Troy had walked quite a long way by the time he reached the Harrison’s front porch but he was neither tired nor out of breath. Like the kids back at the station, he didn’t remember his name and had no idea why he was drawn to this particular house when all of the houses on the street looked so similar. He stood in front of the door; solid oak painted red with a brass handle. It was full-on morning now. The sun was coming up and putting forth its best effort despite the frosty fall air.
Sellers walked up the front steps to join the boy. When Troy made no move to open the door himself Sellers rang the bell. A tall man, who had grown too thin and wore all his worries in bags under his eyes, opened the door. For a moment everything was still, while recognition slowly settled in and the man crumpled against the door frame, too choked up with tears to even speak.
“Mr. Harrison, I found Troy wandering down the main drag. He wouldn’t stop moving until we got here. Kate’s home too,” Sellers stopped for a moment, his own voice cracking with emotion, “our kids are home.”
From inside the house came a horrible wailing sound, a sound Sellers had heard a few too many times in his career. It was the unmistakable sound a mother made when you showed up at the front door and announced their child had been hurt or killed. This was not one of those times though. Mrs. Harrison, looking out an interior window and seeing just the squad car outside must have assumed the worst. Sellers knew the feeling; he had spent the last several months thinking the same thing every time the phone rang.
Suddenly Mr. Harrison stood up and threw his arms around Troy and hugged him tight. Sellers couldn’t believe that even now, seeing his father again, Troy could remain so cold and quiet. He had to be in shock. It made him worry about Kate, wondering what the hell could have happened to these kids in all this time. He shook it off and entered the house to locate the hysterical Mrs. Harrison and give her the good news.
He found her in the kitchen, kneeling on the linoleum floor, rocking and still emitting that terrible noise. Sellers looked back over his shoulder, when she had sat her morning cup of coffee down on the center island she had a perfect view out the living room window of his patrol car pulling up. Of course she feared the worst, anyone would have after so many weeks had gone by. He knelt down beside her.
“Mrs. Harrison,” he started.
“No no no no no . . ,” she wailed, rocking faster. “You don’t tell me anything! Just go. Just go now,” said continued through heavy heaving sobs.
“Mrs. Harrison, shhhh, it’s alright,” he said gently. “Your boy is home.”
In order to stop crying and hear him better she literally stopped breathing. She needed to hear it again.
“Troy is home,” Sellers repeated, a small smile crossing his lips. “He’s standing at the front door right now with your husband, I promise.” He helped her up off the floor and helped steady her since her whole body was trembling.
When she saw her son, the hysterical tears started all over again. Troy was actually starting to look slightly concerned with so much attention being bestowed on him which at least was better than showing no feelings at all as far as Sellers was concerned, but his parents didn’t agree.
“What’s wrong with him? Why isn’t he talking? Where has he been all this time?” They had a lot of questions, but Sellers didn’t have any answers for them.
“Look, all I know is that we found Cole Parks first, who also isn’t talking, and when I was sent out to look for info I found Troy just wandering around in the street. The station just radioed to tell me that my daughter Kate has returned as well, and I’m real anxious to get back to the station and see her. So let’s all take a trip down there and maybe we can get this all sorted out.”
“Just the three of them have returned? What about the others,” asked Troy’s mother.
“I have no idea, could be that more are back by now. Let’s go find out.” He was starting to lose his patience.
Troy broke away from his mother’s grasp and walked across the living room to where some pictures hung on the wall. They were family portraits, and one professional shot of Troy suited up in his football gear. Troy touched the one that looked like him and then touched his own face.
“What is he doing? He’s looking at that picture like he’s never seen it before.” Troy’s father wasn’t used to seeing his son so subdued. Troy was normally loud, a big guy with a kind heart and a hearty laugh. The boy who had returned home was silent, unnervingly silent and stumbled around absently like the walking dead.
“I think he’s in shock or something,” said Sellers. “Hell I don’t know; I’m not a damn doctor. Come on son, let’s get you and your parents down to the station and try to get us some answers, alright?”
Troy numbly started to comply. He got about three steps forward when he suddenly collapsed on the hardwood floor with a thick thud. The weight of his heavy body, hard with the muscle required of his job on the field, shook the surrounding furniture and knick knacks. He went down fast, his head smacking the ground with a sickening sound.
“Oh my god,” cried his mother.
Sellers and Mr. Harrison rushed across the room and dove to the floor. They shook the boy and shouted his name with no response. Together they rolled him over and saw a thin stream of blood flowing from his left temple. He wasn’t breathing.
