Second Chances

by Phelps, K. L.

  A minute later they were out the front door. Julie pushed the chair down the ramp and there they stopped for a moment. She looked around the area, no one was close by. There was another resident in a wheelchair with his caregiver strolling down the same path they had used yesterday, but other than that she didn't see a soul.

  "Okay, I am going to move the chair over to the car. I don't want you to have to exert yourself until you have to."

  Julie cursed as she pushed the chair into the gravel parking area. On the rare occasions that residents were transported to or from the facility, they used the rear entrance that had a smooth paved parking area. Of course Julie couldn't have used that area without raising suspicions. She had to shove hard to get the chair to move on the gravel. The ride was bumpy and she could tell that each little jerk of the chair hurt Jason. She had to strain to turn the chair to get it in line with the car and was out of breath by the time she got the chair properly situated. She pulled open the door and bent down next to Jason.

  "Okay, are you ready?"

  He nodded and said, "Yes."

  "Julie? What are you doing?"

  She turned to see Sarah standing at the open door of the house.

  "I...uh." She froze, her palms going sweaty.

  "Where do you think you are going?" Sarah's voice had taken on a hard tone and she moved forward, the door closing behind her.

  "I thought that..."

  "You know you can't take Jason anywhere."

  "I wasn't. I just...shit."

  "You just what? Are you going to tell me you aren't trying to put Jason into your car?"

  "Screw it," Julie said, stepping forward to block Sarah.

  "What do you think you are doing? Are you trying to kidnap Jason? That's crazy."

  "I am not kidnapping him."

  "No? Are you trying to tell me you aren't taking him?"

  "No. I mean yes..."

  "Move aside, Julie, I am taking him back inside."

  "No," Jason said as he pushed up on the arms of the chair trying to stand.

  Sarah's jaw dropped.

  "Jason? You...you..."

  "We need your help," he said as he came fully erect, Julie slipped an arm around him to steady him.

  Sarah looked from Jason to Julie.

  "He's talking. He stood up on his."

  "Yes," Julie said.

  "Yes. I wish there were time to explain it, but there isn't. Sarah, I can't tell you how grateful I am for everything you've done for me. All I can say is I have to go." He reached out and placed a hand on Sarah's shoulder.

  "No one is going anywhere."

  Sarah spun around and the three of them stood looking up at Doris, who was framed in the front door with a pistol in her hands.

  "Doris?"

  "Not now, Sarah."

  "You don't want to do this, Doris," Julie said.

  "You are right, I don't. However I will, unless you put Jason back in the chair and bring him back inside.

  "Wait Doris, just listen a minute."

  "This isn't a negotiation, Julie." She pointed the gun at the trio, her hands shaking a little.

  Sarah looked from Jason to Julie and finally back at Doris. "Has the entire world gone insane? Doris what the hell is all this?"

  "No time to explain."

  "Well make some damn time." She stepped away from Jason and started up the ramp. Behind her Julie started to help Jason toward the open car door.

  "Stop. Move out of the way, Sarah." Her hand continued to shake.

  Sarah turned back to look at Jason and Julie.

  Julie felt the wetness of the blood on her face before her mind even registered the sound of the gunshot. She let go of Jason, thankfully he was already halfway into the car and he dropped into the seat, letting out a shocked cry of pain. She looked over and saw the blood blooming in the center of Sarah's blouse.

  "Oh my God," Doris screamed. "But the safety was on. The safety was on. Oh my God."

  Julie could see the light going out of Sarah's eyes as the woman dropped to her knees and then crashed the rest of the way to the ground. Doris was moving towards her, the gun still shaking in her hand.

  Jason was struggling to lift his legs into the car.

  "Julie," he hissed.

  The sound of his voice spurred her into action. She lifted his legs into the car. He was situated on the side of the seat close to the door and when Julie slammed it shut, the door handle jammed against his side and he let out a startled cry of pain.

  "Wait. Don't go. You need to help Sarah. I didn't mean to. It was the safety," Doris was saying as she neared the fallen body of her coworker.

  Julie ignored her and ran around to the other side of the car. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the guard from the entrance come out of the guardhouse and start to move towards them. He was too far away to have seen what had happened, but he had certainly heard the gunshot.

  She started the engine and slammed the car into reverse, pulling away from the house. The wheels spun and flung bits of gravel as she put the car into drive and gunned the engine. The guard was waving his hands as she shot past him. She swerved as they neared the guardhouse, almost losing control. They slammed into the wooden bar of the gate, shattering it as the car rocketed off the property. She twisted the wheel hard and almost spun out of control, but the wheels caught at the last second and she managed to keep the car on the road.

  Jason was yelling at her to slow down, but she could barely hear him. In her head all she could hear was the echo of the gunshot and all she could see was Sarah's lifeless eyes.

  CHAPTER SIXTY

  He watched them from behind the stacks of books. He hadn't been able to hear them, but he saw everything. The old woman had obviously given them some important piece of information. Could she have been part of all this? He didn't think so, but had snapped a picture of her with his phone just in case.

