“Yes, right here.”
“Someplace, where people can be safe from me. I need some time away from others.”
“We. Are. Not. Locking. You. Up.”
God she loved this man.
“She works with a great facility, and I’m going to go there for the next couple of weeks. I have to do this Dad. I’m not me anymore. I could have killed Mom.” Looking at her father she saw her anguish reflected in his eyes. “I need to find out why I think I’m a soldier with a bad guy waiting behind every door. I need to get myself together, and Dr. Weston thinks she can help.”
“How long does she think this will take honey?” her mom asked.
Kelly bit her lip.
“What aren’t you telling us?” He had cops eyes.
“Dr. Weston has agreed if we don’t make progress over time, low level shock treatments might undo what was done to me during my captivity.”
“Over my dead body!”
“Honey, don’t do this, give yourself time.”
“I can take a leave of absence. I can be here twenty-four seven to watch over you. You won’t be alone.”
Kelly couldn’t stop the choked sob as she threw herself into her father’s arms. What had she ever done to deserve parents like these? She thanked the universe she’d woken up in Mike Wachowski’s cop car all those years ago.
After a time she got herself under control. She reached up and kissed her father’s cheek, and gave her mother a hug.
“The cab’s around the corner. I’ve got to go. I love you both so much. Dr. Weston said you could come and visit me this weekend.” Kelly went to her bedroom and came back rolling her suitcase.
“Give me that little girl.” Mike reached for the bag, and the three of them walked out the door. Kelly knew the next few weeks weren’t going to be easy, but she was committed to this path. She refused to harm the people she loved. And, she wanted her life back, she wasn’t going to let those bastards win.
Chapter Six
Sam barely suppressed a scream as he sat straight up in his bed, excruciating pain ripping through his head. He knew immediately it was Kelly. Oh God, had she been taken again? No, he would have been notified. He threw off the covers. Apparently, he was going to her apartment a lot earlier than he had anticipated.
He’d been stateside for less than twelve hours. Finally making it to Chicago a little after midnight and realized pounding on Kelly Wachowski’s apartment at such a late hour wouldn’t go over well, so he found a hotel to grab some shut eye. He’d been having trouble sleeping ever since he helped rescue Kelly a little over eight weeks ago. Flashbacks of a time before he’d woken up as a child with no memory on the island of Kauai invaded his dreams. Knowing they were what the media called found children, made him think these flashbacks were real memories.
He saw pictures in his head of a mother, father and brothers, and their memories gave him great joy. But by far, the strongest memory was of the little girl with wheat gold hair named Kalani, she had a giggle that could make the gruffest man smile. Those memories would have driven him crazy if he let them, but his adoptive grandfather, the man who raised him on Kauai taught him to believe in things that defied explanation, so he chose to believe.
* * *
Three hours later Sam stood in front of a man as big as himself, and that rarely happened. Mike Wachowski looked as tired as he felt. Both men stared at one another, assessing. Sam was sorry he hadn’t thought to wear his dress whites, it would have gone a long way in winning over the Police Captain.
“I remember you. Kukailimoku, right?”
Sam was surprised the man remembered him, let alone pronounce his name correctly. When he said as much, Mike grinned.
“I’m Polish. I can’t complain about people butchering our last name if I butcher other peoples.”
Sam smiled, maybe this would go better than he had anticipated. “I’m here to see Kelly, Captain Wachowski.” Sam watched the grin fade from the older man’s face.
“I wish you could, but like I told you on the phone, when you couldn’t find her at her apartment, she’s not here, son.”
“I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but it’s imperative I speak to her. I think she’s in trouble. You know I was part of the rescue team, and you’ll probably think I’m crazy, but I have this bad feeling.”
“That makes two of us, but her mother and I visited her three days ago, and I can tell you she’s is doing as well as can be expected.”
Sam’s blood ran cold at the phrase as well as can be expected. “Are you saying Kelly isn’t fully recovered? It was my understanding the surgeries went fine, and there would be no permanent eye or brain damage. Was I misinformed?” He waited for Kelly’s father to explain the situation to him.
