"Wow, they did a pretty big number on you, didn't they?"

Nicah's head throbbed, and her eyes were having some difficulty adjusting to the sudden invasion of light, after wallowing in darkness for so long.

White ceilings, beeping sounds of some machine, and the smell of sterilized equipment assaulted her eyes, ears and nose. A hospital, she summarised.

She let her head loll to her shoulders as she took in the figure, who'd just spoken, standing by her bedside.

A tall, lanky ginger head with freckles peppering her face. Emerald eyes stared down at Nicah, a sigh leaving those pink plump lips.

Nicah grinned in response to her best friend's statement. "Am I in heaven, cause you look like an angel", she jested, choosing to ignore Stacey Delace's words.

"Sister, I think this one needs to have her head checked again. Seems she hit it really hard", Stacey remarked, to another lady in the room, dressed in the nurse's uniform and was folding up a BP apparatus.

Nicah straight up laughed, which quickly sent her into a fit of dry cough. Stacey quickly handed her a glass of water.

"Thanks", Nicah murmured, after calming down a bit.

"She should be alright now. No sign of any apparent concussion, but we'll keep her overnight for observation. Try to take it easy for the day, alright? That's a nasty bump you got there", the nurse stated, as she gave Nicah a once over before collecting her apparatus cart and wheeling off from the room. Nicah heard the soft click of the door as it shut behind the nurse.

"So, you gonna tell me why I got a call from the cops so early in the day to learn my best friend is in the hospital after being attacked by stalkers." Stacey interrogated.

Stacey was Nicah's best friend, and her number was on speed dial on her phone, along with Nana's, who was Nicah's caretaker and guardian. The police weren't able to get ahold of Nana, so Stacey was the one they called. 

Nicah shrugged in response. "I mean, you got the point down. There were three stalkers, they attacked me. And I landed in the hospital. I'm not sure why." And that was true.

Stacey pursed her lips, wanting to say something more when they heard a polite knock at the door. Nicah silently thanked God for the distraction. Whoever it was behind that door, will give her some sort of reprieve from being questioned by her best friend, who can be overbearing sometimes.

Stacey has always disapproved of her reckless streaks, but even Nicah how she handled today's incident had to be the cherry on top. And she wasn't ready to get a scolding from her best friend yet.

Nicah's reckless streaks that held little to no regard for her life always drove Nana and Stacey crazy.

"Come in", Stacey called out, when she noticed Nicah lost in thoughts.

"Good afternoon, ladies. I'm officer Hamil. I was cleared by the nurses to have a chat with Ms.Nicah Rhoswen here, about what happened today. Just wanted to take a statement and to know the accurate details of what went down. If you don't mind?" The deep voice belonged to the officer who just stepped into the room. 

"Yes, I'm fine with that. This is Stacey, she's my friend. But she can step out if it's necessary", Nicah replied, avoiding eye-contact with Stacey, her gaze trained on the officer instead.

He looked young, not older than the mid thirties, and had deep ebony skin with a friendly gaze that comforted her. His brown eyes shifted to Stacey, before he turned back to Nicah again and shook his head.

"It's alright if she's someone you trust. I've looked over your records and you have no living family or relatives here in Tricua. I understand that what you went through today might've been a traumatic experience. So if you want someone as support while you recount those details, I'm not against it."

"I'll stay." Stacey quickly volunteered moving closer to Nicah's bed.

"Okay. Now, Ms. Nicah, we were called to the premises by a neighbour of yours who lived in another apartment on the second floor. Apparently he had been up early to go walk his dog, and he happened to witness your skirmish. He alerted the police, instead of intervening as he thought that might be the best. And I applaud him for that. Or it might have been two people in the hospital, or maybe worse, since they had a gun on them. So I'd like to take your statement on what exactly happened."

Nicah sat up straighter on the bed, fiddling unconsciously with her fingers.

"It's the usual routine for me. I go for a jog at 6 a.m. around the neighborhood. Everything was normal, until this horde of balloons flew in my face. It was odd, since it was so early in the morning, and kids weren't supposed to be up yet. Balloons are meant for kids. But these belonged to a homeless man, who made his keep by selling balloons and he'd fallen asleep on a bench and somehow the balloons he tied had gotten loose. I helped him round them up. And was on my way again, and it took me a while, but I started to notice these men in black attire who were following me. Thinking I was being paranoid, I dismissed them from my mind. But my paranoia increased when they followed me back home. Yes, I should've run away instead of revealing the location of my apartment. But I didn't think they would follow me into the building.