  He watched it all. When they returned the books to the shelves and headed downstairs, he moved quickly over to where they had been and examined the books they had been searching. Old yearbooks. He frowned. How much did they know?

  He rushed to catch up with them and almost ran into them on the stairs. He pulled up quickly, shifted to the other side and proceeding passed them. When he reached the bottom, he moved off to the right and waited. They came down and headed for the exit. They stood by the door talking for a minute. Paige leaned forward and Nathan held her close for a moment before they left.

  He was just exiting the building when his phone began to ring.

  "Yes."

  He jerked the phone away from his ear. He tried to make out what was being said, but the voice on the other end was hysterical. He thought he heard the word dead, but couldn't be certain.

  He moved off, away from the entrance of the library, far enough away that he hoped none of the students around could overhear him.

  "Calm down. I can't understand a damn word you are saying. Calm down and tell me who this is."

  "It's me. Doris. Doris Flanders. I shot her. She's dead. She's dead. I killed her. Ms. Murphy was taking Jason. You told me to make sure nothing happened to him. I shot her."

  "Who? Who did you shoot? Julie?"

  "No, Sarah. I shot Sarah. The safety wasn't on. I thought it was on."

  "Jesus. You are not calling me from your phone are you?"

  "I shot her. She's dead. What am I going to do? You need to help me. The police will be here any minute. What should I do?"

  Cameron let loose a string of expletives. What the hell had happened? She had shot someone named Sarah? Who the hell was that? What else had she said?

  His face went white.

  Doris was still screaming into the phone.

  "Doris, shut the hell up," he snapped into the phone. "What happened to Jason?"

  "He's gone. She took him. What am I going to do?"

  He didn't need to ask who 'she' was. Damn, he'd known something wasn't right. What the hell was Julie doing? Was this all part of the
plan? Of course it was. The entire thing was probably her idea. Julie had run off with Jason. Doris had just killed someone during their escape and then the dumb bitch had called him. She had called him on his cellphone. What was she thinking? If the police had anyone half as smart as Jimmy they would be able to track him.

  "Son of a bitch," he swore into the phone.

  "What am I going to do Mr. Kroft?"

  Cameron laughed into the phone.

  "Mr. Kroft, please you need to help me. Tell me what to do."

  "Well Doris, I guess you should prepare to rot in jail for a very long time." He ended the connection and threw his phone down. It shattered, pieces of glass and plastic flying everywhere. He picked up the major pieces out of the wreckage and than ran for the parking area.

  Locked in her office, Doris blinked at the dead phone receiver in her hand.

  CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

  They walked slowly down the stairs. When they got to the exit Paige pulled Nathan to a stop.

  "How are we supposed to find him?"

  "I am not entirely certain. I am sure the university's website has an alumni section, but I have a feeling that you need to be registered and somehow I doubt you are."

  She nodded and had to agree that he was probably right.

  "Do you remember where he was from? The names of his parents?"

  Paige looked down at her feet and shook her head.

  "Do I remember? Do I? Did I ever know him? How could I have?"

  She leaned into him and he wrapped his arms around her.

  "I know this is scary. It makes no sense to me either. But your memories and my wife's were the same. It stands to reason they are the same as..."

  "As what? The real Paige?"

  She looked up into his eyes, begging for comfort.

  "Listen. You are real. My wife was real. I may not know what exactly is happening, but I am certain of those two facts."

  She hugged him tight. "He was...he was from a small town in Michigan. Oscoda, I think."

  "Okay, we have a starting point. Come on."

  They slipped out of the building and headed for the car.

  "Where to?"

  "First we find his parents," Nathan said as he reached into the backseat and grabbed his laptop bag. He pulled his computer out and booted it up. Nathan waited as his computer found and connected to the college's Wi-Fi and then a few minutes later he was connecting to the internet. "Okay lets see. Oscoda, Michigan. What was his dad's name?"

  "Daniel Perry."

  "No, his dad."

  "Same name. Daniel, was actually Daniel junior."

  He clicked a few keys and then nodded. "Okay here we go."

  "You found him? That quick?"

  "The internet is scary, isn't it. I don't know if I found him or not, but I found a Daniel Perry. Let's find out if this is the right one." He pulled out his phone and swore.

  "What's wrong?"

  He dug around in his bag for a minute and then pulled out a cord.

  "Dead battery." He clipped one end of the charger to his phone and slipped the other end into the power adapter of the car. A few moments later he was dialing the number from the computer.

  "Hello," a soft female voice answered the phone.

  "Mrs. Perry?"

  "Yes, can I help you?"

  "I hope so. I am hoping that you are the right Mrs. Perry. I think I went to college with your son Daniel. I was hoping you might be able to help me get in touch with him."

  "You went to school with Danny? How nice."

  "Do you think you could tell me how to get in touch with him?"

  "Sure. He's still in Rhode Island. Just give me a minute and I'll get you his info. I'm horrible with numbers."

  After a few moments, Mrs. Perry gave Nathan the information and he repeated it. Paige nodded her head and typed the information into the notepad program on the computer and then gave him the thumbs up signal.

  "Thank you Mrs. Perry and I will definitely give your love to Daniel."

