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"Ashton?"

Silence.

I sat up, suddenly alert of the deep silence that engulfed me. My breath came out in anxious puffs as I scrambled to my feet. Where was I? Where was he? The thick darkness blocked my vision like murky contacts.

"Ashton!" I yelled again, more frantic this time.

"I'm here, Elizabeth."

I whirled around, my hair flashed around me like a whip. Where was he? I heard his voice again, but it was far away, inaudible.

A flash of light came from somewhere a few feet away from me. I squinted, trying to peer through the thick darkness, and just managed to faintly make out the silhouette of a man.

He raised a hand. I could see that he wore a suit. I took a step back, wary of this new stranger. He held a card between his index and middle finger but I couldn't see what was written on it.

His lips parted in a smile and his white teeth gleamed in the low light. He flicked the card to me and I fumbled to pick it up. Ace of spades. The letters C.D were written in the middle of the spade in elegant cursive writing.

I frowned, wondering the meaning behind it, then the man started to fade.

"Wait!" I gasped but he was gone in the blink of an eye. The light disappeared too and I was left in the murky abyss once more.

"Fall and forget."

Demetri's voice? I felt drowsy. I needed to lie down. The voice echoed in my head but it was so muffled now. I blinked frantically, trying to keep myself awake, but my eyelids drooped with intense heaviness. It was Dem... hmm... whose voice was it again?

"Fall and forget."

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Beep

Beep

Beep

The low, periodic beeping sound drifted to me. I winced once as the pungent smell of disinfectant invaded my nose. My eyes flickered open slowly and I blinked back the blurriness that coalesced my vision. I tried to focus on clearing the blurriness until the edges of my vision became grey and fuzzy. A plain, white ceiling stared down at me. The steady beeping sound got louder and it felt as if I had taken cotton out of my ears.

Where was I? I winced again as I groggily tried to push myself into a sitting position. I glanced down at my right hand which was wrapped in bandage and frowned as I examined it.

"Lizzy, you're awake!" my mom said, coming over to me. She breathed a sigh of relief.

I looked around me. I was in the hospital. But why? I glanced back at my hand.

"I was so worried about you," she stressed while she helped me to sit up.

"What happened?" I murmured, my voice raspy.

"That's what I'd like to know," my dad sighed as he appeared beside the bed. "It's a good thing you told me where you were going. I got worried when I couldn't get in touch with you after dark."

My eyebrows furrowed as I frowned in confusion. I couldn't remember anything. I winced when trying to force my memory to cooperate became painful.

"Hey, take it easy," mom advised. "You just woke up after a day."

"I've been out for a day?" I asked in horror.

"It seems you fell off the bleachers at the school. You hit your head and you sprained your hand," dad explained.

The bleachers at school? What was I doing there? I struggled to think and then I remembered something. Nicole had called me and asked to meet up... something about apologizing. What happened after that, I couldn't remember.

"I'll get the doctor to come check up on you," mom suggested with a smile.

I nodded as she walked out of the room. Dad and I talked while we waited for the doctor to come. After inspecting me, she gave the okay for me to be discharged.

My mind buzzed with unanswered questions during the drive home. Did Nicole push me off the bleachers or something? My parents had said that my friends had come to visit me in the hospital. I decided to call them when I got home.

"Where's my phone?" I asked, rummaging around my room.

"It wasn't with you when I got there," dad answered from the other room. He came in to where I was. "Are you sure you brought it with you?"

I shook my head. I didn't remember if I did. I sighed and trudged downstairs to use the house phone. Callie was overjoyed to hear that I'd recovered and was at home. Kevin and Ashton were relieved. They said they would come over, despite my protests that I was fine.

After I'd eaten and taken a shower, I lounged around in my room, still trying to figure out what had happened. It wasn't unusual that I couldn't remember anything that happened since I had gotten a slight concussion.

What bothered me was the fact that this happened after I went to meet up with Nicole and when my dad got to the school no-one was there. Nicole had always disliked me and she hated me even more after Ashton broke up with her, but I didn't want to point fingers at anyone without knowing the whole story.

