By the time my parents had gotten out of bed I had just finished making omelettes for them. It had started out as being sunny side up eggs, but I wasn't the best cook and the yolks had broken when I cracked them into the pan so I added some chopped ham and cheese. They actually turned out not too badly as omelettes. The coffee had just finished perking as they both came downstairs rubbing their eyes and yawning.

“About time you two got out of bed,” I said and directed them to the table. I hopped over with the coffee carafe and my dad grabbed my arms as I walked by him. My mom took the carafe out of my hands and looked on, concerned.

“What happened Anna?” he asked as he stared at my swollen and bruised ankle.

“It's fine, I just had a fall when I was out jogging this morning. It’s no big deal.” I tried to play it off but my dad, being who he was, was already on his way to the freezer for an ice pack. My mom bent down and looked at my ankle before making a “tsk” noise. “It’s really bruised. You need to get on the couch and get off that ankle,” she said and put her arm through mine, directing me to the living room. She sat me down and set my leg up on a stack of pillows. My dad came in with an ice bag and some pain tablets.

“Why didn’t you wake us up? How did you get home? You didn’t walk on that did you?” he asked and I leaned back against the end of the couch with a sigh.

“I didn't wake you up because it wasn’t broken. I’ve had sprains before, remember. And Thayer from next door gave me a ride home so no I didn’t walk on it.”

“Thayer?” my mom said her brows raising. I fought with myself to tell my cheeks to not go red at the way she said his name. My mom was a hopeless romantic and just me mentioning a guy's name had her with hearts in her eyes.

“Yes Thayer and Desmond, they live next door with their dad. They’re twins, the same age as me and they go to Summerside Prep as well.”

She smiled and looked at my dad who was busy checking out my ankle, ignoring the talk of boys next door. “And how did this Thayer know you were in need of a ride home?”

“He was driving by. We met yesterday, so when he saw me he asked if I needed a ride home.” I, of course, left out the part that I wouldn’t have twisted my ankle if Thayer hadn’t been speeding like a maniac at 7 in the morning.

“Ok well, next time call us. You may have met the boy before but he is a stranger to us,” my dad said, finally tuning into the conversation.

I smiled as I nodded. I was going to be 18 in three weeks and I knew they were going to have a hard time letting me be an adult. At least I already didn't have many rules so I figured not too much would change with my birthday. And well, they’d just have to get used to it. I’d go easy on them though.

They fussed over me for a good hour, bringing me my breakfast and making sure I took the pain pills. My mom brought out a medical kit and cleaned my hands and knees of any residual rocks and dirt, then added a bandage to the palm of my left hand. She was an emergency trauma doctor and she could probably dress a wound like mine blindfolded. My dad was a surgeon and he could always put me back together if I ever needed it. I knew I was in good hands, even though they usually went a little overboard when I got hurt.

My dad handed me the remote and made me promise to stay on the couch while they went into town to check out the hospital they would both be working at. I watched them go and then leaned back on the couch as I flicked absently through the channels. Nothing interested me and I was just starting to doze off when I heard voices from outside.

The doorbell rang and before I could get up my cousin Miranda barged in, with Desmond behind her.

“Heard you got knocked off the road by this idiot’s brother,” she said as she hooked her thumb at Desmond. He smiled at me as he stood beside Miranda. She sat down on the chair across from me and smiled. “How close was he to making you road jelly?”

“He was so close, like this much,” I teased and laughed as I held my pointer finger and thumb almost together.

“He drives like a maniac.”

“Come on Miranda, you never complain when we're driving you to and from school. Let’s see who’s going to be walking come fall.” Desmond teased as he flicked her shoulder.

“Don’t worry Dez, my cousin drives, don’t you Anna?” I nodded and she stuck her tongue out at Desmond who came over and looked at my ankle. He pulled his arm out from behind his back and handed me a small bouquet of wildflowers. “These are from me. Sorry my brother tried to kill you this morning,” he joked.

“It’s ok, it was purely an accident. And thanks so much for the flowers Desmond. They’re so pretty.”

He smiled and his cheeks reddened as he sat down on the arm of Miranda’s chair.

“So, Anna and I are going to watch a sappy movie and you were just leaving,” Miranda said to Desmond as his brows shot up.

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“I thought I was watching a movie with you all?” Dez asked and Miranda shook her head.

“It’s ok, I never heard anything about watching a movie.” I looked at Miranda who just smiled.

“Yeah, your parents stopped by my place and asked me to come stay with you while they were at the hospital. I am to make sure you do not put any weight on your ankle.” I rolled my eyes but she pursed her lips. “So I figured we’d have cousin time.” She nodded her head towards the door and got up, shoo-ing Desmond out. “No boys allowed.”

Desmond pouted as he walked to the door, telling me he’d drop by later to see if I needed anything.

