Strangers (Part: 2)

The town they arrived at was small. It was small to the point of not being able to find it on a map.  Sunside, Maine was a population of a mere 157 people. The town had stores, but they were very small, the size of an average gas station.

Zach greeted everyone who passed with a warm smile, or a hearty, “hello”. Some of them asked walk-by questions such as, “How was the hunt?” or “Back already?” Most of the questions that were asked had something to do with who Jade was. In a town this small, Jade stood out like a sore thumb.

By the time they got to the clinic. Zach must have great nearly half the population. Jade had him answer any questions directed towards her as well. She didn’t feel comfortable talking to people she didn’t know. She especially didn’t want to talk because she can’t remember anything before that morning.

The front door to the clinic was glass, and had the doctor’s name and phone numbers on it. The outside of the building looked like any ordinary clinic, but the waiting room looked like the lobby of a relaxing hotel. The walls were mainly painted a brownish-tan. There was one wall that was made of cobble stone, and had a TV. Under the TV was a fake fire place. It still had that doctor’s office smell, but it felt like a relaxing weekend in a log cabin. Jade got the urge to curl up in the light brown, leather chairs, and sip hot cocoa while watching Downton Abbey. What is Downton Abbey, she thought to herself. It was just a random name she pulled out of nowhere. Did it have something to do with her past?

“Hello, Zach”, came a voice. Jade turned her head toward the voice. It belonged to a tall man in a long white coat. He had curly blonde hair and blue eyes. He had a pair of glasses and some pens sticking out of the pocket on his chest.

“Hello Dr. Whells, nice to see you again”, replied Zach.

“Yes it is, and thankfully under better circumstances. What brings you here?”

“Um…” Zach grabbed Jades shoulders and brought her over to see the doctor. “This is Jade. I found her in the woods locked in a car. She doesn’t remember anything before she woke up in the car. Jade is just something we decided to call her.”

“Oh, I see”, said Dr. Whells. “Well how bout we go in back and see what is wrong, shall we?” He stood with one arm behind his back, and the other motioning to a hallway that led to the back. Jade wasn’t so sure about following her command. She took a small step back, and bumped Zach.

“It’s okay”, he reassured her. “I’ll come back with you if you want.” His voice was soothing to her. He gave her a little nudge. She decided to listen this time, but she did want him to come with her. Grabbing his hand, she let him pull her gently into the back with Dr. Whells. They were led into a small room.  It felt more like a doctor’s office with the harsh florescent lights and white walls. Dr. Whells told Jade to hop up onto the patient’s bed. Jade had Zach stand next to her. The doctor stood in front of her with a clipboard and a pen. He started to ask her questions.

“Jade, do you know anything previously about the car you found yourself in?” Jade shook her head. “Did you recognize anything about where you were?” Again she shook her head. This time Dr. Whells directed his question to Zach. “Has she said anything? Can she speak?”

“Yeah, she’s just a little shy”, Zach replied.

“Well she seems to be warming up to you quite a bit.” Dr. Whells turned back to Jade. “Do you remember anything about yourself?”

“I think I liked Downton Abbey?” The statement sounded more like a question as it fled Jade’s mouth.

“You don’t sound too sure about that”, said Dr. Whells.

“Well, I don’t really know what Downton Abbey is. I just know that in the waiting room I got the urge to turn it on.” The doctor bobbed his head a little bit as he wrote this down on his sheet of paper. Then he got up and shouted for someone down the hall way. Soon a nurse came in. Her badge read, “Beatrice”. Her dark skin made it look like she was glowing.

“Jade, just in case we are going to do a quick check up”, said Dr. Whells. And they did. She went through all the motions as if she did this every day. They checked her eyes, ears, heart, etc. He even let her try out the stethoscope. “Well, you’re as healthy as humanly possible. Whatever you went through seemed to not have any physical damage other than your memory. Do you mind if I take a blood sample.” Jade shook her head. Beatrice handed Dr. Whells a syringe. Jade’s hands started to shake. She felt scared of the needle. Zach noticed this and took her hand. “You’ll feel a slight pinch in three, two, one.” The needle sunk into her skin. She shut her eyes tight, clenched her teeth and gave Zach’s had a little squeeze.

Just a few seconds went by. Then the pinch stopped when the needle backed out of her arm. She opened her eyes. Her hand didn’t let go of Zach’s for a second, but then it did. Dr. Whells took note of this.

“Well, Beatrice, would you mind bringing this to the analysis lab”, the doctor asked. Beatrice took the syringe and headed out the door. Then the doctor turned toward Jade. “The test will take a while since we aren’t looking for anything specific. We just want to make sure nothing has gotten into your blood.” She nodded as she put her hands down on the bed. She started to kick her legs out, and then letting them fall back down. Dr. Whells took one look at this and asked Zach to step over to the corner for a moment. The doctor lowered his voice so Jade couldn’t hear him as he spoke.

“Zach, I think you should bring her to see Dr. Jim.”

“Why”, asked Zach.

“Well, because I’m a medical doctor. I don’t know much about mental illnesses”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Obviously she has amnesia, there’s no doubt there, and maybe Dr. Jim can help restore her memory. Sometimes with a little professional help it does come back. Plus, she isn’t really acting her age.”

“What do you mean?”

“Her actions are not the actions a 23 year old woman would be making. It’s like she decreased her age by 20 years.” Zach looked back at Jade. She looked dazed as she curiously looked around the room. It did seem like a little kid expression.

