“What?...No! When?...Call me as soon as you know something!”
The look on Cat’s face was frightening.
“She’s gone again,” she whispered.
Maddie left Cat’s cell phone number as next of kin with her home health care nurses. One day, when they went to her house, Maddie was gone. She had vanished again and this time it was seemed she wasn’t coming back.
Several scenarios went through our minds…suicide for one. Except nothing added up. She had seemed happy. Her nurses even said she was spunky and in great spirits. The police couldn’t find any evidence of foul play. It was baffling.
During our last visit, Cat and I both noticed that Maddie had been a bit agitated. She had complained of headaches but the doctors said that was part of her recovery and they would diminish as time went on. I knew something was fishy, but again, the police couldn’t find a trace of anything to indicate what might have happened.
Nothing from her home was missing, not even any clothing. Everything was intact and the only fingerprints the police located were the nurses’ and Maddie’s. Everyone was downright perplexed by the situation.
I had even begged Seth to see if he could help since he was connected to the police force.
“January, this isn’t something you want to hear, but I talked to the detective in charge of Maddie’s case and there isn’t a shred of evidence. They’ve dug into as much as they can, but nothing is missing. I hate to ask you this but are you sure she didn’t…you know, maybe take her own life?” Seth asked one afternoon over the phone.
“Seth, I know Maddie and she wouldn’t do something like that. And, if on the off chance she did, I know she would’ve left a note or something. She wasn’t depressed like that either. People just don’t disappear into thin air Seth!”
“Calm down January. Getting all riled up like this won’t help.”
“Well, someone has to,” I shouted into the phone. “Something’s happened to her and we need to find out. She may need our help. Someone has kidnapped her or something. She didn’t go anywhere. How could she? Her car is still at her house and she can’t walk for cryin’ out loud!”
“Okay. Look, I’ll keep checking with the detective, but calm down January. You’re being upset won’t help us find her any faster,” he admonished.
“I suppose you’re right but Cat and I feel like you all are just not doing enough to find her.”
“Well, I wasn’t going to mention this, but they’ve ruled out kidnapping. Kidnappers always demand a ransom, and there haven’t been any demands at all,” he informed me.
“What if someone abducted her and they don’t want a ransom. What if they want her dead or something?” My voice had risen again.
“January, get a hold of yourself. Let me worry about that on this end. I’ll let you know just as soon as something turns up, okay?”
“You promise?”
“Have I ever steered you wrong?”
“No,” I said sullenly. “And Seth...thanks. You know I appreciate you doing this.”
I hit “end” and kicked the wall.
“There’s nothing Cat.”
“How can that be January? What can we do?” Cat asked.
I shook my head, not knowing what else to say or do. I could hear her thoughts and how upset she was. She wanted to help find Maddie, but didn’t know how.
Weeks turned into months and Cat’s state of mind deteriorated. I was worried to death about her because she would barely speak to anyone. Cat, why won’t you talk to me? Her wooden responses to my questions were scaring me. The end of the semester was upon us and she hadn’t attended classes for weeks. She had sequestered herself in her room and only did the bare necessities to get by.
Her parents came to move her home and they both shuddered at her appearance. She was wan and haggard and had lost a great deal of weight. They were as emotionless as the rest of us as they robotically crammed her things into bins and boxes.
Her dad walked her to the car and stuffed her into the passenger’s seat. I followed them out but I wasn’t sure of what to say. It was awkward for everyone. I reached through the window and squished Cat in a hug as I felt tears tracking down my cheeks. She never even lifted her arms to hug me back.
“I’ll call you Cat. Take care of yourself,” I sobbed. I looked at her dad as he stepped into her car to drive off, but he gave no indication he even saw me. I stood in the parking lot for a long time staring at the empty parking space before I went back inside.
Chapter 6
Two Years Later
I had just turned nineteen and my second and third years of college were behind me. My grades were horrible. Try as I might, I couldn’t seem to bring them up. I had lost my academic scholarship and my student loans were probably more than I could ever repay. My freshman year had destroyed me, and the last two years I had struggled to recover, but my mind didn’t want to cooperate. I kept thinking things would turn around, but I had this ball and chain called bad luck I couldn’t break free from.
After all this time, Cat still suffered from deep depression. She had been hospitalized for a time, and for weeks she wasn’t allowed any phone calls. She was eventually released but still lived at home. She took classes at the local college, and had made tiny improvements, but she never quite recovered from Maddie’s disappearance. For some reason, she blamed herself, even though none of it was her fault. I still called her daily but our conversations, if you could even call them that, were repetitious.
I punched in her cell number. Please answer and be the Cat I used to know.
“Hey January,” the dull, lifeless voice drifted over the phone.
“Cat. Um, how’re you doing today?” I prayed for the right answer.
“Same, I guess.” Gone was the vivacious young woman I had once known. In her place was a wooden doll, barely able to converse with me.
“Cat, I want you to get better.”
“I know. I’m trying January. How are you? Still working crazy hours?” The questions were asked out of courtesy and not because of her desire to know.