A knock sounded against my door and my mom's face appeared. "Your friends came back to visit you." She smiled. "Should I let them up?"

I nodded and in a few seconds Ashton and Kevin entered my room. Callie was right behind them.

"Liz, I'm so glad you're okay," she said, gently hugging me to her. She carried a get well soon gift basket which she placed on my nightstand before plopping down on the bed. She wore a dark brown lace front wig. As I expected, she still looked amazing.

She threw off her sunglasses and frowned at my bandaged hand.

"Hey guys," I smiled at them.

"Elizabeth," Ashton whispered in relief. He came over and gently took my hand in his as he inspected it. "How on Earth did this happen?"

"That's a good question," I chuckled.

"Your parents said you went down to school," Callie mentioned. "Do you just miss school that much?"

"I do kinda miss school," I admitted. "But that's not the reason why I went there."

She cocked her head to one side. "Then why did you go?"

"Nicole asked me to meet up with her."

They all froze at this. Ashton growled and Kevin pinched the bridge of his nose angrily.

"And you just went?" Callie shrieked. "Did she do this to you?"

"It's kinda weird," I sighed. "I don't remember anything that happened after I left home. I had a small concussion."

"That b*tch," Callie fumed as she tapped away angrily at her phone.

I glanced over as she hit send. "You don't have to attack her like that. I don't know if she did anything bad. I might have fallen because of my own clumsiness, you know."

She thought about that. "You do have a skill for tripping over perfectly flat surfaces... But still, I don't trust her. She should at least explain her side of the story then."

I explained as much as I could to them, but I still couldn't jog my memory past me leaving the house. It hurt to think about it. Everything was just blurry.

"That's the same thing that happens to me when I try to remember Daniel leaving," Callie murmured.

"You don't think anything else bad happened to you while you were there?" she asked nervously.

I shook my head. Apart from falling from the bleachers, nothing else major seemed to have happened.

"Oh, I can't find my phone either," I added. "It's disappeared."

Ashton stared at the floor dejectedly. "If I had marked you..."

Another knock sounded against my door after a few minutes.

"Lizzy, you have another guest."

The door swung open and Nicole was standing there with a look of irritation.

Ashton and Kevin came closer to me and Callie shot daggers at her with her eyes. She sashayed into my room with a scoff. "Well, well. Here we are again."

She glared at me and I rolled my eyes. "Did you come here to start a fight?" I asked in annoyance.

"You already started the fight when your friend here started blaming me for your little accident there," she growled, pointing at my hand.

"I'm not blaming you for anything, Nicole," I sighed. "But since you're here we should probably talk about this."

"Go ahead," she said, moving closer to Kevin. She blew him a kiss, which he fanned away.

"Can you tell me what happened two days ago when you asked me to meet up with you?"

She stared at me incredulously. "Why the hell would I want to meet up with you?"

"You said you wanted to apologize... or something along that line," I frowned. "Do you have short term memory or something?"

Her lips curled into a snarl. "Wow, you must be delusional. Tell me, did you hit your head hard when you fell?"

"Just answer the question," Callie snapped. "What happened?"

"The hell if I know what you're talking about. Why would I apologize to you?" She sounded genuinely disgusted. "If anybody should be apologizing it should be you, you hoe."

"Watch it," Ashton warned.

"Whatever," she scoffed.

"You did call me though. Check your call history."

Nicole rolled her eyes and snatched her phone from her bag. She angrily scrolled through her call history and then froze.

"What the hell?" she muttered. "Why would I call you?"

"See?"

She glanced at me. "My calls are recorded, so let's just hear what this damn thing was about."

She played back the call and put it on speaker. Her face paled as she listened to it. Ashton growled heatedly beside me, his expression getting darker by the second.

Nicole pursed her lips as the call ended. She looked about as confused as I was feeling.

"Th- that doesn't prove that I hurt you," she stuttered. "If I wanted to hurt you I would do so to your face, not trick you like a coward."

That was pretty true.

