by Willow Rose
"I'm right on it," he said.
63
April 2014
I DIDN'T LEAVE MAYA'S side for two entire days. I sat in her hospital room and held her hand when she let me while the doctors examined her and ran a million tests. I couldn't count on one hand the amount of blood tests and brain scans she had gone through. Meanwhile, she remained completely unaware of who I was and who she had been. It was truly devastating.
On the third day, Doctor Faaborg came into the room and pulled me outside to talk to me. We sat down in some chairs right outside her room so I could still keep an eye on the door. They were still looking for Doctor R.V. Devulapallianbbhasskar, but she seemed to have completely vanished. Morten had joined the local police task force to help hunt her down, but I was still terrified that she would come back to hurt Maya.
"I'm afraid Maya suffers from amnesia," Dr. Faaborg said. "I believe it is what we refer to as a drug-induced amnesia. I have gone through the files of the Ward she was in and apparently those patients were part of a research project, financed by the pharmaceutical company Lundbit. They were experimenting with drug-induced amnesia as a treatment for psychiatric disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder and memory related disorders, such as dementia and Alzheimer's disease. I read a lot about it. By understanding the ways in which amnesia-inducing drugs interact with the brain, researchers hope to better understand the ways in which neurotransmitters aid in the formation of memory. By stimulating, rather than depressing, these neurotransmitters, memory may improve."
"So you're telling me they drugged my daughter as part of an experiment? They made her forget everything?"
"Basically, yes. Amnesia can be partial or whole. I'm afraid hers is whole. She doesn't remember anything. Not even her real name. The drug is currently being used on many of the other patients in the ward with great success. No one in the ward had any suspicion that she was using it on patients that were perfectly healthy."
"I don't understand how a drug like that can help a patient with any disorder like post-traumatic stress. I thought the point of therapy was to make people remember things and work through them?"
Doctor Faaborg nodded. "Yes. But in the process of remembering, the memory needs to be restored in the brain. By introducing an amnesia-inducing drug during this process, the memory can be disrupted. While the memory remains intact, the emotional reaction is dampened, making the memory less overwhelming for the patient. Researchers believe this drug will help patients with post-traumatic stress disorder be able to better process the trauma without reliving the trauma emotionally."
It made sense, I thought. But the thought was horrifying.
"So whole amnesia, huh? She doesn't remember anything at all?" I asked, feeling the tears once again press in on my throat. I wanted to kill that doctor Dr. R.V. Devulapallianbbhasskar for doing this to my daughter. It was so heartbreaking to have to look into her eyes and see the confusion in her…see how sad it made her that she knew I was her mother, since I had told her numerous times, but she couldn’t remember me. It killed me.
"I'm afraid not," the doctor said. "Well, you've been there when we’ve run the tests. You've seen it. She doesn't remember anything from her childhood."
I swallowed a lump in my throat to prevent myself from bursting into tears. I couldn't believe this. It was like a horrendous nightmare. I mean, I was thrilled to have found my daughter and I was so happy to know that she hadn't killed someone in a hit-and-run and that the charges against her were minimized to a fine for driving without a driver's license. I had her back, but still I didn't. This wasn't the Maya I had known and loved. It was her body, yes, but she was nowhere in there. She wasn't herself at all…and I missed her. I missed my strong beautiful caring and very stubborn daughter so badly. I missed holding her in my arms and feeling her hug me back. I missed looking into her eyes and seeing her, seeing all the life all the strength and power she possessed. Now there was nothing. Not even spite.
"But…But…What do I do? How long is it going to last?" My voice was breaking.
Doctor Faaborg put a hand on my shoulder. "There isn't much more we can do for her right now. She is healthy. You take her home, bring her into familiar surroundings with people she loves, then you talk to her. You show her pictures of her childhood and tell her stories that you know she would remember otherwise."
"Will she get her memory back? Ever?" I said, half-choked.
The doctor paused. I didn't like that. "I don't know, Emma darling, I’d like to believe she will. I think we should treat her like any other amnesia patient, but she has been given a very high dose of this drug for days and I have no idea how her brain is going to react to that. I have no experience with patients coming out of a drug-induced amnesia. But remember that she is perfectly capable of making new memories and learning new information."
"So we can start all over, huh? Is that what you're saying? But I don't want to start all over with her. I want her to be herself. I want her to remember me and how much I love her. I want her to remember how much she loves her little brother and how mad I make her, how annoying I can be. I want her to yell at me and roll her eyes at me like she used to. I want her back, Doctor."
"I know. And you might get that. But you have to give her time. Lots of time. And therapy. I'll give you some numbers of physicians in your area you can contact to get the help you need." Doctor Faaborg exhaled. "I wish I could give you better news. I really do. I'm sorry. Good luck with everything and don't be a stranger. Call and let me know how she's doing alright?"
I sniffled and nodded. "Okay. Thank you so much. You've been a great help."
"I'm still shocked that this could have happened in my hospital. I'm so sorry it had to hurt you in this way. I can't believe a colleague of mine could do anything like this. It's truly shocking. Just shows you that you never really know anyone."