* * *
Pain shot up Tanner’s arm in excruciating jolts but it was the resonating memory of the sound of cracking bones that made him nearly pass out. Before he could even piece together what had just taken place, his officers were swarmed around him in a protective hive, leaving Kate standing on the outside. They eyed her with astonished suspicion. That tiny little blond thing had just thrown their Chief off his feet with one swift movement.
Kate cocked her head to one side, observing the men’s reactions and hoping they weren’t upset with her. It was the big guy's fault, he had startled her. She had no idea her reflexes were so strong. She didn’t even know what day of the week it was.
“Alright, let’s not everybody freak out now,” Tanner said, shakily rising to his feet.
“Freak out? Sir, that little girl snapped you like a twig,” a rookie officer whispered rather loudly to the chief, stirring up a few uneasy chuckles from the other men.
“Thank you Conner, I was there. I don’t need a play by play. Aw hell, I think my wrist is broken.”
“We should get you to the hospital. The kids have to go get checked out anyway. I’ll get Kate.” It was the clear headed reasoning of the psychologist, who had walked up behind the scene when no one was paying attention. No one argued, after witnessing Kate’s sudden demonstration of strength no one was in a hurry to try to handle her.
As the officers started the task of rounding up kids and parents for the trip to the hospital, the psychologist gently approached Kate. She went over her training for dealing with trauma victims in her head. There seemed to be some memory repression, so she would have to make a point to use her name frequently and remind her that she was safe. She observed the girl; there were no signs of aggression. All that stood before her was a broken shell of a girl, albeit a frighteningly strong girl. Maybe cheerleading really was an athletic sport after all.
“Hello Kate. My name is Ginny. It’s actually Ginger, but I always thought that sounded like something you would name your horse not your child, so I shortened it.”
Normally that got at least a smile from people, but Kate just stood there, expressionless.
“Is there a reason you won’t talk Kate? Are you afraid?”
Kate thought about that question. She didn’t feel afraid at the moment. She shook her blond head, no.
Encouraged by this small attempt at communication, Ginny went on. She even got a little closer. “Everyone here just wants to help you Kate. You and the others. We’ll worry about where you were later; right now we just want to know if you’re alright.”
When she got no response she added, “Have you been hurt Kate?”
This time Kate did respond, she raised her arms and turned her palms up slowly, studied them, and put them back down. She examined her legs, ran her hands over her stomach and tried arching her back. Ginny almost laughed out loud realizing that the girl was actually looking for injuries. It was a very literal interpretation of the question and also showed that she had very little self awareness right now if she couldn’t tell off hand if she were hurt or not. She methodically checked herself all over for signs of impairment. When she found none, she shook her head again. Ginny was about to ask another question when she was interrupted by Kate’s first words since her return.
“I think my thoughts are broken,” she said.
Ginny tried to remain clam, and not show her excitement over Kate’s sudden utterance. She wanted to be sure she didn’t clam up again. “Can you explain what you mean by that?”
“Some things feel familiar but I can’t remember anything exactly. I can’t always remember the words for things, their names.” Kate stopped short of telling the woman about talking to the others using her mind, that didn’t seem like something she should share just yet. She didn’t feel sameness with this woman standing before her. Some huge difference hung in the air between them; Kate just wasn’t sure what it was.
“It’s alright Kate, sometimes when people have been through a traumatic event they develop something called amnesia. Your memory will come back in time. Right now we’re all going to the hospital; just to be sure everyone is alright. Will you come with me, Kate?”
Kate tried to imagine what traumatic event could have recently happened to her while she looked over at the others. They were filing into cars with the adults to be taken to the hospital. For some reason the thought of being separated from them filled her with dread. “Just do what they ask, for now. Don’t speak. Don’t answer their questions.” Kate tried to fill each one of their heads as they walked past. She still had a lot of things to figure out before she could be certain they were safe here. There was something, some small nagging thought planted in the darkness of her memory that was reaching for her. She was meant to do something but couldn’t remember what.
She looked back at Ginny and nodded. Yes, she would go to the hospital. Ginny started walking back into the station and Kate followed voluntarily.
“Great. Let’s get your mom and we’ll all go together. Hopefully while we’re there we can get you something to eat. Are you hungry Kate?"
Kate stopped walking. There was something that had been bothering her all morning. Since this woman was full of questions and seemed to desire to help maybe it would be worth asking.
Now standing just inches apart, Ginny felt a cold chill when she looked into Kate’s bright blue eyes. They almost didn’t look real, so bright and shining, yet so void of any sign of empathy or emotion.
“Can I ask a question now,” Kate asked.
“Of course you can Kate.”
“Why do you keep calling me Kate?”