"You know that," she pouted at Ashton. "I wouldn't lie about this. It looks like she has other enemies. Whose man did you steal this time?" she sneered at me.

I ignored her snide remark. "You really don't remember making that call?"

"I don't remember any of it," she huffed and folded her arms across her chest. She chewed on her bottom lip in concentration and then groaned, shaking her head.

"I'm getting a headache thinking about it. It's no use, my memory's fuzzy. Was I drunk or something?"

We frowned at that. That's how I felt when I tried to recall too.

"I was at the mall and I ran into this guy..." She paused uncertainly. "I think he was hot. I don't remember what happened after that, but I did finish shopping; I have the receipts. I definitely did not go to school to see you."

"Do you remember what he looked like?" Ashton pressed.

Nicole smiled smugly. "Maybe."

"Then let's hear it."

"This information's got a price tag attached to it," she grinned, circling around Kevin.

Kevin sighed. "What do you want?"

"Don't ask questions you already know the answer to," she purred as she ran a hand down his chest.

He plucked her hand off him and dropped it to her side. "I'm not sleeping with you."

"Aw c'mon," she giggled. "Stop playing so hard to get."

"Nicole, I know you don't like me, but this is really important," I told her impatiently.

"I'm glad you know that," she smiled. "You hear that, Kev. It's important to her."

"I have a girlfriend," he blurted out.

Callie and I stared at him. That was obviously a lie.

"No, you don't," Nicole grinned. "I monitor all your social media. You're just trying to throw me off."

"He's not lying," Callie sighed, moving over to Kevin. "We've actually started dating."

"W-What?" Nicole sputtered. "You? And him?"

I bit back a smile at Callie's acting and glanced over at Ashton, who wore an amused expression.

"Uh... yeah," Kevin lied. "We've liked each other for a while. Sorry."

Callie threw her arms around his neck with a loving smile for credibility.

Nicole glanced between Kevin and Ashton in fury. "Are your tastes in women this low?" she scoffed. She shot me a venomous look and stormed out of the room. "Well, whatever, I didn't remember anything about that guy anyways. I just know that he was hot," she called behind her.

"Well, that's over with," Callie grinned.

"Thanks, Callie. I owe you one," Kevin said, hugging her.

"All in a day's work. Literally," she laughed.

Her phone chimed and she grimaced. "I should get back to the set."

She hugged me goodbye as she left. I looked over at Ashton who was surprisingly quiet. His brows were furrowed in thought.

"Are you okay?" I asked tentatively.

"We should be asking you that question," Kevin said with a slight frown.

"I'm feeling a lot better," I insisted. "I just wish I could remember, but it's just not coming back to me."

"That's the problem," Ashton muttered. "The fact that neither you nor Nicole can remember what happened two days ago can't be a coincidence."

I stared down at the floor.

"Yeah," Kevin agreed. "And you both get headaches trying to figure it out."

"Do you think someone manipulated Nicole to get to me?"

"I don't know," Ashton sighed. "Nicole didn't seem like she was lying about that. She's the type to do stuff like that to your face."

I nodded in agreement. Something was definitely off.

"For now, you should come to the palace with us," Ashton decided. "I don't feel safe leaving you here."

"But what about my parents?" I protested. "If someone really is out to get me, I don't want them to get tangled up in that."

"They'll be fine," Kevin assured as he pulled me to my feet. "I'll arrange for a patrol to watch your house from a distance. Besides, their goal wasn't to kill you."

"I'm still staying here."

"You're so stubborn," Ashton sighed. He knew I wouldn't relent. "Please stay safe and call me if anything happens."

He glanced at my neck uncertainly and then tore his eyes away. "I'm really regretting not marking you at a time like this."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine," I said, planting a soft kiss on his cheek. I turned to Kevin. "I'll be fine, trust me. I just need to make sure my parents are safe no matter what."

Kevin looked dissatisfied but nodded hesitantly as he placed a hand on Ashton's shoulder.

"We'll discuss this with the guys. I'll have the patrol watch over the house. They'll be okay."

Ashton gave me a small, sad smile and then left with Kevin.

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