“You weren’t misinformed, and I don’t want you worrying she isn’t being watched over. The Chicago Police Department has her under watch, and while she is at this new facility she’s being guarded twenty-four seven.”
“What facility is she at, and why?”
“Look Sam, there was nothing physically wrong with Kelly, but she was having episodes. Hallucinations. She was convinced this was the right course of action. My daughter is smart as a whip. If she thinks this is what she needs, then I’m backing her. Even if it’s killing me to see her drugged up. I just pray by the end of this it brings my little girl back to me.”
“Pardon me Sir, but that hasn’t told me anything. I need to see her, I think she’s being hurt.” Sam endured Mike’s hard look, waiting for him to make up his mind.
“I don’t know how. Kelly voluntarily entered a psychiatric facility. Three days ago they started electro shock therapy. Kelly is convinced it was the only way to stop the hallucinations. Fight fire with fire, so to speak.”
“Jesus, and you didn’t stop her?” Sam asked incredulously.
“Son, you don’t know how bad it was for her. She was having a hard time differentiating between reality and this life she had made up. Kelly was convinced she was a soldier named Noah, fighting in some jungle. Eleven days ago she got my gun from the lockbox and was hiding behind the couch for hours on end with it trained on the door waiting for her target to walk through. The only one who walked through was her mother with the groceries.”
“Captain Wachowski…”
“Let me finish. She thought this commitment through in her normal thorough manner. As much as I don’t want her to do the shock therapy, she assures me it will be medically supervised and nothing like what she went through before. She knows she’s doing the right thing, and when she is convinced of something, well, there is no stopping her. She’s sick son, and she’s doing everything she can think of to get well.”
Sam stood, trying to assimilate everything he just heard. It was unbelievable.
“Sir, my full name is Samson Noah Kukailimoku. I’m one of the found children. I have been in active combat almost every day since the day we completed the rescue of your daughter. I can’t tell you what country, but it was the jungle. Eleven days ago I was in an empty building, where I waited for hours for a rebel to come through a door. I shot and killed him.”
The older man sagged and had to grip the door frame. “Go on.”
“For the last eight weeks, on and off, I’ve been tuning into your daughter’s life, and it hasn’t been making any sense. Then three days ago, I started having unbelievable pain. Now it makes sense, she started shock therapy then, right? It’s like she’s in a constant nightmare and can’t wake up. It’s why I asked for emergency leave and came stateside. This morning she was screaming in pain. It was worse than anything I felt before, it must have been because of the proximity. I felt it like it was my own.”
“The shock treatment, you think you felt them giving her the shock therapy, don’t you?” he asked aghast.
“I do, Sir. I don’t think she has anything wrong with her. I think she has been tuning into my life the same way I’ve been tuning into hers. Can you take me to her?” Sam asked, trying to quell
his panic.
“Come in, we need to talk to her mother.” Mike ushered Sam inside.
Chapter Seven
She was flying in a sky of pink and gold. This time she was going to stay. No more pain. She was no longer going to bring pain to herself or the ones she loved. The woman in front of her was beautiful, and Kelly knew she was in the presence of goodness. She felt a deeper sense of homecoming than last time.
“Kalani, we love you, but now isn’t your time.”
“I’ve decided I want to stay this time.”
“It’s not your time.”
Kelly tried to shake off the hands gripping her arms. Why was someone shaking her? She tried to go the other place—the beautiful one.
“Kelly honey, wake up. It’s Dad, can you wake up?” Kelly stopped struggling.
“S’okay.” She couldn’t make her tongue work right. “Da.” What the fuck did they do to me?
“What the fuck did they do to you?” Her dad’s voice was outraged.
She swallowed and tried again. Her throat felt like it was filled with sand.
