~~~~~~~~~~

“LIBBY!” KIERA WEAKLY CRIED out after she saw her practically run into the hospital room.

Olivia rushed to her side, hugging her friend. She looked awake, but groggy.

“Ouch. Not so hard.”

“I’m sorry.” Tears streamed down Olivia’s face. “I’m just so glad that you’re okay.”

“What happened?” Kiera asked, her voice raspy. “I can’t remember anything.”

She clutched Kiera’s hands in hers, looking down at her frail frame, not wanting to tell her anything, not knowing if she could even say the words. “Don’t worry about any of that right now, Care Bear. You just worry about getting your ass out of this hospital bed, okay?”

“Okay, Libby.” She squeezed Olivia’s hand. “I heard about Melanie…” she quivered, tears welling in her eyes.

“I’m so sorry. It’s all my fault,” Olivia sobbed, looking down.

“Stop it, Libby. Mo said you were going to say that. He doesn’t understand why you’re blaming yourself and neither do I,” she scolded her. “You couldn’t have prevented any of this from happening. Okay?”

Olivia’s chin trembled, wondering if she would ever be able to stop blaming herself for what had happened to Melanie and Kiera. The guilt wore her down. Looking into Kiera’s green eyes, she simply nodded, not wanting to talk about it anymore. Instead, the two girls held each other and mourned the loss of their friend, reminiscing about all the good times they shared.

“Oh, good. You’re here.” Mo said, breaking the moment and carrying a few cups of coffee. “I tried calling your phone and you weren’t answering so I called Alex. I’m assuming you got the message.”

“Good assumption,” she replied sarcastically, wiping her tears.

He raised his eyebrow at her, silently questioning if everything was all right.

She knew that she would have to tell him what was going on, but she wasn’t ready yet. “Well, I’ll give you two some privacy.” She got up from her chair. “I’ll be back in a little bit to check on you. Okay, Care Bear?”

Kiera smiled weakly at her. “You got it.”

Olivia turned to leave.

“Oh, and Libby?”

“Yes?” she replied, facing Kiera.

“Whatever stick crawled up your ass these past few weeks, please remove it.”

Olivia stared at her friend in shock. “What are you talking about?”

“You. Being a bitch to us and everyone around you, including Alexander,” she said, her voice raised. She glanced at Mo as he clutched her hand. Her expression immediately softened when she met his eyes. “This whole incident made me realize how much I appreciate what I have in my life, including the people in it.” She met Olivia’s gaze. “I love you, Libby. You know that. But you’ve got to stop shutting people out just because they fuck up and make a mistake.”

Olivia looked down, feeling guilty that she had treated her friends so poorly. But, at the same time, she was the reason that Kiera had been hurt and that Melanie was dead. She could put a stop to everything if Alexander would just come clean to her, but he refused. “It’s not as simple as that, Kiera.” She exhaled.

“Well, humor me then.” She smirked. “I’ve got nothing on my busy schedule today, except healing from a few bullet wounds.” Her voice was heavy with sarcasm. Olivia was happy that the attack didn’t seem to diminish Kiera’s spirit all that much.

She retreated back into the hospital room, pulling up a chair next to Mo. “Well, I guess you both should probably hear this.” She proceeded to tell Mo and Kiera about her dad being alive and running into him at MacFadden’s. Then she told them about the letter that Carol had found in Kiera’s house. She struggled to fight back the tears as she told them about Lucas killing Melanie to try to get Olivia to remember whatever it was they wanted her to.

“I know he’s still keeping information from me, and the reason he’s doing it is to protect me. He says that if I remember, he could lose me.”

“Do you really blame him, Libby? Look what’s happened to poor Mel. And me!” Kiera screeched. “I can’t believe you’re really going to stay angry at him for keeping you safe…” She trailed off, wishing she had someone looking out for her when she was attacked.

“Do you have any idea who’s behind everything? Maybe that will help,” Mo said calmly.

Olivia took a deep breath. “I don’t see how. Nobody knows who is pulling the strings here. Carol and Alexander have apparently worked tirelessly trying to figure it all out, but no one has a clue. The only person they know of is this Mark Kiddish guy, but he’s just a hired goon. Even then, there’s no hard evidence that he’s actually involved. At least not enough that the police can open an investigation into him. Regardless, if he’s out of the picture, they’ll just replace him with someone new. It won’t end until they have what they want. And what they want is me…my memories. I’m the best shot at saving my friends, but only if I can remember. Alexander knows that so he’s keeping my past from me. He knows what they want and he won’t tell me.”

“Wait a sec,” Kiera said. “What about your dad? Can’t you talk to him about it?”

“Carol is worried about me doing that. She said that his identity has been kept a secret for a reason and until they can figure it out, it’s best that I stay as far away from him as possible so that he doesn’t get hurt…or worse. I have no way of getting in touch with him anyway.”

“Don’t do anything stupid, Livvy,” Mo said. “Don’t think about that letter…”

“How can I not think about that letter?!” she shrieked, standing up and glaring down at her two friends. “It pretty much said that I’m the reason my friends are being targeted!” She took a deep breath before continuing, “Right now, I’m the best shot at keeping everyone safe, but the only way I can do that is by figuring out what these guys are after. And the only person who can help me with that is Alexander. His refusal to tell me what I need is putting my friends’ lives in jeopardy.”

Olivia spun on her heels and stormed out of the room, not wanting to listen to her friends try to talk any sense into her. She knew she sounded irrational, but she refused to admit that Alexander was doing the right thing by keeping her past from her.