Out of Time (14 page)

The police station was alight with chatter as
Sasha entered. As she did so, she scouted the room. There was an
area that was secured, with guards checking people before they were
let farther in. On the other side of the guards, there were benches
with people sitting on them. One of those benches contained a woman
who Sasha recognized. Sasha was led through the security
checkpoint, and after going through she approached the woman.

“Mom?” Sasha asked tentatively. She could
only see the back of the woman’s head and her outfit and purse.

“Sasha?” The woman turned. She got up to run
to her daughter, embracing her firmly and cradling her. “Oh thank
goodness they found you!”

“I missed you.” Sasha said tearily.

“What happened to you?” her mother asked,
breaking away slightly to look at Sasha and smooth lose strands of
hair away from her face. “Are you all right? Where have you
been?”

“We’ve got to take her in for questioning,
ma’am.” Corvey said, trying to separate the two. “If you wouldn’t
mind waiting here.”

“I can’t go with her?”

“No, ma’am.” the officer answered Sasha’s
mom. It was due, in part, by the fact they wanted to make sure
Sasha didn’t feed off of her mother in the room. She might be less
likely to talk.

“I’ll be all right Mom.” Sasha whispered.
“Don’t worry about me. I’m safe.”

Her mother hesitated briefly before yielding.
“Well, all right then.”

“Come along Miss Midleton. I think you’ve got
some explaining to do.” Corvey said, leading her down through a
narrow hallway, painted in a depressing grey.

“Beyond what I already told you?” Sasha
asked, trying to get the officer to stop and dismiss the
interrogation.

“Yes.” the officer stated. “This way
please.”

“Okay.”

They walked further down the hall, passing
several doors. Some had the words “occupied” above the knobs, as if
the notice was triggered if the door was locked. Sasha gulped,
wondering what kind of people were in those rooms. They entered a
simple room with a table and two chairs and the officer turned on a
camera in one corner and took a notepad from the corner of the
table. He kept a pen in his uniform, expertly hidden. He retrieved
the pen and began writing after they had both sat down.

“I’m sure you
didn’t
bump your head.”
the officer said.

“How did you know?” Sasha asked, then bit her
lip as she realized she should have said “do” instead. She didn’t
want to appear guilty of lying, especially if she was being
recorded.

“Because of the incident earlier. You didn’t
say you bumped your head then.” he told her, then laid the pen down
and crossed his arms over the pad, staring at her straight-on.
“Either you have some type of undiagnosed medical condition or
you’ve been lying to me. Being in the school for weeks and having
no contact with staff or students? I’m having a hard time buying
that Miss Midleton.” The officer leaned back, resting his
still-crossed arms over his chest.

“You did say I should get checked out at the
hospital, didn’t you?” Sasha asked, and though she didn’t mean for
it to sound sarcastic, the officer didn’t know.

“Don’t get smart with me young lady.”

“I’m not trying to.” Sasha said, pleading.
“I’m just saying. Really, I don’t have another way to explain it to
you.”

“Were you abducted by someone?” Corvey asked,
reacquiring his pen for taking notes.

“No, I wasn’t.” Sasha stated, watching him
scribble.

“Truthfully? Did they say anything — threaten
you against going to the authorities about it?”

“No. There wasn’t anybody. It was just
me
by
myself
. I got lost. That’s the truth.” Sasha
said, keeping to her original story.

“Got lost in a school you’ve been going to
for three years?” the officer asked, and Sasha was tempted to
reference Betsy, but held herself.

“Yes, it’s that simple.” Sasha told him.

“Okay.” the officer said with a sigh. “If you
want to be quiet about it, that’s fine. I’m going to review the
school security video one last time. I reviewed it earlier and I
saw you go in, but never come out. Perhaps I missed something.”

“I doubt it.” Sasha breathed out. He didn’t
hear her, luckily, because that was a very sarcastic response.

“I’ll take you back to your mother now.”
Corvey said, putting the pen back in his pocket and ripping off a
couple pages from the pad.

“Thanks.”

“Come along then.” the officer told her,
unlocking the door and opening it up so they could both spill into
the hallway and walk back. Sasha followed silently as Corvey lead
up towards to her mother, although he kept looking behind him to
make sure she was still there. As he approached the waiting area,
he addressed Mrs. Midleton. “Here is your daughter, ma’am. I have
suggested in the police report that she be checked out at the
hospital since she doesn’t seem to remember anything. Perhaps they
might find some head trauma responsible for her memory loss.”

“Head trauma?” Sasha’s mom flashed a worried
glance over at her daughter, and then stood up. “Oh my. Yes, sir,
we’ll go there right away.”

“You are free to go, Sasha.” the officer
said, then left.

“Thanks I guess.” Sasha muttered. Her mother
took her by the hand, which Sasha didn’t really like...ever. She
conceded given the circumstances as she was led out of the police
station and to the car.

“Let’s go to the hospital then.” her mother
said to her, opening the car door and slipping inside their
mid-size SUV that was probably way more than they actually needed.
Sasha’s mom bought it mainly for the AWD aspect, an overpriced
option. She just didn’t want a truck and the winters could
sometimes be dreadful.

As Sasha entered the vehicle, she paused.
“Hmm.”

“What was that?” her mother asked.

“Nothing really. I would just rather be
home.” Sasha told her mother.

“I would ‘just rather’ you were perfectly
healthy. We need to get you checked out.”

