A Pocket Full of Posies (Book 1)

Chapter Twenty (Part 1)

It's not wet anymore. Has it stopped raining? For a moment, I think it might be daytime because it's warm, but then I realise everything is dark so that can't be right. Or are my eyes just closed? I can't remember. God, I feel tired.

"Felix?" There's a voice, but it's not Annabel's and it's not the spirit's. "Hey, can you hear me? Felix?"

Carmen? I try to shift my body up, only to realise I'm half-smothered in something. What the hell? My eyes are droopy, but I force them open. Blankets. I'm smothered in blankets; a mountain of them. I think I'm on a sofa. Footsteps near me, and I turn my eyes towards the sound to see Carmen approaching me. She sits down beside me, but I'm not sure what on. Why can't I focus properly?

"What? Are we in Ava's house?" I manage to say. "I can't--I don't remember how--What happened?"

As I sit up, I realise I'm not on a sofa. I'm in a large double bed, and Carmen is sitting on the unoccupied side next to me. She's biting her lip.

"You disappeared," she explains. "We--we tried calling you, but you weren't answering, and it was pouring with rain and I was worried you'd gone outside because of what happened and gotten lost, and--sorry, I'm rambling, I just--Jesus, I was so worried." She lets out a breath. "We found you passed out just off the road about twenty minutes away, and you were freezing. We couldn't get you to wake up for ages, you weren't responding to anything." Carmen's voice cracks a little. "When you did come to, you were confused. You kept mumbling something about a man following you and..." She hesitates. "Your parents, and something to do with ghosts."

"Hey, maybe one of Ava's ghosties possessed me," I joke, but quickly get the impression now's not the time.

"The girl who'd found you didn't have a phone with her," Carmen continues, ignoring my poor attempt at humour. "So I called Mosi and Ava to come pick you up. They were--They'd been driving around looking for you."

"Oh," I reply simply. "I mean, sorry for doing that, I didn't--I don't know what happened, I can't remember anything," I say, half lying.

"We're pretty sure you were hypothermic, or at least getting there, hence the..." she nods at the blankets stacked on top of me. "Your clothes are in the wash, by the way."

I hadn't even noticed I wasn't wearing them. I shove myself out of the blankets a little further, removing all but one completely because it's kind of boiling, and can finally take in my surroundings properly. I've never been in this room before--it must be a guest bedroom or something. It's decorated much like the rest of the house, in an old-fashioned but perfectly kept style.

"Thanks," I finally say. "For finding me and, y'know, preventing my death. Mind you, I'm a bit of a ball ache, so it could've been a blessing in disguise. I'll hide a little better next time, eh?" I joke again, but receive an even more unimpressed look from Carmen than before, so follow it with a "I'm only joking, sorry, I didn't mean to scare you like that."

Carmen shakes her head. "Thank the girl who called me over to you. I never would've found you in the first place otherwise."

"Who was that?"

"I'm not sure, I think she's on your course," Carmen replies. "She said she'd been to the party anyway. A girl called Annabel?"

"Pardon?"

"Annabel? She said she knew you from uni. She lives in one of the houses around here, said she spotted you on her way home from the party."

Carmen keeps talking, but I zone out completely. What the actual shitting hell? I ask Carmen if she's sure, to which she nods. I ask her what she looked like. Long, dark brown hair, blue eyes, and wearing a pair of dark jeans with a velvet jumper. I gaze at Carmen, and I'm completely gormless. I don't--How can--What? She described Annabel perfectly. It was Annabel. She saw Annabel.