“Hey, Jade”, Zach said. Jade turned toward him. “Now we’re going to go see another doctor. How does that sound?” Jade curled her back, and tucked her chin. She didn’t want to meet more new people. “It’s okay.” Zach tried to reassure her. “He’s nice, and I’ll be with you the whole time.” Now Jade hopped of the bed. She went towards the door and out the hall. Zach turned back toward Dr. Whells. “Thank you”, he said. He walked Jade out of the clinic, and off they were to see Dr. Jim.

To Be Continued

Strangers (Part: 1)

Her eyes fluttered sloppily open. Her vision was blurred for a few seconds. When she could finally see where she was, she began to be confused. In a car was where she found herself. As her hands tried the handle, nothing happened. The door didn’t pop open like she expected. She didn’t hear the creak it made when she opened it too wide. Her finger looked for the unlock button, but it wasn’t there. The button had been ripped off. She felt the fear start to seep into her bones. She went to try to pull the lock up. It was filed down. Now it was barely a stub poking a millimeter above the surface. A hint of panic came to the fore front of her mind as she franticly tried to pull the lock up. It was a pointless effort. Tears started to stream down her face. Eventually she gave up and put her head to the wheel. The car jolted a little toward the front. Instantly she leaned back again. She had been so worried with the locks that she hadn’t noticed that the front half of her car was over the edge of a cliff. She wasn’t sure how deep it was. It was even a possibility that it was survivable, but she would rather not take her chances.

Her heart pounded, and her breathes were short. She knew she needed to get to the back seat of the car with no sudden movement. Slowly she reached down and let her seat recline. Then she slid herself backwards till she was safe in the back. She tried pounding on the windows screaming for help. She screamed help till her voice was gone. She didn’t know where she was. She didn’t see any sign of people anywhere, all she saw was trees. And she had no way of contacting anyone (she didn’t have battery on her phone. Even if she did, she most likely wouldn’t get any bars). All she could do was pull her knees in toward her chest, and sob into her jeans.

It was a good hour or two before she found herself a sliver of hope. A gun shot rang out. It could have meant that whoever put her there was killing another girl, or worst. She was being tortured. However, it could also be someone who could help. She was in the woods. Maybe it was a hunter looking for deer. She decided that she would take her chances.

Trying to think back to when her and her father would hunt, she remembered that three blasts of a whistle or lights was the signal for help. She could use her hazard lights and her horn. Reaching the two would be difficult without putting too much weight on the front of the car. She leaned and stretched her leg forward. Pointing her toes, she was out of reach of the hazards button. If she went forward with her body the car would start tipping, so she took off one of her shoes and through it at the button. She had missed. The shoe landed on the passenger side floor. She only had one more chance to get her hazards on. She took off her shoe, aimed it to right behind the wheel to where the button was, and threw.

“Yes”, she shouted as both the blinker lights started to flash. Now she had to push the horn. That one was easy for here to reach with her feet. She just hoped that the hunter (or killer) wasn’t too far away at this point.

Honk!

Honk!

Honk!

A few seconds went by and she tried again, still no results. She continuously tried and failed for a five minutes. On her 20ish try, she finally saw a bit of movement off to the left.

“Please don’t be a murderer. Please don’t be a murderer”, she chanted in her head. She did one more try. That was when the man in camouflage pant and orange vest and cap came into view. She started pounding on the window. The man stood there in awe for a moment, and then ran over. He stopped by the left side of the car to examine the situation. Not even 5 seconds later did her lift up his rifle, and hit the side window with the butt of it. It cracked the window, and as the man went to hit the window again, she jumped to the other side and covered her head. Shattered glass flew into the car.

“Are you alright”, the man asked. She nodded as she took the man’s out stretched hand. He helped her carefully climb out of the car.

Once she was out they examined her for anything wrong. Right away they saw small cuts on her arms from thrown glass. He used his gloved hands to carefully brush a few shards out of her hair. “Can you walk at all?” she tried to take a step but had to lean against the man for support. The adrenaline that had been coursing through her body for the last couple hours must have been what made her uneasy. The man breathed out a small laugh. “I guess you’re not used to this much excitement huh.” She smiled at him as he helped her sit on a nearby log.

“Thank you”, she managed to croak. Her voice was still a bit scratchy, but his was strong.

“My name is Zachary Gray. You can just call me Zach though”, he said. She gave him another small nod. “Are you going to tell me your name, or do I have to guess?” a half smile appeared on her face. Then it disappeared.

“I don’t know”, she said.

“Oh, well I have to call you something. What should I call you?” she thought for a moment.

“Jade. You can call me Jade.”

“Okay Jade, Do you remember what happened?”

“The farthest back I can remember is when I woke up in that car a couple hours ago.”

“Hm. Well then let’s get to town, and then to a doctor’s office. Maybe they can find out what happened.” Jade nodded once again. They stood up, and started to walk. Zach stopped for a second, and picked up a stone. “Watch this”. He threw the rock high up into the trees. It caused a flock of birds to fly up into the sky and a deer to come running into the clearing. A smile stretched across Jade’s face. She watched the swirling birds, and the galloping deer. However, the deer galloped too close to the car. It bumped the bumper just a little, but it was enough to send it sliding over the side. Zach sucked a sharp breathe through his teeth.

“Well, I hope that car wasn’t yours.” He laughed under his breathe.

“Me too”, Jade agreed, and off they went to town.

To Be Continued