A TRANSITION

Chapter 26We entered the smoothie shop and scanned the crowd for Noah. Skyler pointed at the corner and I saw Noah frantically calling someone. He kept dialing and redialing but supposedly the person is not picking up. We snaked through the crowd and reached for Noah. As soon as he saw me he bolted and shook my shoulders."Where have you been? I've been looking for you." He paused and took me in for a moment. "What happened to you?""We need to talk," Skyler told him. "But not here."We headed outside for the parking lot. Noah turn around and faced me. "Are you going to tell me what happened?"I swallowed and took a deep breath. "We have been wrong. It wasn't Luke. There's something wrong with the evidences."Noah studied me for sometime. Then he turned to Skyler, "Did you happen to find her crying her eyes out somewhere?" Skyler's expression told me that she was as surprised as I was hearing the question. She simply nodded."You're coming home with me." Noah grabbed my hand and tried to head for his suv. I jerked off my hand and said, "We don't have time. Someone's gonna get hurt.""Luke is behind bars. Nobody's getting hurt. You need to get home now." There was something in Noah's eyes that scared me. I took a step away from him. "What are you hiding?" My voice shook a little."You have to get home Jenny. You're sick." I gaped at him. What on earth was he talking about.Skyler stepped in between us and said, "You need to stop taking decisions for her. And she is not sick. You better listen us out or you can just leave. Your choice."I was so grateful to have Skyler here. Now that she mentioned it, I realized that for the last couple of years I have been doing exactly as Noah wanted. I did whatever made him happy. I did it because he was my best friend. But now it just looks like he had been living my life too."Stay out of this Skyler. You don't know nothing," Noah said without taking his eyes off me."Noah, listen. I don't know what you are talking about. I don't know this you. The Noah I know would've listened to me by now and taken steps before someone got hurt. Genevie saw the attacker. She saw that it wasn't Luke. And it wasn't. Her life might be in danger.""Snap out of it," he shouted at me. Tears settled in my eyes. I did my best to hold them back. He can't break me. Not now. Not when people need me. He stepped closer and put both of his hands on my shoulder."Do you remember the time your mother died?" he asked me."What the hell does that mean?" I snapped at him."Do-you-remember-the-time-your-mother-died?" he asked me again giving pause between every words like my brain could not process all at a time."Yes," I replied, "in the hospital. My dad was sulking. Granma and gramps were crying. You and Jeremy did all the work.""Do you remember what happened after Jeremy pulled you out of the ICU?" His eyes searching mine for answers."I-yes. I fell asleep on one of the chairs crying. You guys took me home. I woke up the next morning." I didn't find anything out of ordinary in that. What was Noah trying to say?"Do you remember the funeral?"The funeral.I tried to remember the funeral. But only bits and pieces came to my mind. Me standing for speech. Burying my mom. Crying at my bed at night. But not the whole thing."What on earth is the point of this right now?" Skyler was pissed."You don't Jenny. The flashes that come to your mind are the pieces put there by Jeremy. You had a blackout of three days after your mom died. You forgot everything.""I don't understand." I had no idea what he was talking about. What does he mean by I forgot everything?"That day, you went to your mom's room in the middle of the night and wrecked it. You kept cursing loudly and your grandparents went to check. They found you in the middle of broken vials a pool of medicine flowing on the ground." He paused to see if I remembered anything. When he saw it was no use, he started again."The day at the funeral, when you were giving your speech, you stopped halfway. I think you saw someone and started screaming 'You killed my mother' and ran after the wind. Jeremy had to tackle you down to stop. You were out of control Jenny. When I tried to talk to you later that day, you started saying weird things.""No," I shook my head hard and tried to remember. But there was only a black screen. "None of it happened.""It did, Jenny. Luke, Ivy, Me, Jeremy, your grandparents and even your dad, we all know. You accused me of killing your mother. But your theory was intact. If people didn't know better, everyone would have believed you. You saw me sulking around the hospital, you found a vial of illegal drug in my backpack, you saw me leave the school early without you. You made two and two together and I was the killer."I just gaped at him because the stuffs he said were absurd."You even build up a theory that proved Jeremy killed your mother."I clasped my mouth with my hand. I trusted my life with Jeremy. I would have never accused him. All these seemed like a fantasy story. Seemed like he was wasting out time."You're suspecting me right now, aren't you?" How on earth did he read my mind? Wait, he always did that."Jenny, last time, after your mom died, you were out of control. You even took the kitchen knife and tried to attack your grandparents. They had to lock you in your room. Jeremy got home and tried to reason with you. After listening to him for some time, you attacked him too. I heard you guys screaming and jumped in through your window to get you off him.""Are these true?" I couldn't believe anything he said at this point. I couldn't believe the Noah I trusted my life with. Maybe I was out of my mind. Skyler was talking on the phone a few feet away from us."Jeremy had to bring in a psychiatrist for you. But things got rough and he had to sedate you. Only then you stopped.""Why can't I remember any of those?"" Don't Know. The psychiatrist said you were having some post traumatic effect. That is why you were getting out of control and behaving like that. When you woke up the next day, you completely forgot the past three days. We all came into agreement about not trying to make you remember. But Jeremy thought it was best you had some fragments of the funeral. So he kept saying what happened and you kept believing what he said. That's why you don't remember any clear memory.""Goodness." I did remember nothing. All those images were made up in my mind. I remember making those images in my mind just as I liked it. Wearing a long sleeve foot length gown and crying while giving the speech. Those were all just in my mind. But, why was he telling me this now? There was something wrong. I saw Skyler locking eyes with Noah and nodding in agreement. Something was definitely wrong. I glanced straight through the way where Skyler and I sat before. If I could only run for the woods. I bolted.I heard Skyler call Noah's name in a screech. I ran for my life. Whatever was happening whether for my own good or not, I could not afford losing time. Someone is going to get heard and my gut feeling is never wrong.But it Noah who was running after me. And as always he caught up with me in no time, just before I could enter the woods. He grabbed me by my shirt and pulled back. I was throwing my arms and legs everywhere and trying to get out of his grip. But Skyler came and helped him pin me down."I'm so sorry. But it's for your own good. I would never hurt you Jenny." There was both guilt and pain in his eyes. But my inside boiled with rage. Rage for the fact that he was not believing me. He was not trying to save the life that might be in danger.I heard a car pull out in the driveway and a lean guy around 40 years came out of it. He wore square glasses and a white buttoned down shirt with jeans. Ivy also came out running from the smoothie shop. She too was in this."I came as fast as I could," he said to Noah and leaned beside me."Let me go. Don't you dare touch me," I was shocked at my own voice. It came out as a broken scary tone."This is serious," he said as he filled up a syringe with some drug and pointed to me. I started twisting again as I realized he was going to sedate me. "Hold her steady," as he said, Skyler pulled my left arm flat on the cemented floor of the parking lot. He rubbed the cotton piece on my skin and then injected the drug. I felt a small prick on my skin. My vision started to dim in a short moment. He must have given me a large dose. I could not keep my eyes pried open even with my full will. I tried to fight the drug but even my gut knew it was too late."I'm so sorry Jenny," I saw Noah hovering over me. Are those tears in his eyes? But he had to understand."Genevie-save... please.." I tried to tell Noah. All he did was stare at me with a pained expression."Genevie," I mumbled one more time before everything went black.