The Aspen Experiments

Chapter 17

Chapter 17 - The aftermath

For me that was the end of the nightmare. A call of 911 brought police and paramedics swarming in. When the police had found the drugs in Shammas' apartment they mistakenly assumed he'd fled the school.

They came back as soon as we placed the call. Shammas was led away in handcuffs, and Hyto on a stretcher. John and I were taken to the police station in town and questioned for hours.

I explained how Shammas and Ringer had tricked me into a few experiments during the first half of the semester, but I left out all the time travel stuff. I told them the whole thing had scared me (true!) and that I'd tried to fly home to my parents. I glossed over John's fit at the airport, and explained how I'd escaped and seen Ava's body in the testing room.

They dectective took me over and over that point. That Ava was there in the admin building, dead, not in her room. I told them about Mrs. Webster hiding me in her office.

"Oh, what happened to her?" I asked. "I hope neither of them hurt her..."

"Mrs. Webster? Oh, the counselor. She's fine. She was locked in a closet, but unhurt."

"Oh, good." Poor lady. She was officious and annoying, but I didn't really want her to get hurt because of me.

I stumbled around when I got to the Ringer/Hyto bit. Before I got too deep I decided to leave Hyto out entirely. I just claimed that Ringer had ranted and raved a lot before doing another experiment.

"He injected me with some stuff too," I added, touching my inner arm, where he'd put the syringe.

"Why didn't you say so?" the detective asked. "We have to check that." He made a quick call, and in a few minutes another paramedic came in.

"Sorry, we've got to get some of your blood analyzed before it wears off," he explained. The paramedic stuck my arm and filled up two big vials.

"Sorry," he said again.

Everyone was being very apologetic. I was relieved. I didn't really think John or I would be suspected in Ava's death or any of the other things that happened, but I wasn't sure. I was glad to know the police were viewing us as victims. I felt more confident after that.

I didn't say much about the experiment. The officer was more interested in the fight at the end, anyway. I repeated how Ringer attacked John with the scalpel, how Shammas blamed Ringer for framing him... the whole thing.

"Is John okay?" I asked. "Can I talk to him?"

"Not yet. We need to get your stories independently. But he's alright. Some doc stitched him up already."

My story was so fantastic, even without the truly fantastic parts, that the detective took me over it again and again. I played innocent when they pointed out the unlikely nature of Shammas' and Ringer's behavior.

Somebody got me a sandwich as the evening wore on, and it was late when they took me back to school. I don't think they were too worried about me running away or anything. Rosemary Choate is fairly isolated and they knew the only family I had in the area was my sister. The police had called her in the middle of questioning me. As a minor they had to try and inform my guardian that I was involved in a murder investigation. Since my parents were out of the country and couldn't be reached, I gave them Carly's number.

I watched the detective's face as he talked to my sister on the phone. I was thankful I didn't have to break the news to Carly, but I couldn't help dreading the next time I would talk to her face to face. It would be years before she would calm down about this.