I said goodbye to the doctor and went back to Maya, who was sitting up in the bed. She looked at me and tried to smile. I hated that puzzled look in her eyes when she looked at me. It was like she didn't really trust me or trust that I was really her mother.
I forced a smile back. "Great news, sweetie. I can take you home with me now."
I could tell it frightened her. She had no idea where home was or what it looked like.
"I'm sure your brother is going to be thrilled to see you again. He has missed you so much."
Maya looked pensive. "Victor, right?" she asked.
A tear escaped the corner of my eye. I wiped it away before she saw it and nodded. "Yes, yes. That's his name."
I started packing her strange clothes that she had worn at the Ward into a plastic bag, then threw it in the garbage bin. Morten had brought her some of my clothes from the hotel room to wear and I handed them to her so she could get out of the hospital gown. The pants were too big in the waist and the sweater was too long, but she looked adorable. She had lost a lot of weight, I realized. At least that was something I knew I could help correct.
She jumped down from the bed and I reached out my hand to help her. She looked at it for a little while, then at me. I smiled.
"Let's go, sweetie. Let's go home."
Maya nodded, then smiled back. She put her hand in mine. "Yes, Mom. Let's go home."
We walked out of the room and into the hospital hallway hand in hand when someone suddenly yelled behind us. I turned and saw Rebekka and Sune running down the hallway.
"Stooop!" Rebekka yelled. She was holding a box of chocolates in her hand.
I turned to face her with a smile.
Rebekka hugged first me, then Maya. "I'm so glad we made it here before you left!" She handed Maya the chocolates. "These are for you, sweetheart. Make sure you take good care of your mother. She needs you, okay? Make great new memories together."
"I’ll try," Maya said a little shy.
Sune hugged her while Rebekka approached me and hugged me again.
"Thank you so much for all your help," I said. "I wouldn't have fou
nd her without you. I'm truly grateful for that."
"Well, I don't know about not doing it yourself. You were pretty efficient with that car when you ran it into the building. I don't think anyone but you could have come up with that."
I chuckled. I thought for a second about my talk with the police when they had been here the day before and talked to me about me driving into the building. There weren’t going to be any charges, but the hospital was asking for compensation, they said. I figured I didn't owe them anything because of what they did to my daughter and told the police that I would ask for compensation as well. That had shut the Officer up. Now I was just waiting to find out what the hospital's response was going to be to that.
"Did you hear that Mads and Signe Schou are back together?" Sune asked.
"Really? That's great news," I said, feeling truly happy for them. I thought for a second about Morten and all my worries about losing the passion too early in our relationship. Right now, I needed anything but drama and passion. Morten had told me he was going to stay for a couple of days to help with the case and the search for the doctor and suddenly I missed him. I had rented a car to drive me and Maya back to the island. I couldn't wait to see my parents and Victor again. Not to mention Sophia. I had so much to tell her.
"Well, as you know, the police found her and Sascha DuBois at the ward as well and they have both lost their memories just like Maya did, so apparently Mads has decided to take care of his wife. I did an interview with them this morning for tomorrow's paper. It was really sweet. They're starting all over. They're moving to Berlin, he told me. To get away from everything."
Her memories were all bad, after all. If there was anyone who could benefit from forgetting her past it was probably Signe, I thought to myself.
I looked at Rebekka. I had come to care about her. "Thank you for taking me seriously when I needed it," I said. "When the police wouldn't. I'll never forget that. Stop by if you're ever on Fanoe Island, alright?"
Rebekka looked like she was thinking it over. "You know what? We might do just that one day." She stared at me intensely with a grin. "What are you still doing here? Go on. Go home and take care of your daughter."
EPILOGUE
Four weeks later
SHE LIKED THE FRESH air hitting her face when standing on the top deck of the ferry. She had counted the steps on the stairs to get up there while they were sailing. Fifty-seven. That was five plus seven equals twelve and one plus two equals three. A three wasn't too shabby, the numerologist thought to herself. She would have preferred a four, but she couldn't get everything.
She looked at the island rising in the horizon. Fanoe. She tasted the word. It was a five. The numerologist had come to like that number. Five meant death.
Misty was crawling across her shoulder, tickling her ear with her long whiskers. The numerologist giggled and moved the rat slightly. Then she ran a hand across her new face. She still hadn't gotten used to the way it felt. The nose was so different, so was the chin and especially the lips.
She had taken off as soon as she had realized Emma Frost and her police boyfriend knew she had the daughter. The numerologist had it all planned out, of course she had. She had seen it in the numbers that same morning and knew she had to leave. She had booked a ticket to South Korea where she had heard they were excellent at making your face completely unrecognizable. In fact, they were so good she had heard that some patients who had the operations in some cases were so transformed that they had trouble getting through passport control on the way home. The numerologist didn't have any trouble though, since she had changed her name and bought herself a brand-new passport in South Korea from a man she had learned was a master in forging. A master he had been, indeed. The man in the passport control at the airport hadn't even blinked when looking at it.
