I Have an Invisible Stalker (Guardians #1)

Chapter 1

Olivia's POV

Whoever is responsible for the state I'm in should rot in hell. I plan to make sure of that as soon as I escape out of the itchy prison wrapped around my left ankle and the stuffy hospital bathroom I'm locked in right now.

With one last deep breath, I lift my left foot onto the closed toilet seat and position the knife I pocketed during lunch at the upper edge of the plaster cast. Before I can make the first cut, though, a loud voice booms through the closed door on my left.

"Olivia Han!" The shout comes from no one other than my mother, Mina Han. "Don't you dare touch the cast."

I snap my eyes at the closed door, but keep the knife looming above the cast. Are all mothers able to see through walls or is mine the only one?

With a sigh, I accept that the stupid cast isn't coming off, so I lower my foot back onto the ground. Ignoring the pain that shoots up my back as I lean forward, I lay the knife on top of the toilet and then reach for the door. I use the wall for support to hop into the adjoining hospital room. Before I can take a single hop, though, I stop.

Instead of my mom, I'm faced with a bouquet of lavender Roses and white Lilies pointed at my chest. Instinctively I raise my hands into the air and focus on the woman in the dotted summer dress holding the flowers. Her cacao brown hair is the same shade as mine, but as always it looks much shinier and richer in volume than my own shoulder-length locks.

"I told you not to put weight onto your foot." Mom shakes the flowers in the direction of the cast which causes a few blossoms to drift onto the floor. "This is exactly why I told the doctor to put the cast on."

"Putting the cast on my foot was the doctor's decision and not yours." I lower my arms back to my sides. "You can't take the credit for his work."

"Yes, I can and I will." Mom waves off my statement, causing another couple of blossoms to fall off. "But what I care more about right now, is finding out what you are doing out of bed. I specifically told you not to get up until I return."

"I had to pee. Surely even you can understand that I can't resist the call of nature just because you told me not to move."

"Then why didn't you use the crutches? Let me guess, you thought you wouldn't need them after you cut off the cast." Mom raises the flowers above her head, making it look like she's planning to beat me senseless with them. "How many times have I told you not to listen to your impulsive instincts? It's the reason why you're in the hospital right now."

"No, it's not," I disagree but edge a step back just in case. Every muscle in my body already feels like I've been through a round inside the washing machine and then wrung out to the point when not a single droplet of water was left inside me. "The accident wasn't my fault."

"How can you be sure?" Mom narrows her eyes at me. "Or are you faking the whole amnesia thing? Can you actually remember everything that happened that night?"

"Whoa." I raise my arms again, ignoring the groan in protest my abused muscles make. "If I was faking the amnesia, I would start with claiming not to know you."

Mom continues to point the flowers at me for another moment and then slowly draws them back. "You're right. If you were faking it, you would insist on not remembering more than just a single night. Now, hold this."

Without warning, she shoves the bouquet into my arms and moves to the other side of the hospital room. I'm barely able to grasp the flowers, but it's of no use either way. Most of the purple and white petals are already scattered around the floor beneath my feet.

"Who are they from?" I ask and watch Mom as she leans down to pick up a pair of standard aluminum crutches, which are lying sprawled over the floor beside the middle bed—the one that is covered with a crumpled mess of white linens.