“I’m okay Dad. You can sto…” she paused. “You can stop with the shaking.” Better. It still wasn’t as firm and as clear as she’d like, but considering the shock therapy and the chemical cocktail, she thought she was doing pretty damn good. She grinned, and saw her dad’s relieved smile.
“Glad to hear it little girl.” She looked into her dad’s blue eyes as he stroked her hair. She gave him the best smile she had.
“Is it visiting day again? Mom an’ you and were just here, weren’t you?” Kelly prayed she had it right. This morning’s shock therapy had really thrown her for a loop. Maybe it hadn’t been this morning. Was she was missing days like at the other place? God she hoped not. Dr. Weston promised it wouldn’t be like that, but then again, she hadn’t been expecting the pain to be so bad either. Today’s was worse than the previous three days.
“Nope Kiddo, you’re right as always, I’m early. I have a surprise visitor with me. I think maybe we have an answer to all of your symptoms. It’s kind of out there, but it explains everything. I want you to come home, honey.”
She was having a tough time comprehending what her father was saying. She couldn’t tell if it was because they’d woken her out of a sound sleep, the medication, the shock therapy, or the fact she was fucking nuts and her dad’s presence was a figment of her imagination.
“Talk to me Kelly. Are you okay? Dr. Weston told me you were fine, the shock therapy didn’t harm you, even though it was painful. Please say something.”
Kelly looked into the beseeching blue eyes and determined her dad was really in the room with her and she couldn’t ignore him.
“I’m fine Dad. Just hard to understand what you’re saying. What do you mean you can explain all my symptoms? I’ve been working on this with Dr. Weston and the aural and visual hallucinations are either mental illness or a side-effect of what was done to me by those motherfuckers.” She winced and peeked up at her dad.
“Goddamn right, motherfuckers is the right word for them kiddo.” He brushed the tip of her nose with his finger. “But honey, there is another explanation, would you let us tell you?”
“Who’s us?”
“I want to invite Sam Kukailimoku into your room, okay, Little Girl?” Again her dad pleaded with his eyes.
Kelly had no idea what he was up to but she trusted him with her life. She nodded her head. That was a mistake, it hurt to move. He strode quickly to the door, and in walked Noah. Not the young Noah of her childhood, but a grown up Polynesian King, with the same wavy black hair, cinnamon skin and she bet if he smiled he’d have the same smile that lit up a room.
This couldn’t be happening! Her hands tunneled into her hair, gripping and pulling, seeing if pain would help her back into reality. She whimpered.
“Stop!” Noah rushed forward and gripped her forearms. “Kali stop it this instant!”
“Honey, you’ve to stop. It’s okay, it’s all going to be okay,” Mike Wachowski’s voice was soothing in comparison to Noah’s commanding tone. “Don’t yell at her Son,” he admonished.
Noah didn’t let go, he pulled Kelly’s arms and stroked towards her wrists, looking at the angry scars. Softly brushing the tender flesh, one of his big hands grabbed both of hers, and Kelly automatically grabbed onto it. He pushed down, so her hands were pressed into her thighs, trapped under his heat. Then she looked into his beautiful brown eyes, and they glinted with strength. He cupped the side of her face, and for one wild moment she hoped he would kiss her.
“You know who I am, don’t you?” She just stared. “Don’t you,” his voice was deeper, stronger.
She nodded.
“With words Kelly.”
“Yes. But you’re not real, you’re a figment of my imagination.” She watched as a corner of his mouth kicked up in amusement. Kelly tried to fight back the tears. She wanted to rant and rave. She hated how weak tears made her feel. Hell, anger was stronger, but it seemed like the waterworks were coming whether she liked it or not. How dare the universe send Noah to her?
“Honey, please don’t cry.”
Kelly looked at her dad, and saw the sheen of tears in his eyes. That’s how it had always been, the few times she had cried, he’d cried right along with her. She loved this man. “Daddy, I’m so sick. This can’t be real. He was my imaginary friend all through my childhood, and then I made him real in my head after those assholes took me. This is all a hallucination.”
