay?" I said breathlessly.

"What happened? Who's getting kidnapped?" asked Smith. Quickly I told him about what I saw.

He stood up. "Becca, make sure Ari is okay. I'm going to go check out the place where her task took place." He hurried away.

"I'm fine," I told Becca.

"I'm just going to make sure," she said, then asked the class if anyone had x-Ray vision. One kid did.

"Check for any breaks of fractures," Becca told him.

I felt awkward with the kid looking up and down my body, but at least I didn't have any breaks or fractures. Once that was established, I stood up and brushed dirt off myself. "What happened?"

Evi came up to me. "We don't know. We just found you out cold on the ground. You really don't know what happened?"

"All I remember was seeing that girl being dragged away in the middle of being shot at, and I didn't know what to do, so I just ran at them and right before I hit...." I trailed off. "That's all."

"Being shot at?" Becca asked.

"By darts," I clarified.

"Ari...your task had nothing to do with darts," said Becca.

"What? But that's what it said on my envelope," I say.

"Show me," said Becca. I handed her the envelope with the yellow sticker.

"This isn't right," Becca said upon reading it. "You weren't supposed to get another envelope. Your task was to count the number of trees deep the forest was."

"Oh," I say. "It's four hundred and thirty two."

"How'd you know that?"

"I counted them anyway, as I ran down here. I'm not sure why."

She shrugged. "Well, that's good, but I still don't understand how you got the wrong envelope. Smith gave them to me immediately after he finished them, and I locked them away in a filing cabinet. That's where they've been until today."

"Can I see the other envelope?" She asked.

"I dropped it back in the forest. But I could go get it."

She shakes her head. "It's okay. Smith might find it."

We all stood around then, not really knowing what to do. Then I remembered something I thought I should mention.

"There was another envelope when I found my second one."

"Another red envelope?" Evelyn asks. "Who was it for?"

"Carlos," I said quietly. Looking around, I didn't see him anywhere.

"What was his task?" Evelyn asked Becca.