I locked myself in my apartment, and instincts told me to hide. And that's what I did. But they found me and we had a scuffle before they took out the gun. I bolted out and escaped from the apartment. But they caught up with me on the floor below before I could go any further. And we had a brief skirmish, before you appeared and everything was black after that", Nicah concluded, rushing her words out all in one breath. She left out the parts where she intentionally goaded the guys to fight with her for answers. She knew it wouldn't be received well by either Stacey nor the officer.

Stacey raised an eyebrow at Nicah, and slowly shook her head. The officer didn't notice, but Nicah did. She grimaced, already knowing that Stacey had caught onto her omission.

Her best friend knew her better than anyone, even her own parents. They weren't even in the picture except for some random visits once in four or five years. They do call her, and have always helped with her housing arrangements, school and college. But none of that mattered if they weren't present and eager.

The officer cleared his throat, prompting Nicah to shift her gaze back to him. He was looking into his notepad, over the notes he had taken during her statement.

"And there's nothing left that you aren't telling me? What might be their motive to single you out for assault. I think there were quite a few other joggers in your neighborhood too."

"None that I can think of Sir. I'm a practicing pharmacist. And I lead a normal life. My interactions with my patients are quite formal and lackluster. I make sure to keep a professional distance in my work. I also don't have any family in this country, nor any relation with anyone prominent. So I'm not sure..." She trailed off, hoping to convince the officer.

"I gather that you're a black belts in jujutsu. That explains the injuries we saw on the men we apprehended. But unfortunately one of them escaped. We're still on the lookout, but just in case this wasn't an isolating incidence and he decides to come after you again, we've posted one of our men to you for the next 24 hours. The men we have in custody aren't talking, but we don't have enough evidence to point out that this was a deliberate attack", the man reported, with a sigh. He pursed his lips, his eyebrows drawing together, before he closed his notepad and stood.

"Just be careful out there, got it? If it were upto me, you would receive protection till that guy is apprehended. But the higher ups says there's no need for that, so what do I know. Anyway, you're a tough woman, but try not to handle it all on your own this time okay? The law enforcement exists for a reason. It's to keep you citizens safe. Sometimes you gotta rely on us no matter how many black belts you have, understood?" He asked, to which Nicah just nodded her head.

"Alright, I'll get going then", he announced and opened his notepad again and scribbled something and tore a page out. "This is my number, if you want to contact me regarding anything. I'll keep in touch if anything else pops up", he handed over the piece of paper to Nicah and tipped his hat towards them before leaving the room.

Nicah held her breath, knowing what was going to come. Her usually bubbly friend had been all quiet and serious in her entirety of the hospital visit, and she knew that it wouldn't be long before Stacey bursts.

"Ok, why did you lie?"

Nicah's eyebrows drew together in confusion as she stared at Stacey. "Lie? Which part?" She asked.

"You know what I'm talking about," Stacey scoffed, running a hand through her ginger locks, before sighing and pulling a chair towards the bed and sitting down on it.

"Bear, what's going on?" She asked, and the worry Nicah saw on her face broke her heart.

"I'm not sure, Fox. I just feel like something is universally going to go wrong," Nicah admitted.

Nicah and Stacey had been friends for almost 18 years now. They were inseparable, and knew all the tells about each other. And so when Nicah omitted some facts in her statements , Stacey had quickly caught onto it. The nicknames they had for each other were also because of their personalities. Nicah was like a bear, rushing forward, claws out, in all situations. And Stacey was like a Fox, smart and cunning.

"You know you're aren't alone, bear. Why cou..." Stacey was interrupted by a shrill ring piercing the room.

It was Nicah's phone. The calling screen flashed 'Nana'.

She answered and before she could even say out a greeting, she was bombarded by her Nana's voice.

"Oh my God Nicah, what's going on child? Your mother couldn't get ahold of you no matter how many times she called..."

"I'm sorry Nana, I got a small cold and was visiting the doctor's. It turned out to be a blood infection and I need to stay overnight," she interrupted, causing her to receive a glare from Stacey.

"What?! Are you okay? Oh my God, I wish I didn't have to say this to you like this but ..."

The pause Nana gave made Nicah's blood run cold. The feeling she kept having the whole day grew like cold spikes in her blood.

"I think you better call your mom back", Nana whispered softly, after the few seconds of pause. "I hope you'll be okay honey bear, you know I'm always here for you. Call me back after you talk to your mom, ok?" And just like that, the call went dead.

Nicah check her phone. 17 missed calls. From her mom.

Her phone rang again.

'MOM'

"Hey, what's going on?" Nicah asked tentatively, holding her breath. Stacey stood and moved closer to Nicah, placing her hand over Nicah's shoulder in support.

"It's your dad....he's missing."