As I watched him go Miranda laughed and sat back down in the chair. “Ok, now that he’s gone, did Thayer really almost run you over?”

I shook my head. “No, not on purpose. I was coming back from my run and had seen a bunny hop into the bush so I was distracted. And he was driving too fast coming around a corner. It was an error on both parts.”

“Good to know.”

I frowned. “What do you mean, good to know?”

She got up and looked out the front window before going to the door and locking it. I made a face at her theatrics as she hurried over to sit on the floor in front of me. I wanted to laugh at her overboard behaviour but she looked kind of spooked.

“Ok, I’ve been dying to tell you this. There’s been some weird things that have happened in Summerside in the last couple of years.”

“Like what?”

“Well, there’s been like a dozen people that have disappeared, only to be found a few days later completely out of it. They’re like in this coma or something. My mom said they are pale and their eyes are glassy and are really dehydrated.”

I frowned and shook my head. “What do they think is causing it?”

She looked around again and then scooted closer. “Not what, but who. There’s rumours that it’s like a cult and they are using these people for experiments.”

I blinked a couple of times and then burst out laughing. “Seriously? I think people have been watching too many conspiracy nuts on YouTube. There has to be a logical explanation.”

Miranda shrugged as she opened a bag of candy and offered me some. “Laugh all you want Anna, I’m just going by what I’ve heard.”

I chewed on the candy I had popped into my mouth and thought about what she was saying. I’ve always found rumours to be the worst. One person says something and everyone adds their own stuff to it until it’s as far from the truth as it can be. But a cult, in small town Canada? I don’t think so.

“Ok, so what happens to the people in the comas? Are they still in the hospital?”

“No, they eventually get better, but they have no memory of what happened or where they were.”

“So what do you think is happening?”

Miranda laughs and shakes her head. “Well, it has to be aliens. I mean you see where the government says there are UFO’s now. So it’s the only logical explanation.”

“Little green men are sucking people’s brains dry in Summerside?” I asked, stifling a giggle. “You don’t honestly believe that do you?”

“Kind of, I mean what else could it be?” she said as she grabbed the remote and began looking for a movie from one of the streaming channels. “It all points to aliens is all I’m saying.”

I shrugged and chewed on my bottom lip. “Yeah I guess that could be it. Who knows if there are aliens or not.” It all sounded crazy to me and probably nothing more than rumors. I didn’t say that though. I didn’t want Miranda to think I didn’t believe her, which I sort of didn’t. But I was intrigued enough to want to know more about it and I tried to ask her a few more questions but she was already tired of the subject and onto a new one.

I was on the couch for the next two days. Miranda hung out a few times and Desmond came to check on me every afternoon. He was such a nice guy and we had a great time chatting. On the third day of laying around I was restless and thankfully my father finally deemed my ankle healed enough to get off the couch.

I sent Desmond a text and asked if he wanted to teach me how to surf and he agreed. He said since there wasn’t much wind that it would be a great time to learn the basics. We made plans to meet after lunch. I dug out my two piece and then thought better of it and put on my one piece bathing suit instead. If I was going to be falling into the water a lot, I didn’t think a bikini was the right thing to wear.

When I made my way to the beach I saw Desmond in a wet suit standing beside two surfboards. The way the sun was glinting off his hair made him look like some ancient god. He was simply gorgeous. He was lean and tall and looked like a surf board was meant for him. He waved me over with a huge smile on his face.

“You made it! I was worried you’d chicken out.”

I shook my head when I reached him. “No way! I’m kinda excited to learn.”

“Kinda?” he asked with a grin.

“Ok, I’m excited but a little nervous. I can swim pretty good but it’s kind of scary. This is the Ocean we’re talking about.”

He shook his head. “No worrying allowed, we’ll go slow. You won’t be catching any big waves today.”

I smiled and nodded. “I’ll give it a shot!”

“That’s what I want to hear!”

Dez showed me how to paddle out and we spent some time just floating back in so I could get my balance. Which was probably for the best since I didn’t tell him that I was usually a klutz and could trip over air.

“Thanks for taking me out today, I really appreciate it,” I told him as we towelled off.

“You’re welcome and we’ll make sure there’s a bit more waves next time.” I made a face and he laughed. “Want to grab a burger or something?” he asked once we stopped laughing.

“Can I take a rain check? Miranda was telling me about an arcade that’s right on the boardwalk and we already made plans to check it out tonight.”

He nodded. “Ted’s place, yeah it’s fun. Thay and I used to hang there a lot when we were younger. I haven’t been in a long time though.”

“Well, maybe you should come with us.”

“Are you sure I won’t be trading on cousin time?”

“Nah, there’s only so much cousin time we need. And I hear they have burgers there so maybe we could grab one?”

“Two birds killed with one stone, I like your style Anna,” he said and winked. I felt my cheeks heat as my heart skipped a beat.