“I wouldn’t do that to you, Little Girl. Please use your big brain, and open your mind and listen, okay?” You know I want what’s best for you. If I can believe this, then you can believe. Please honey, just listen. This is Lieutenant Commander Samson Noah Kukailimoku of the United States Navy. He led your rescue team. He has an incredible story to tell you, and I need you to listen.”
Chapter Eight
Noah loved seeing the interaction between father and daughter. It was obvious the man would do anything for Kali. As he looked at the woman whose face he held, he felt the same way. She was a unique combination of fragility and warrior and he was moved by both. He really wanted to take her in his arms and make it all better for her. But first he had to convince her she wasn’t mentally ill.
Noah hadn’t expected to talk to anyone but Kali when he woke up this morning. Now he was going to have to speak in front of her dad, and he decided to do some strategic editing. Having them both committed wasn’t going to help the situation. He released his hold on her hands and cupped both her cheeks, looking deep into her beautiful navy blue eyes.
“Almost twenty years ago I woke up on a beach, naked, with no memory other than my name. Noah.”
The sand was hot, the water warm, and the surf gently lapped at his ankles. He looked around and was pleased by his surroundings. No, actually he was very happy seeing the vibrant green vegetation in front of him, and the glowing blue ocean.
A sand crab scurried past him. Noah wandered down the pristine white beach, away from the sun, so he could see what was in front of him. He stopped when he saw the man, his concentration on the netting in front of him. Noah took in the worn sleeveless shirt showing thin arms with brown wrinkled skin. He waited, and the man finally looked up.
The old man put down the net he had been stitching and opened his arms to the naked boy on the beach.
“Aloha kakahiaka keki.” The old man watched the boy tilt his head, as if replaying the words in his mind. Finally he responded.
“Aloha Pili Mua.” Noah went to the man and looked at him as he sat on the white sand, arms still open wide. Finally he walked into the old man’s embrace. Noah closed his eyes, he had felt puzzled and uneasy when he woke up with no memory, but the scent and feel of this man felt right—Kapu, his Hawaiian Grandfather. He had found his home.
As the years passed on Kauai, Noah was given his other names, Samson Noah Kukailimoku and every islander was his family. The man he’d met that morning was Kapu, an elder and
became his grandfather, as he was to many of the children. There were not many people on the island, but he could speak the language of everyone he met. In the first two years he discovered he spoke Hawaiian, English, French and Spanish. Grandfather told him he was endowed with the gift of languages. When Sam and his friends looked at the old man, he finally said, “Languages are your superpower Grandson.” Later Kapu explained to him how he developed his superpower for finding things.
“Since rescuing you, I have been having flashbacks of a time before waking up on the beach. In those flashbacks I had a little friend named Kalani. I called her Kali and we were inseparable.”
“When I found a naked Kelly in my patrol car twenty years ago, she couldn’t have been more than five years old. When I’d asked her what her name was, she said Kelly, but maybe she was saying Kali.”
“I remember that day. I think you’re right dad, I think I did say Kali. But I loved hearing your voice say my name in your accent.” Mike grinned at his daughter, and they both turned to look at Sam or was he Noah?
“After your rescue, and I left you in the hospital, I had a mission in the jungle. I thought about you Kali. I had dreams of your life here in Chicago. I flashed to moments when you were still in the hospital, or in a house with your parents. I thought I might be losing my mind, or I was just obsessed with a really pretty girl.” Noah flashed his most winning smile, and Kelly gave him a wan smile in return.
“Ten days ago, my fun little dreams started to get weird, and then three days ago they turned into nightmares. It was as if my dream girl was back in captivity, being drugged and I had to rescue her, so I took leave to find out what was wrong. This morning I felt a burning spike of pain in my head. Your dad told me you’re getting electro-shock therapy, and I must have felt it.” Sam knew he was wincing again at the memory, but he couldn’t help it.
“It wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t like before,” she assured him. This time her smile reached her eyes.
Revealed (The Found Book 1) Page 3