“Always. Work and school. I miss you and…” my voice trailed away. I almost said Maddie but stopped before I totally screwed things up. I didn’t want to add to her burden…she had enough on her plate right now. “I miss the way things used to be.”
“Yeah, I miss that too. Things sure ended up different, didn’t they?”
My finger traced the outline of my phone as I spoke. “Yeah, different. An understatement. If you want I can come visit,” I suggested, my voice hesitant, knowing what her answer would be. It was the same every time.
“Thanks, but I’m not up to that yet. Okay? Reminds me of the bad stuff.”
“Okay. I understand. Just let me know when you are. Take care, Cat. I mean, well, just take care. I’ll call you tomorrow.” I hit the end button and absently massaged the gnawing ache in my belly that was my constant companion.
What a couple of years! Could it get any worse? Gawd, I hope not. I can’t take much more. I hadn’t talked to Tommy or Sarah in over two years, Maddie’s disappearance had never been solved and Cat was in Asheville still recovering from her breakdown. My grades stunk, I lost my scholarship and I had been fired from my job at the bookstore for my bad attitude. What chaos my life was.
I stared at myself in the mirror and the pathetic image looking back at me shocked me. Is this really me? I was a bad awful mess. My weight had dropped to nothing. I was skin and bones and my stomach had never recovered from its carnival ride. I knew I had major issues, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it. My palms stayed sweaty, along with the rest of me, and my nails were chewed to the quick. My white stringy hair had never been attractive, but it was downright ugly now. The dark purple circles beneath my eyes emphasized the hollows of my cheeks, making them much more pronounced. They could probably qualify as caves. Even the great food at the Purple Onion hadn’t helped. Mainly because I could barely choke it down whenever I attempted to eat
it. Nerves…anxiety…worry…call it what you will but I was riddled with it.
My dreams of medical school had been ripped totally away. I couldn’t work full time, go to school full time, keep my grades up with these courses and continue to live through this nightmare of a life. My attitude wasn’t pleasant either. I had no friends and who could blame anyone? I snapped at everyone and was downright surly.
One shining star was that I had been offered a summer internship at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, working in the microbiology department. It was a surprise to me at how I landed it, but it would be a full time paid internship in which I would earn six credit hours. It was the first time I felt excited about anything in a long time! I adored microbiology and had changed my major to it since I had all but given up on medical school. At least I would be able to find employment with that degree.
I would be moving to Emory University the next day to start at the CDC. I had booked up my work hours so I could have some extra cash and tonight was my last shift at the Purple Onion until I returned in August.
The evening went well. The summer tourists were beginning to arrive and I was surprised when Lou told me we would be closing early. Usually he had extended hours this time of year. At ten o’clock, I escorted the last patrons out of the restaurant and locked the doors behind them.
I went back in the kitchen to see what I could pilfer to eat, but all the lights had been turned off. My heart leapt in my chest because a few minutes ago, the room had been filled with employees. As I fumbled in the dark, suddenly the room was blazing in light and everyone was yelling, “Surprise!”
They had decided to give me a surprise going away party! Chef made some of my favorite yummy food (seared tuna for one) along with a huge cake and at the end, Lou presented me with a going-away check for $500. I was speechless. No one had ever shown me such kindness.
I kept blinking, trying unsuccessfully to keep the tears at bay.
“January, you’ve been a faithful employee since you started here and you’ve worked harder than anyone, including myself. I wanted to make sure you had a little extra money because things can be mighty expensive in Atlanta,” Lou announced as he patted my back. He had learned long ago I didn’t know how to handle a hug.
“Lou, I don’t know what to say,” I sniffled. I felt miserable for the way I had treated these people lately and they were the only ones who had stuck by me.
“Just say you’ll be back in August!” he replied.
I nodded as I swiped my palms across my cheeks to rid myself of my tears. I was going to miss him so much!
Everyone hung around for a long time and I finally became conscious of how bone achingly tired I was. I told everyone goodbye and plopped into my car to go home. I felt the weariness of the day hit me during my drive and several times I felt my head bobbing. In the next moment, I discovered myself sitting in the parking lot of my dorm, not remembering how I got there. It scared me because I had been exhausted before but I never had gotten to the point where I couldn’t remember what had happened.
I lumbered up to my room and barely made it to bed before I was fast asleep.
Chapter 7
Working at the CDC was amazing! I had never been this happy that I could recall. Food began to taste good again and, surprisingly enough, I had even put on a few pounds. My co-workers were incredible. They all went out of their way to teach and explain things to me. The lab itself was something I couldn’t have dreamt up. It was state of the art with top of the line everything.
On my first day, I was given a tour of the entire facility, down to the super duper secure lab where they kept all the deadly specimens of things like the ebola virus, anthrax, and variola or smallpox virus. The deadliest of viruses were kept in a cryogenic state and the layers of security were unreal. The lab director escorted me around, as you needed special clearance to be allowed there. Security consisted of fingerprint and retinal scans and that would only gain one’s entry to the exterior room. More layers of security existed for one to gain access to the storage freezer. It was all controlled through a central computer with many checks and balances to ensure the specimens were not tampered with. They had those metal tubes you see in the movies for the frozen specimens. A robotic arm would grasp the tube, lift and open it and either close it or deposit another sample within it.
