The Amnesia Twins

Chapter Thirteen: The Crazy Train

Christy had bags in her eyes that morning. She would walk a few steps, doze off, then realize she was dozing and force herself to walk again. The nightmares about the masked men had kept waking her up last night.

She opened her locker to get her book. When she closed it, Zeke was on the other side.

"Crystalline," he said.

"I'm not in the mood right now, man. I'm exhausted." She walked away, but Zeke ran in her path.

"I'm not going to try to get back together anymore. Look, what I said to you was messed up and I'm sorry. I just want closure."

"Nope. Not interested. Get out of my way."

Christy walked to her first class and Mr. Thomas was there greeting students as per usual. She wondered what random improv scenario he would give her today.

"Ms. Alejandro," Mr. Thomas said.

She decided she would play along today. "Yes?"

"Where is the summary for your short story?"

She wasn't expecting that question at all. "Well, I wrote it, then realized it sucked, then I ripped it up and threw it away. So yeah, I guess I can't write a decent story after all. You win."

Mr. Thomas staggered back at her words, and opened his mouth to speak, but Christy bolted in the room before he could.

* * *

When Christy went to work after school, two security guards were outside, defending the restaurant. She walked into the diner.

"Crystalline!" Donna ran up to her. "Are you okay? I heard you and Alicia almost got kidnapped last night."

"Well, Alicia did. I'm fine. Not a scratch on me."

"Are you sure?"

"Trust me, I'm okay. Where's Alicia? I want to talk to her."

"Alicia isn't here. I don't know if she'll be coming into work anymore. I hear she won't even leave her room. It must've been really bad."

Christy frowned. "That's terrible." She had a flashback of that night again. After they had gotten in the Uber, they called the police. The Uber took them to Alicia's house, and hardly spoke to one another. They had both been at a loss of words. Eventually Christy's dad picked her up, and she hadn't seen Alicia since.

Mr. Smothers walked out of his office and over to Christy. "Crystalline," he said. "You can take the day off. I know you must still be shaken up from last night. I'll still pay you for today. Get some rest."

"I'm fine. I don't need to rest."

"Well, can I ask you a favor then?"

"What?"

"Can you go to my house and check on Alicia?"

Christy narrowed her eyes. "Why don't you check on her? You're her father, after all.

"Yes but . . . I'm not good at these things. I had the maid buy her some gifts, but she won't look at them. I don't know what to say to her. I told my wife, Lexi, to comfort her, but Lexi wasn't much help either. I know you saved her the other night. Can you talk to her, please?"

Christy sighed. "You know what? Yeah. I think we have some things to talk about anyway.

"I'll get you an uber."

* * *

Christy rang the doorbell of the Smothers' house. A young woman wearing silky pajamas and an extra shiny diamond ring opened the door and scowled.