The IV itched like crazy. Apparently I was dehydrated and required liquids, I watched the bag of clear liquid slowly drip into my veins. Outside the room, a detective was talking with the doctor and my parents. I could see them, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying through the glass of the door. Finally the doctor motioned for them all to sit down on the chairs by the door and entered the room alone. He pulled the curtain closed and pulled up a plastic chair to my bedside.
“Hello, I’m Doctor Grant. We are all very concerned and curious about where you were this time. You don’t remember anything?” he asked, seemingly more out of personal curiosity than interest in my well being.
I shook my head no. “Nothing.”
“Alright. Your parents noticed right away some new injuries, we are hoping that doing a full physical and a series of easy tests will help with the investigation, but we need your consent. Will you do that?” He held out a clipboard and pen.
I scribbled my signature on the dotted line and gave him back the clipboard. “Investigation?”
“Mm-hmm. To find out where you were I suppose.” He looked over my signature.
“Alright, the nurse will take you to X-ray, then for blood work and complete exam.”
A nurse came in with a wheelchair and the doctor left. My parents stood as I was wheeled out of the room; I could tell that they desperately wanted to come with me. I looked to the nurse; she shook her head ever so slightly.
“I’ll be back in a bit, don’t worry.” I tried to be reassuring.
“We’ll be right here.” Dad said firmly.
I nodded. Mom kissed my head and stroked my hair like she does when she is trying to comfort me. It did little to help the pounding in my skull or pain in my stomach, but I did feel a bit better.
“Mom, is-“
The nurse wheeled me through the doors before I could finish.
“We have to start now, it’s going to be a long day.” She said coldly.
I spent the whole afternoon being scanned and examined. The nurse saw more of me than even I have ever seen. By the end of it I couldn’t stand the touch of one more gloved hand.
I thought that when it was all over that I would have a reprieve from the embarrassment to rest or see my parents. I had questions for them. I just closed my eyes for a moment when the curtain opened. I remembered vaguely the man standing there. I think he was one of the police officers that escorted me to the ambulance. He was a short man; his mousy hair was cut close to his scalp. His nostrils were like two gigantic holes in his face. I couldn’t decide if his mustache made them look bigger or not.
“I’m Detective Trevor; I just have a few questions for you; if you’re up for it of course.” He said quietly.
He cleared his throat and flipped open his notebook. “Alice, what’s the last thing you remember?”
I thought for a moment. “I think I was getting ready to go pick up Julie from school.”
He nodded as he wrote that down. “Do you remember where you got that?” He pointed his pen at my head. There was a patch of shorter hair on the back of my scalp; underneath it was a newly healed scar. According to the nursing student helping with the exam, it was pretty huge. I tried to cover it with the rest of my hair.
“No, it’s not the only one either.” I slid my leg out from under the blanket and showed him the long scar on the back of my calf and ankle. It was obviously a surgical scar; you could see the marks where staples held the skin together. There was also a thin scar across the right side of my neck, I didn’t like thinking about where that one came from.
“Do you mind if we have someone some to photograph them for evidence?” He asked.
“I guess. For the investigation?”
The detective nodded. “We need to know where you were Alice. You were a good kid, when you were in school you got good grades, even after you never caused trouble. You were very low risk and had the cleanest record of any disappearances in recent memory; people like you don’t go missing very often. It was one of the more troubling cases I've worked.”
I nodded, but I felt as if that wasn’t the whole reason. “Can I see my parents?”
“I think that’s enough for now, I’ll get them for you. The photographer will come tomorrow afternoon sometime.” He flipped his notebook closed and left through the curtain.
Now over the shock, I was aware that I was sore all over. My leg throbbed along the scar and my shoulder ached deeply. I wanted more than ever to find out where I was for six whole years.
“I’m 26.” I said out loud. All this time and I just realized. I am 26, which is almost 30. I stared at the corner of the room for a long time.
The detective suddenly entered through the curtain. “Your parents had to go see their lawyer; bringing someone back from the dead is a difficult process." He stroked his mustache unconsciously. “There’s someone here to see you and stay with you while your parents are gone.” He left the room without another word.
“Go on.” I heard him say to someone outside. The curtain was roughly pushed aside and in like a whirlwind came Julie, face rosy with a huge smile on her face. She rushed over and gave me a big hug causing pain to radiate from my shoulder to my elbow and me to cry out.
“Oh sorry, I’m so sorry.” There were tears welling up in her eyes as she cupped her hands around my cheeks. She changed so much in only 6 years; she had abandoned her blonde dye job and long hair for her natural colour and a cute pixie cut. Even though she wasn’t wearing make-up she just had a wonderful glow. Seeing her looking so put together was almost overwhelming for me and tears came to my eyes too.