My job was to run tests on the influenza virus. The CDC was responsible for predicting which strain of flu would be prevalent each year. This was done based on the past year’s strains and they constantly checked the viruses to see how they mutated. My job was to inspect all the strains and watch for mutations or evidence of the possibility of upcoming mutations.
I was in the fourth week of an eight-week internship when things began to turn sour. My supervisor, Angie Mitchell, started to heap piles of extra work on me, making it difficult at best to complete my normal tasks. I was scolded for running behind and she threatened to remove me from my post. Her personality seemed to have undergone a complete overhaul. I noticed her thoughts had taken on a nasty edge. I was still hearing other’s thoughts, but I had learned to slightly tune them out. Sometimes, if they were especially spiteful, it was tricky to avoid them, much like I was presently experiencing.
Something was up with her and I wanted to know what it was.
“Angie, is there something wrong?”
“Of course there’s something wrong. Your performance has been less than adequate lately and I have deadlines to meet. Honestly January, I don’t understand why you can’t complete a task,” she said in frustration.
What? How can she think that? I’ve been working my butt off!
“But Angie, I am working twelve hours every day, trying to get everything accomplished. In the last week alone you’ve tripled my workload. Have I done something to upset you?” I asked as I pushed the hair out of my face.
“That would be an understatement,” she said bitterly.
I was lost in the weeds. This was a person that had initially taken me under her wing and spoon-fed me information about everything necessary for me to be successful here. She had flooded me with praise for several weeks and her reviews on my performance had literally glowed. She had gone from thinking I was the greatest employee ever, to an incompetent and inept one. I mentally examined my activity to see if I had changed anything, but I knew I hadn’t.
“Angie, I thought you were pleased with my work here. Can we try to work together to get back on track?” I asked. I did not want to lose this position and something had gone wrong.
“January, I’ve given you proper direction and it seems you disregard everything I tell you.”
Disregard everything? What is she saying?
My mouth formed a huge O. I had taken meticulous notes and kept a journal of everything she had instructed me to do. I was implementing all the proper steps and yet she was finding fault with all of my actions. I was at a loss.
As I looked at her, I inspected her appearance. She was disheveled and her clothes were not very clean. She wore a lab coat so I hadn’t paid much attention to these details before. Now I was noticing little things about her appearance that had changed. Something was going on. Angie was married with children, in her forties and very attractive, in a smart-woman sort of way. She had long dark hair that she normally wore twisted up in a bun. She wore glasses and was usually quick to smile at things. I couldn’t recall that last time I saw her smile.
“Angie, please talk to me. Is there something wrong? Are you okay?”
“I told you I’m fine! Now leave me alone and get back to work,” she screamed at me as she stormed out of the lab.
Things continued down this deteriorating path for another week. I did my best to keep out of her way and I was very good at it. I had become an avoidance expert as a young girl in order to evade constant criticism. It bothered me though that she had such an abrupt change in her demeanor that I made the decision to unleash my internal information highway. I was going to ma
ke a point to get into her thoughts to see what was eating her. On the Friday before my final week at the CDC, Angie stormed into the lab. Her thoughts were screaming out at me, making my decision to read her thoughts unnecessary.
“He said he would kill my kids if I didn’t do this. What am I supposed to do? I can’t hide this stuff anymore. My boss is going to notice and when January leaves next week, it’ll all become evident that I’ve been falsifying those records. He said to blame it on January, but I just can’t do that. What am I going to do?” Her distress went on and on.
This was awful and I didn’t know exactly how to handle this. Someone was threatening her. She needed to tell the police, but I couldn’t stand there and not offer her help.
“Angie,” I began softly but I startled her out of her thoughts and her eyes were filled with panic and horror.
“It’s okay, it’s just me Angie. I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
She released a deep sigh and I became aware of the tears on her face.
“Hey, it’s okay. Please, let me help you. I know you’re in some kind of trouble, but maybe I can help.”
Her face suddenly hardened and her eyes became chips of ice. “You have no idea what you’re saying. I don’t need your help and I’ve told you to leave me alone. Just butt out where you’re not wanted,” she gritted out.
I couldn’t let it drop. I should have walked away, but I just couldn’t. “But Angie, I know you’re upset about something,” I pressed on.
I should have trusted my gut instinct but didn’t. She swung her hand at me and I heard rather than felt the crack as her palm came into contact with my face. My head snapped around and then I felt my cheek begin to sting.
I reached my hand to my cheek and was paralyzed with shock. I never expected this. She turned away from me and I was still standing stock still as I heard the slamming of the lab door.
I was stymied. I wanted to help but couldn’t. I could hardly go to the police and explain how I discovered this. I could see it now, I thought as I massaged my still stinging cheek.
Determinant, a YA Paranormal Romance (Book 3 of The Guardians of Vesturon) Page 5
