When We Were Kids {Currently Revising}

Chapter 5: Reality Is A Prison

     My mom took me straight to the doctor afterwards to get my screw tightened again in my leg. We got home about an hour later. My mother sensed what was wrong. She brushed her brown hair back and asked me kindly in a motherly fashion but I told her I was just tired. No need to get her worked up. I went to go brush Daisy and just sat in there and sobbed. Daisy nuzzled up against me. I shook her away. Why couldn't I remember any of what he'd done to me? Why was he stalking me?  

     The worst part of all this mess was the fact that it was Jay's father who was involved in that car crash and that terrible couple months that I couldn't remember. I knew I'd had my leg amputated because it was burned and I tripped and fell, hitting my head on some rocks, causing me to get some minor memory loss. At first, after I'd waken up in the hospital, I couldn't even remember my family but as I heard their voices and listened to stories from my past, I'd started remembering it all. All except the story with the man in that car whom I crashed with. The detectives had tried to find the true story but Dmitri had been so sneaky...

     Knowing that the man hadn't actually run away, almost made it all worse. Knowing that he lived just two miles away made it just disturbing. It was all so confusing. I thought I remembered Dmitri but I felt like something wasn't connecting. Something wasn't fitting into the equation. 

     I brushed Daisy and wiped the tears from my eyes. I needed to get away for the weekend. I typed in my typewriter (which I'd left in Daisy's stable one night) a message to Jay, Clementine and Jack. 

I've got to get away. Talk to you later.

I ripped the paper out, folded it up, stuck it in an envelope and sealed it. I stuck it in the mailbox and ran back inside, limping a bit from the new screw. 

     "Mom!" I called as I pounded up the steps to go inside the pretty white home. Elliot was sitting on the countertop, a suitcase below him. 

     "Yes, sweetheart?" It was a Friday afternoon. She had come home early after my appointment to clean up. She had gloves on and cleaning spray in her right hand. I almost laughed. My mom mayb have been the smartest nurse I knew but she couldn't clean to save her life.  

   "I need to get away, mom. Please." She looked confused. "Just for the weekend, Ma. Please." I begged her. 

    "Are you OK? I mean, I guess...Why don't you go with Elliot? He's going up to visit your grandmother in Killington." She suggested. It wasn't my top choice but Killington was a good three hour drive and it could maybe give me time to talk to Elliot. 

     "I'm fine. I'll go. Thanks Ma. Love you! I'm going to go pack!" I ran up stairs while Elliot complained about having to wait longer. 

***

     In about thirty minutes, I was ready to roll and had stuffed my suitcase into the car. I climbed into the front seat of the old mini van Elliot had received from Ma and Pa, and buckled in. 

     I explained to Elliot my dillemma and about an hour in, he pulled over for gas. I was afraid he was getting really nervous about what I'd told him so when I saw a red car behind us with a man dressed in black, I didn't dare tell him.

     "You just have to be careful. The whole situation is weird. I remember seeing you in the hospital as well and you didn't remember a thing. And now you're remembering this? Plus, the Henderson case? Are you sure it was Dmitri?" Elliot went off on one of his inquisitive rants. He did that when he was scared. I didn't reply, knowing it would just start him off again. I glanced into the rearview mirror. Objects in mirror are closer than they appear, it read. The red car was awfully close to their beat up van.

     About two hours later, when we'd reached Killington, the car was still following us. I had to do something.

     "Elliot," I whispered as if someone could hear me. "Turn left up here." I demanded. 

     "Why? We're here! We just need to find her house." He countered.

     "Just do it." I ordered. He quickly turned, throwing the red car off track and giving us a good hiding place on this rock road. 

     "What was that for?" He asked, stupidly. 

    "You honestly didn't see that car following us for the past three hours?" He shrugged. "Stupid!" I punched him in the arm. 

     "Ow!" He rubbed his arm. So weak. 

     "God...you're such a baby. Where does this road lead to anyway?" This road looked really familiar. A little too familiar. "STOP!" Elliot slammed on the brakes. 

"What the...?" Elliot held his hand to his heart. "Jeez Lay, you almost gave me a heart attack. What is it?" I stepped out of the car. The sun was setting in the town of Killington. I found a pebble and placed it in front of my foot. I kicked it over the side of the dead-end road. 

"Just as I'd suspected. Elliot? Where did they find my body again after I'd fallen?" I asked, shivering from the cold and from the eerie feeling I got from the place. 

"At the bottom of Deer Leap in the Greenwood National Forest." He came over to where I was standing. I leaned over the edge to get a closer look. Elliot held me back but I had just enough time to read the sign below. 

DEER LEAP 

"Laylah. We should go. It's getting dark and I don't like the feeling I'm getting from this place." Elliot pulled me away from the cliff. I climbed into the car and locked the door. He started to back out.

"This is where I lost my memory, and where I lost my right leg. This is where I started having to suffer through five surgeries, and ongoing physical therapy. This is where I started having to write my thoughts down into a stupid typewriter! This is where my life ended." I'd never felt this depressed before. 

I was so frightened. I had no idea what had happened to me for those few months and looking down at that sign felt like another flashback but this time it was to nothing. Clementine always told me not to get too nostalgic but whats to get nostalgic about when you can't even remember what you were doing there? 

"I'm sorry you had to see that." Elliot put his hand on my shoulder. 

"It's fine. Let's just get to grandma's house." I was shaking again but this time it wasn't from the cold. It was from the same feeling I'd been getting for the past few weeks. The feeling that someone was watching me.