“You’ve changed.” She must have just gotten here because I could still feel the cold radiating off of her shapeless winter coat.
She laughed. “A little. Alice, I love you; I want you to know that. I never really told you that, and I’ve been praying for a chance to say that to you.”
“I love you too, I’m sorry I’ve been gone so long.” I gave her a hug with my good arm. Something felt different with her.
She squealed with excitement and she got up and took her coat off to reveal her bulbous belly. “There’s so much that’s happened!”
I can’t say I’m surprised; it was more a question of when rather and if. She must have seen me staring because she whipped off her mittens and held her ring finger aloft. “Relax; he put a ring on it first.” She said triumphantly.
“My baby sister is married; dad has a beard, start explaining please? Start with how this whole change happened.” I was having a hard time wrapping my head around all this. I wiped the sweat from my forehead.
Julie with some difficulty sat cross-legged at the end of my bed and settled in. She looked very serious.
“We buried you Alice. We had a funeral; we went to your grave every year. I saw how it affected mom and dad. It broke their hearts and they weren’t the same people for a very long time.” Her voice got very quiet, almost a whisper. “I didn’t want them to ever go through that again so I went from call-me-for-a-good-time-Julie to…I don’t know, Alice-Julie. I cleaned up my act and started over basically.”
“This is like a dream come true for me. I should have gone missing sooner.” I joked as I sipped on a cup of water, trying to moisten my dry mouth.
“I have to admit that some good came out of it, but I would have rather had you here. Well, I would have rather have you here to see-“ Something in the hallway caught her eye and she gestured to someone enthusiastically. She also mouthed something that I couldn’t tell what she said. A little boy ducked into the room and climbed onto Julies lap.
“This is Alex; Alex this is your auntie Alice, say hi.” Alex buried his head in Julies shoulder. “He’s shy, but he’ll warm up to you soon.”
“Wow, any more kids to tell me about?”
“Just this one, Alex tell auntie how old you are.” She laughed as he shook his head.
“Alex is a good name.”
“Yea well I figured that he might be made fun of if we named our boy Alice.”
"Julie, I don't know what to say..." Tears ran down my face. "I know that I should be angry, or sad that I was missing for all this but all I can think about is how happy I am that I'm here."
Julie nodded. I heard someone clear their throat. Julie held out her hand and a man came in and took it in his. He looked familiar. "Alice, this is my husband-"
"Simon? You married Simon?! I though you said that he was-" A loser mouth-breather, nerd, geek, forever-alone, etc. etc.
"Yes I know what I said, but when I tried to get my life together I got him to tutor me and it just, sort of happened." She smiled at Simon.
He put his hand on her stomach. "Best thing that ever happened to me. I'll take Alex so you two can talk." He kissed Julie on the forehead before scooping up Alex and leaving the room.
Julie watched them until they were out the door. "Alice, are you sure that you can't remember anything? Six years is a lot of time to just, forget... You're sure nothing, happened?"
"Well, other than the obvious recent head trauma, there's a few old injuries.They said that I had a pretty recent accident within the last few months, probably a fall. I guess at some point I broke my wrist, and they also say that I probably broke my nose just after I went missing."
Julie stared at her before bursting out laughing. "Good, because I was starting to think I'd forgotten what you looked like. Whoever fixed you up did a terrible job, it looks nothing like it did before." She pushed a stray piece of hair out of my face. "Alice? You look a little pale, are you feeling okay?"
I saw my reflection in the mirror beside the bed, it was like I was looking at a stranger. Forget the nose, I had lost a lot of weight and dark circles accentuated the puffy bags under my eyes. I ran my finger along the bridge of my nose when my hands started shaking violently. It caught me by suprise and the heart rate monitor started beeping loudly.
I hadn't been feeling well for a few hours, but this was new. I clenched my fists and I could feel the sweat dripping down my temples and moistening my palms. "I'm fine, just not feeling a hundred percent right now."
Julie waddled to the door and called for a nurse and almost immediately the unpleasant nurse from the tests rushed in. She pushed a few buttons to silence the machine then turned her attention to me. She poked and prodded, checking me over. "How long have you felt like this? Were you taking any drugs, recreational or otherwise before being admitted?" She asked harshly.
"A few hours, but my hands- they weren't before." I was having trouble concentrating on what she was saying. A wave of pain radiated from my stomach to my chest.
"Is she okay?! What's going on?!" Julie practically screamed at the nurse.
"Ma'am, calm down. I'm going to give her a sedative and consult the doctor, but a woman in your condition shouldn't be getting upset." She injected something into the IV.
I saw Julie put on her old fighting face. "A woman in my condition? A woman in my condition?! Did you really say that to me? I'm going to tell you-"
I drifted into unconsciousness to Julie reaming into a nurse.