“Yea, fine.” Sasha muttered as she closed the
door. Her mother started up the engine and they were soon off.
Sasha’s stomach churned, as if something wasn’t right. As if what
they were doing could only lead to trouble. She wanted to trust her
instincts, but it wasn’t as though she could just hop out and run
away. Not after all she’d been through.

“Can I help you?” the receptionist asked as
Sasha and her mother approached the counter in the hospital.

“I’m here to have my daughter checked out.”
Mrs. Midleton said, glancing over at Sasha. “She’d been missing for
a few weeks and doesn’t remember anything. The police told me to
take her here.”

The receptionist just processed with a blank
expression, gathering a clipboard. “Okay. I’m going to need you to
fill out some paperwork and I’ll also need your insurance card.”
She laid the clipboard on the counter as Sasha’s mom rummaged
through her purse to find the insurance card. She found it and
handed it over for the receptionist to make a note of and scan.
“Thank you. The first two sheets on there need to be filled out and
one is a HIPAA form that you need to sign. If she needs an MRI,
we’ll need that last sheet for authorization.”

“Thanks.” Mrs. Midleton said as she took the
clipboard and walked towards some chairs as Sasha followed right
behind her. After they sat down, Sasha’s mom began to fill out the
papers.

“MRI? Isn’t that the thing you have to lay
down in and not move?” Sasha said with a long gulp. Her mother
stopped writing.

“Yes, dear.”

“That sounds scary.” Sasha continued. She had
an idea.

“You’ll be fine.”

“Do I
have
to go?” Sasha wondered.
Maybe her fake fear could get her out of having one.

“
Yes
.” her mother commanded.

“Hmm.” Sasha said with a sigh. Her mother
continued writing, ignoring the mutterings of her daughter. After
finishing, she put the pen under the clip and stood up, heading
toward the receptionist.

“Here are the completed forms.” Mrs. Midleton
told the woman, handing the board over. The woman nodded and
scanned through, making sure she didn’t miss anything.

“I’ll get these put into the computer and a
nurse will be with you shortly.” the receptionist said.

As Sasha’s mom walked back, Sasha caught her
eye. “Can I see your cell phone?”

“Why?” her mother asked, puzzled.

“I’d like to call Mandy and let her know I’m
okay.” Sasha said honestly. Her mother took out the phone and
pressed the button to enter the home screen. Her eyes widened as
she looked at the time displayed at the top.

“A bit late, don’t you think?”

“I know, but I think it’s important.” Sasha
begged. Her mother relented, handing her over the cell. “Thanks.”
Sasha punched in the numbers, pressed the call button, and waited
for an answer.

“Hello?” a groggy voice on the other line
responded. Sasha smiled widely. Mandy.

“Hey Mandy.”

In an instant, Mandy was yelling with
excitement. “You’re alive! Where the hell have you been?”

“Long story I guess.” Sasha told her
solemnly.

“Why are you on your mom’s cell phone? I
know
that’s her number.” Many asked. Sasha usually took the
house phone because her mom was pretty strict about personal calls
on a line she used for business.

“I’m in the hospital.” Sasha said, and before
she could tell Mandy to
not
freak out, she started doing
so.

“Are you all right? I can go wake up my
parents and ask them to drive me over to you. Granted, they
probably woke up with the phone ringing anyway.” Mandy told her. It
sounded as though Mandy was looking for clothes in her dresser and
Sasha tried to dismiss her.

“No, don’t worry about it. I don’t think
there is anything wrong with me. The police officer that found me
told my mom to take me here. It’s just precautionary and I feel
fine.” Sasha tried to reassure Mandy.

“You do?” Mandy asked skeptically.

“Yea. Absolutely fine.
Wonderful
,
even.” Sasha said with a giggle. She heard a sigh on the other
line, and it sounded like the sigh of relief.

“Okay. Call me in the morning I guess. You
aren’t going to school tomorrow, are you?”

“I don’t know.” Sasha said, putting the phone
down. She bent over to her side and whispered to her mother, “Am I
going to go to school tomorrow?”

“Honey, you’ve already missed two weeks.”
Mrs. Midleton said with a smile. “I don’t see what one more day is
going to do. Besides, you need your sleep.”

Sasha picked the phone back up and replied to
Mandy, “Mom says no.”

“Well if you don’t mind, as much as I miss
you, I’d like to get back to my dream.” Mandy told her. That
usually meant Mandy was having a very lucid dream that was very
juicy and full of adventure. Mandy had a habit of writing her
dreams down, hoping to make stories later from them.

“It’s okay Mandy. I know it’s late.” Sasha
said calmly.

“Thanks.” Many replied. They both ended with
a quick goodbye and Sasha hung up the cell, handing it over to her
mother to put on silent before sticking it back in her purse.

“Sasha Midleton?” a woman stood in front of
them with a clipboard. She was normal height with brown hair and
glistening brown eyes. She was in the typical nurse scrubs, but she
had a white lab coat over top of them.

“I’m here.” Sasha said, addressing the woman.
She smiled and nodded.

“Hello Sasha. My name is Joy. Come on
back.”

The next day Sasha woke up feeling fully
rested. She squirmed happily in her bed as she stretched underneath
the warm comforter. After getting out of bed and getting dressed,
she exited her bedroom and made her way to the kitchen. The sound
of her mother cleaning dishes greeted her as she entered.