"Yes, Misty. You and me. Doctor Sonnichsen and Misty. We make a great team, don't we?"
She tasted the new name. It fit her well, she thought. It was a three. Three was good. It was more compatible with her birthdate. She shook her head, thinking about that silly name she had left behind. R.V. Devulapallianbbhasskar. Ha! She should have known it would go wrong, with that name. Having an R before a V simply didn't work. Any fool knew that!
The numerologist looked at the rat that had been her companion the last three years. Before that, she had another rat also named Misty. It had been like that ever since her time in the isolation cell in Herstedvester Prison when she had spent six months with no other companionship than a rat that lived inside the mattress she was supposed to sleep on. It had soon become her best friend and she had called it Misty.
"Yes, Misty," she said and petted it. She lifted it up towards her mouth and kissed it, feeling its teeth against her lip. "You and me, we will be together forever. We're family, remember?"
The ferry was getting close to the island now and they were told to get back into their cars. The numerologist looked at the island approaching before she decided to go. On her way down, she met an old man who looked at her with a smile.
"Is it your first time on Fanoe Island?" he asked.
The numerologist chuckled. "Yes. Never been here before."
"Well, welcome," he said. "Business or pleasure?"
"A little bit of both," she said. "I have some unfinished business and it will be my pleasure to put an end to it."
THE END
THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE
HOME
EMMA FROST #8
PROLOGUE
May 2014
“WHAT’S THE WORST thing that can happen?”
Jonas looked at Maria with anticipation. She loved his deep blue eyes and curly brown hair. Oh, how she loved him. But she had her doubts. It was a big decision they were about to make. They had just gotten married, and the wedding was expensive. Where they ready to take this step? Could they afford it? Jonas was a dreamer, and not always the most realistic when it came to money. Neither was she.
“Think about it,” Jonas continued. “I know we’re in a little over our heads with this one financially, but it’s the house we’ve dreamt of. It’s the one we want. None of the others made us excited like this one does. And it’s right on the beach. What’s not to love?”
He grabbed the listing from the table and went through the pictures once again. Maria felt a strange sensation in her body. She wasn’t sure exactly what it was. She loved the house. No doubt about it. But, was it too soon? Would it be too hard for them financially? Was it the best choice? It was, by far, the most expensive of the houses they had been looking at. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something inside her told her they shouldn’t do it.
She looked at the pictures over Jonas’s shoulder.
But it’s perfect. It’s beautiful. It’s all you’ve ever dreamt of.
“It might be hard in the beginning,” Jonas said. “Maybe the first couple of years, but I’m soon up for that promotion. I mean, they’ve got to give it to me after all the work I put in on that last case.”
“You did work hard on that one. And you did win it,” Maria said.
“I know. They have to promote me. I’m next in line, the way I see it, and Juhlsen even hinted at it the other day when I was in his office.”
“He did?”
“Yeah,” Jonas paused, and looked with dreaming eyes at the listing. “There is no way they’re not giving it to me. No way. And you just got a job at the library as well. I mean, we are going to make good money for the next several years. We can afford this. I really believe we can. It might be tight for a few years, but that’s all, the way I see it.”
“Really?” Maria said. “You really think we could do it? You think we could buy it?”
She felt a thrill of cold run down her spine. It made her shiver slightly. She was getting more and more excited about this. It was the house of her dreams…more than she could have dared to ever dream of, actually. It was the house she could see herself in. Heck, she could even picture herself having kids there.
&
nbsp; So, why was she hesitating? Why was she holding back? It was just this strange sense, this feeling, this unsettling emotion inside of her that made her pause.
Jonas clearly didn’t have any doubts anymore. “So, what do you say?” he asked, as he took her hand in his and kissed the top of it. “Are you onboard?”
“I…I don’t know…” Maria said.
“Come on,” Jonas exclaimed. “Why are you being like this?”
“I just…I don’t know, Jonas. I just feel like…maybe it’s just…I can’t escape this feeling that it’s a bad idea. That’s all.”
“A bad idea? How can buying the house of your dreams be a bad idea?” Jonas said with a slightly indulgent smile. He held her hand tightly and looked her in the eyes. “Listen. I know this is a big step for us. I know how difficult big changes are for you. It’s perfectly understandable. I’m shaking a little myself. This is a big deal. It really is. But this house is perfect for us. It’s screaming for us to move in. Look at this picture. Our new dinning room table that we got for our wedding will be perfect on those old wooden floors. Can’t you see it?”
Maria swallowed before she looked at the picture. Her heart melted. She could see it. She really could. She closed her eyes.
“You see it too, don’t you?” Jonas asked excitedly.
She nodded. “Yes, yes I see it.” She opened her eyes and looked at her handsome husband.
“So, we’re doing it?” he asked.
Maria bit her lip, took one last glance at the picture of the house from the outside, and thought she caught a glimpse of a little girl on a swing hanging from the big tree in the front yard. Everything inside of her screamed not to do it, but she didn’t listen. Instead, she looked at Jonas with a soft smile.