  He hung up the phone and looked over at Paige.

  "Do you know where that is?"

  "Yes. Well no, but I can find it. I actually think its fairly close to where we ate lunch yesterday. Do we really need to go see him?"

  "Paige I don't think this is something to do over the phone. Hell, I wouldn't even know how to do it over the phone."

  "You know how to do it in person?"

  Nathan frowned. "Well, no."

  Paige smiled, but it was forced

  "Can you do this?" He reached over and took Paige's hand.

  She refused to look at him. "I guess I don't have much of a choice, do I?"

  "Not if you still want answers. As I see it, it's our only lead."

  She squeezed his hand and sighed. "Okay. Let's get this over with. Back to Portsmouth we go."

  The trip only took twenty minutes. They pulled the car into the driveway in front of a blue two story Cape Cod style home with a white front door and shutters and a small front porch.

  Nathan got out of the car and came around and opened Paige's door. She looked up at him and frowned. He reached out his hand.

  "Come on."

  She got out of the car and followed him up the steps to the front door, keeping a few paces behind. Nathan rang the doorbell and they waited. A moment later the door opened. The man at the door was an inch or so shorter and many years older than Nathan. He had thinning black hair and was dressed in tan pants and a blue shirt sporting several stains. In his right arm was a little girl of three or four in a pink dress and the obvious source of the stains. Both he and the little girl were laughing.

  "Yes can I..." He stopped talking when Paige moved out from behind Nathan. His eyes went wide and his face went white.

  "Holy shit."

  The little girl put both of her hands over her mouth and giggled.

  The man shook his head, wobbled on his feet for a moment and then fell back crashing onto his bottom, the little girl in his arms still laughing. "Paige? H...how?"

  CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

  "Slow down," Jason said for the third time.

  He understood that time was of the essence, but driving erratically would surely get them noticed. They had yet to hear any sirens and he took that as a good sign. She had a death-grip on the steering wheel and he knew she was barely keeping it together. He would have offered to drive, but he knew that he couldn't manage such a feat in his current condition.

  "Julie, it's okay. You need to try and calm down. Come on, sweetheart, please try."

  She started to look over at him but the car began to swerve.

  "Eyes on the road."

  She returned her focus to the road and brought the car back into their lane. She glanced in the rearview mirror, but she didn't see the road behind her. All she could see were the flecks of blood on her face. Sarah's blood. She began to raise a hand to wipe it off and again the car got out of control and she immediately gripped the wheel again. The blood would have to wait. Jason continued to speak softly to her and she began to slow a little until she was only barely breaking the speed limit.

  They drove for another few minutes until they arrived in the parking lot of a grocery store. She drove to the far end and pulled up next to a five year old white Toyota Camry.

  "Okay, give me a minute."

  Julie exited the car and went to the trunk. She slammed her hand against it and returned to the open driver's side door. She bent down, reached in and turned the car off, pulling the keys free of the ignition. She dropped them and cursed again.

  "Julie. You are doing great, just keep it together. One step at a time."

  She looked over at Jason and he gave her a reassuring nod.

  "You can do this, we can do this."

  Julie looked at him for a minute more and then snatched the keys from the floor. She returned to the trunk and opened it. She removed two small suitcases from the trunk and placed them next to the Camry.

  She shook her head, cursed herself again and
then once more returned to the open door. She pulled her purse out and started to dig through it until she removed a second set of keys and then dropped the purse onto the seat once more.

  "You are doing fine," Jason assured her.

  She used the second set of keys to pop the trunk on the Camry and then loaded the suitcases. She opened the passenger door and returned to Jason. Trying not to hurry him too much, she assisted him out of the vehicle. She could see his grimaces of pain, but not once did he complain. He simply continued to tell her that she was doing a wonderful job. He was flushed, breathing heavy and was sweating by the time she managed to get him into the Camry.

  She went around and got in the car, jamming the key into the ignition.

  "Wait. Wait, Julie. Your purse."

  She slapped her forehead and got out of the car. She ran around to the other car and got her purse.

  "Leave the keys in the car," he called to her.

  She looked over at him and then nodded and dropped the keys on the front seat before rushing back to the Camry.

  "Okay, let's get the hell out of here," she said as she slid behind the wheel.

  "Paige?"

  She looked over at Jason, the pleading in his eyes was undeniable.

  "I...I don't know where she is Jason. I'm sorry."

  He continued to look at her without saying a word.

  "I don't have a clue how to track her and I can't go back to work, not after what just happened."

  "No," Jason said. "No, I don't suppose you could."

  "We need to leave, Jason. There is no way they won't respond to what Doris did. If somehow Cameron doesn't know already, he soon will. We need to take full advantage of whatever head start we have."

  "But Paige..."

  "Jason. I am sorry, but right now, Paige is our best distraction. Whatever the hell happened, it has definitely gotten Cameron's attention, that's why I moved up the time table so much."

  "But..."

  "No. No buts. Not here, sitting next to that car." She said pointing towards her old car. "We need to move and move now. We can talk while we drive. I know you don't want to give up on her. Believe me I know. However, right now we need to move."