Anderson Means A

Chapter 14 - If You Need Me

The first thing Charlotte saw when she woke up, was a bright white light, shining right into her eyes. The first thing she felt was an incredible, bouncing headache and a sick feeling in her stomach. Then she heard her mother's voice saying: "Finally."

She was in a white hospital room, covered under the white blankets. The television was playing on a children's channel. There were three chairs next to her bad, taken by her mom, her dad and.. Jake.

She sat up straight and felt her head turn. "What happened?", she asked. She couldn't remember anything that had happened after she'd went up on the balcony. Her head felt like it could fall off any moment.

"You've been drugged on the opening party. Luckily, this young man found you and drove you to the hospital." Her father sounded disappointed. She'd really let herself go.

"And he stayed here all night," her mother added with a mixed look on her face. Her mother always believed men had the worst intentions, so in her eyes, Jake staying all night was just a sign he wanted something in return.

"Oh," was the only sound Charlotte could make. Some things flashed before her eyes, but she couldn't make a coherent story out of it. Why would Jake bring her to a hospital? "Thank you, Jake."

"It's nothing, Charlotte." His voice sounded very polite, and calm.

"We haven't been here for long. We weren't able to get here any sooner. How do you two know each other?", her mother asked, suspiciously.

Charlotte looked at Jake and he looked back. "He's a friend of Liam's. He installed the security system at his house."

"On the computers. Firewalls and security," Jake corrected.

"O, that's interesting. What company do you work for?", her father asked.

"Not now," her mother said under her breath. "We're happy your okay, sweetheart. I can't believe someone would drug you at a school party."

A nurse came in to take some control tests. There was a woman with her, but Charlotte didn't really know what she was. After the nurse had introduced herself and asked some basic question, the woman said: "We have a strong suspicion it was one of the new generation drugs, called Zipid. It has only been around for a couple of years now, but really popular. We've already taken some blood. Do you want to talk about this alone?", the woman asked. She looked like a someone working in a bank, her hair in a tight bun combined an hideous glasses.

"No, you can tell it here", Charlotte said. Her father wouldn't allow it otherwise. And she didn't really mind Jake hearing, she thought.

"Well, it's a drug often used to take advantage of the victim. It normally makes the victim feel numb, like they don't really care what happens. Most victims don't even protest, which is why most people call it Zipid. Have you ever heard of it?"

Charlotte shook her head and had to keep herself from looking at Jake to check if he'd heard from it.

"It could also affect your levels of arousal. It's a pretty new variant, much cheaper than other drugs."

Maybe she did mind Jake hearing it.

"And if the dose is high enough, you could lose consciousness, like you did. But you should feel fine after a couple of days."

It was silent for a moment. "I don't remember anything", Charlotte said silently. She should have sent Jake away. "I don't know what happened."

The woman didn't really answer. Charlotte's mind started imagining the worst. She didn't know what happened after she went to the balcony. What if something happened and she didn't know?