I Have an Invisible Stalker (Guardians #1)

Chapter 8

Olivia's POV

I finish the third hop away from the hospital and am about to take the fourth one when my eyes land on a girl my age staring at me with wide-open eyes. Her ash blonde hair is blindingly bright in the late morning sun, as are her plump red lips and her flowery summer dress.

"Brooke." I lift one crutch and wave it above my head.

The girl snaps out of whatever shock she's in and crosses the distance between us. "Liv?" She glances from my cast-wrapped foot to the cuts still visible all over my bare arms—especially the largest one running diagonally across my inner left forearm.

"Have you finally come to visit me?" I smile at my closest childhood friend, while she avoids meeting my eyes. "Don't be like that. I'm not angry as I was in the hospital for only two days. But you could have at least come around to my place and asked how I was doing."

"I..." Brooke chews on her lower lip. "My parents have been arguing a lot lately, so I haven't been home in a while."

"Ouch, I'm sorry to hear that. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She nods but continues to keep her eyes on anywhere other than me. "What about you? How are you?"

"Great. Well, except for my missing memories. I still have no idea what happened."

"What do you mean?" For the first time, her blue eyes snap up to meet mine.

"I have no idea what I was doing in that part of town on the night of the accident or how and why the accident even happened. It's why I'm going there right now. I want to see if I can remember anything. You want to come with me?"

Brooke glances at her hand and I finally notice the small bouquet of daisies she's holding.

"Are you here to visit someone?"

"My cousin," she answers. "He was admitted a few days ago and I'm here to see how he's doing."

"Oh, then go right ahead." I move aside, so she can pass by me. "I'll see you around."

"Sure." She waves without looking back and then hurries to the hospital's entrance.

I watch her disappearing figure while wondering what happened to the two of us. Ever since I can remember we used to be inseparable. But since the middle of this school year, Brooke suddenly began acting more and more distant. And now that it's summer break, I can't shake off the feeling that I won't get to see her much, let alone find out what created the rift between us.

Though no matter how much I want to run after her, I don't have the time for this right now. Instead, I turn in the opposite direction and head to the bus stop.

It's time for me to see what the place where the accident happened looks like.

*

It takes me about ten minutes with the bus and a short three-minute hop down the side of a small park to reach the intersection where the paramedics told me they found me lying in the middle of the road. I stop beside a streetlamp at one of the edges of the intersection and glance at the four possible directions I could have come from. Yet not a single one stands out.

The street I came from is the main road, while the other three all separate into different suburban neighborhoods. And because I have no idea what I could have possibly been doing here, I also don't know which street I came from before the car hit me.

A pang pulses through my left foot, which I take as a sign that I need to put the weight off it. This is why I ignore the surrounding traffic and lower myself onto the sidewalk beside the streetlamp. Once I'm seated on the warm asphalt, I close my eyes and will my brain to tell me what happened here on the night of the accident.

"What are you doing?"

I snap my eyes open at the familiar voice and find myself staring up at Samuel's shadow-covered face.

He is standing beside me while looking at me with his arms crossed in front of his chest. "You can still see me, can't you?"

"Of course." I nod. "Did you hope that I wouldn't be able to see you anymore when you returned? Is this why you've been absent for so long? Or do you actually have a lot of charges to watch over?"

"How do you know I have other charges?"

"Eliza told me. She's a lot more forthcoming with information than you. Then again, that doesn't say much since I've learned almost nothing about Guardians from you."

"Eliza?" He draws his eyebrows down in thought.

"My mother's Guardian." I frown, wondering if either of them lied to me about their identity. "Don't the two of you know each other? You are supposedly guarding Mom and me. Our house isn't big enough for the two of you to have never crossed paths."

"Mina's Guardian?" Samuel smooths his features almost immediately. "I remember her."

"You remember her? Shouldn't you two be—I don't know—close acquaintances at the very least?"

"Guardians don't interact with one another."

"Do you mean you don't interact with other Guardians or all Guardians don't interact with one another?"

"There's a difference?"

"Yes, because I'm starting to see why the first one might be true. But I doubt that the second one could be anywhere close to reality."

"You know nothing about us."

"I didn't know much a day ago, but now I know more than you think."

Because I'm still sitting on the sidewalk, I have been tilting my head back to look at him. Now, as my neck starts to cramp up, I turn my gaze back down and turn my head in a slow circle to get the stiffness out of my neck.

"You still haven't answered my question," I say while continuing to rotate my head. "What took you so long to come back? Were you avoiding me or were you with your other charges?"

"I wasn't avoiding you." The exasperation in his voice is so palpable, I can feel his desire to glue my mouth shut. "I have thirteen charges and I spend six hours with each one."

I raise my hands in front of my face and then use my fingers to help me solve the equation he just presented to me. If he has thirteen charges and spends six hours with each one, but one of those charges is me...

"That's why you're back! You just finished with your rounds at the other charges and now it's my turn again." After all, it's been seventy-two hours since I last saw him. "I've been thinking. Can I call you Sam? Samuel seems like such a mouthful."

"My name is Samuel."

"I know. But doesn't Sam sound so much better? And in return, you can call me Liv like everyone else does."

"My name is Samuel and your name is Olivia," he says with a tone that doesn't leave room for discussion. Not even a tiny-tinny opening underneath the iron door of his denial.

"I thought that my first impression of how stiff you are was exaggerated, but now I see I was right."

I turn back up to him, but the moment I do so the same stiffness tenses my muscles. This is why instead of continuing the torture, I grab onto his forearm and use it as a lever to pull myself into a standing position.

Once I'm on my foot and the cast, I smile up at him in thanks. Instead of at my face though, he has his eyes turned further downward. I follow his gaze and find myself looking at my right hand which is still wrapped around his once again bare forearm. Our skins are of a surprisingly similar pale tone, but the size of his arm makes my hand look like that of a small child.

I slowly pull my eyes back to his face, but on my way there I can't help to note the same similar gray sweater he's wearing.

"Eliza wasn't kidding when she said you guys don't change clothes."

***

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                - E