Margaret Daley - Detection Mission

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Her lungs burned from lack of air, but she couldn’t stop running. He’d catch her. Branches clawed at her, scraping across her skin. Stinging. A tree limb slapped against her face. The darkness of an approaching night crept closer, disguising the terrain and making her path difficult.

Instead of slowing down, she increased her speed. The sound of him crashing through the woods behind her filled her with terror. The pounding of her heart outpaced the pounding of her strides.

Then her foot landed in a hole, and she stumbled, flying forward. The hard impact with the ground knocked what little breath she had from her. The cold earth welcomed her.

The crush of leaves and snap of branches echoed through the trees. He was coming to get her. Kill her this time.

She scrambled to her feet and started forward when a body slammed into her...

She jerked, raising her arms to strike him. All she encountered was air. Warm air. Not cold. As the nightmare evaporated, her eyes popped open. She was still in the hospital, and the custodian from earlier today stood at the side of her bed with a plastic trash bag in one hand.

His frosty eyes on her, he inched closer.

A scream welled up inside her. Clamping her lips together, she fumbled for her call button and pushed it while scooting as far to the other side of the bed as she could.

“Ma’am, I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

“You didn’t?”

“You were thrashing around. I was going to put up your railing so you didn’t fall out of the bed.”

She peered down at his other hand without the trash bag and noticed it was clasped around the bar. “I’m fine. Just a bad dream.”

The door opened and the young, redheaded nurse called Gail came into her room. “Is something wrong?” The nurse looked from her to the custodian.

She couldn’t think of anything to say to Gail, especially when the man who caused her to push the call button was standing nearby. “I—I—was wondering when the doctor would be by. I thought he would be here by now.” Even to her it seemed like a lame reason to bother the busy staff.

The custodian stepped away from the bed, picked up her trash can and emptied it into the plastic bag.

The nurse didn’t say anything until after he left the room. “Did he bother you? He’s relatively new here and may not know all the procedures.”

“No, not really.” Some of the tension siphoned from her once the man was gone. “I had a nightmare and woke up with him in my room. It scared me, I guess. I pushed the button without really thinking.” She curled her hands until her fingernails stabbed into her palms. Why did everything frighten her?

The nurse gave her an empathic look. “Are you recalling anything that happened to you?”

Remembering the nightmare, she almost said yes, but she didn’t really know what was real and what was...fear of the unknown. She shook her head. “I still don’t remember who I am.”

Gail slid her hand into her pocket. “I have something of yours. I was going to give it to you when I brought your medicine later.” She withdrew a gold heart locket and passed it to her. “You were wearing it when you came into the hospital. I put it in a safe place so when you got better you could have it. It’s beautiful. There’s a name carved into it.”

“There is?” She took it from the nurse and held it in her palm.

“I hope it helps you to remember. Sometimes an object will spur a memory.” Gail started for the door but paused before leaving. “I’ll make sure the other member of housekeeping assigned to this floor will take care of you. She’s an older woman. You might feel more comfortable with her.”

As the nurse left, she stared at the locket with intricate etching in it. She opened it and saw a picture of a young woman with long blond hair, probably around eighteen. Heidi was engraved in the other side. Touching her own blond hair, she wondered if this was a photo of her. From the vision she’d seen earlier that day in the mirror, it could be.

What did she call herself? Jane Doe? That didn’t sit well with her. It made her seem like she was nobody—not worthy of a name. That, more than anything, bothered her. She couldn’t form any kind of picture in her head of who she was. Did she like steak, going to the movies, reading books? What were her likes? Dislikes? The black hole her memories were lost in terrified her.

She made her way to the bathroom again to study her reflection and then reexamined the photo in the locket. There were similarities in what she saw in the mirror and the woman in the picture. Was it her when she was younger? How old was she now?

Is Heidi my name?

“Heidi,” she said, and liked how it sounded. A sense of comfort surrounded her. She needed a name, and Heidi could be it.

Just the effort of walking into the bathroom sapped her energy, especially after spending the day wondering why the police officer had left her bedside to go back to the Lost Woods where they’d found her. Leaving the bathroom, she nearly ran into Officer Lee Calloway, dressed in casual clothes, not his uniform.

He stepped back to let her pass him. “The nurse said you were up.”

“Yes.” She stated the obvious because she didn’t know what else to say. As she shuffled toward the bed, she felt his dark gaze on her and, surprisingly, it didn’t bother her. She needed answers and hoped he could tell her more about his finding her. Maybe something would trigger her memory.

He stood back while she perched on the side of the bed. “I wanted to ask you some more questions.”

“I still don’t remember who I am, but the nurse gave me a locket she’d kept for me with a picture inside it and the name Heidi engraved on it.”

“Is the picture of you?”

She flattened her palm to show him the necklace that she’d gripped in her hand. “It might be when I was younger.”

His fingers grazed across her skin as he picked it up and opened it.

A tingling from his touch zapped her, further surprising her.

He studied it, then her. “Maybe. Or a member of your family? A sister? Your mother?”

“I don’t know, but I’m going to use the name. I need one, and it’s better than Jane Doe. I’m pretty sure it isn’t my daughter.” She attempted a smile, and the gesture seemed alien to her. “I’m probably between twenty-five and thirty.”

Again, he scrutinized her. “If I had to guess, closer to twenty-five.”

When was her birthday? Where was she born? Questions she couldn’t answer flowed through her mind in a steady stream until she had to shut them down or scream in frustration. “What do you need to ask me? I’ll help if I can.” She really hoped she could. This officer was being so nice to her.

“Describe the man you saw in the woods.”

“I saw a man in the woods?”

“When I found you hiding, you said something about a man.” Lee pulled out some photos. “See if you can recognize the one you were talking about.” After spreading out four pictures, he pointed to each one. “Take your time. Study them.”

She examined the four men, and nothing clicked for her. “I don’t know them.”

“So you haven’t seen these men?”

She shook her head. “Not that I remember.”

He held up one of a dark-haired guy with a thick neck and bushy eyebrows.

“No. Maybe.” The bushy eyebrows niggled her memory for a few seconds but nothing concrete came to mind. “I don’t know.” How many times had she said that since she woke up?

“This one?” Lee indicated another man, red hair with thin lips.

“No. Nothing.”

She laid her finger on the man with the bushy eyebrows. “Who is he?”

“Don Frist.”

“Could he have been chasing me before you saw me?”