by Emma Knight
“Dad! Dad!” Rachel yelled as she went into her house. “Where are you?”
She waited quietly, but there was no answer. She went into his home office but he was not there.
“Mark? Are you home?” Rachel called out.
Again, no answer.
Rachel was home alone and didn’t know where her father was or why he didn’t pick her up from school. She went over to the answering machine to see if maybe he had called, but there were no messages. Despite the oddity of this, Rachel was excited to have the house to herself. She liked being home alone, and especially today. She wanted to rummage around to find clues about her past years she couldn’t remember.
She started in her parent’s room. She knew she wasn’t supposed to go through their personal things, but she couldn’t help it. She had to see what has been going on with the family. She opened her dad’s closet and opened his safe, and started perusing through his old coin collection, his old high school yearbooks and a few gold money clips. She flipped through the pages of his yearbooks, and laughed at the old pictures. Secretly, she was hoping her dad was hiding something in the pages of the books that would miraculously fall out and have all the answers for her, but there was nothing. Only dusty, old pages with funny old photos of the past. She poked around in his drawers but there was nothing secretive hiding there, and nothing out of place. So far her plan was not working.
Then, she went into her mother’s closet. All of her clothes were still in bags from the move and her personal items were still in boxes, which her dad had put neatly in the bottom of her closet. She felt bad as she rummaged through her moms clothes, and shoes, looking for signs of anything strange. Then, she decided to open one of the boxes titled Betsy’s things. She opened the box and peeked in at its dusty contents. She saw old photos from when she was a kid, a few recipe books, her favorite sci fi novels, old keys on a key chain and some old scarves.
Rachel was striking out and not finding any information that would explain why she’d forgotten the past two years. She wasn’t even finding anything that showed they had moved. Was everyone conspiring against her or was it really true. She couldn’t figure it out.
She left her parents room and walked towards her brother’s room. She entered it, but then realized he probably wouldn’t have any information. She walked to her sister’s room, but when she went inside there was nothing there. Sarah had taken most of her belongings with her to Syracuse University and there was nothing left except her floor mirror, and her old record player. No boxes or bags for Rachel to search through.
Rachel took out her cell phone and dialed Sarah. She hadn’t spoken to her in a while, and wanted to find out what she knew. She pressed her number on speed dial and waited while it rang and rang. Then, her voicemail picked up and she left a message:
Hey Sarah, it’s your sister. Just wanted to say hello and see how you are doing. See what’s been going on and I have a few things to ask you. So please call me back. Miss ya! Bye!
She hung up the phone and then stood there, in the hallway wondering what to do next. She looked around and then the dangling string to the attic steps caught her eye. She walked towards it and then jumped up high to try and grab the string. She was too short. She looked in the coat closet and pulled out the step stood. She reached for the string and pulled down the folding steps, which led to the attic. She carefully climbed up the steps as her fathers voice rang in her ears from her childhood. Don’t go up into the attic. It’s not a place to play.
She got to the top of the attic and looked around. She saw old Halloween costumes from when she was a kid, old stuffed animals, old clothes and shoes and a bunch of boxes. She looked around, and couldn’t believe they’d just moved back in. By the looks of this attic, you would think they’d been living in that house one hundred years. It smelled musty and there was a layer of dust over everything. She blew on one of the boxes and read the label.
Old Files
Rachel pulled the masking tape off the box and opened it as a huge cloud of dust hit her in the face making her cough and sneeze. She opened the box to find stacks of old bank statements and old records. She picked one up but it was from when she was only ten years old. There were no recent documents in this box that she could find. Everything that she found was from the time they lived in that house and from the days she could remember. She was getting discouraged about her whole idea of uncovering the truth about the past two years. She knew she wasn’t getting anywhere in her search and decided to go back downstairs. As she carefully walked across the floorboards of the attic, she saw an envelope sticking out from under one of them. She bent down and pulled it out from where it had been wedged in the floor. It was taped closed with duct tape on all the edges and looked like a private letter. On the front was her mothers name written in calligraphy in red pen. She didn’t know if she should open it up, but her curiosity didn’t give her much of an option. She carefully removed all the tape, without compromising the envelope or its contents. Then, she unfolded the small piece of parchment paper that was safely tucked inside. The paper was old, and discolored and crumbling at the edges. It was almost as if she’d just found an old letter in a bottle or an old relic from the olden days. She began reading:
Dear Betsy,
Now that you are older, I can tell you who you really are and who we really come from. I can tell you the secrets of our family past and let you in on our secret life. This information is confidential and must strictly remain within our side of the family. You are never to tell your children or your husband. You have to promise me that you will not share our family’s history with anyone and you will take it to your grave. For I am the only remaining survivor from the time and the only one who holds the secrets. Meet me in the cemetery at the tomb of your grandfather, and I will share with you what I know.
Love, your mother.
Rachel didn’t know what to make of this letter and its ominous sounding text. She felt worried and scared by everything she’d just learned. She couldn’t help but wonder what this all meant and why her mother was never allowed to tell her. She had no idea what her grandmother was talking about and wished she were still alive to ask her. The letter almost sounded like sorcery or witchcraft to her. Her body began to shake in fear as she reread the letter over and over. How she’d wished she could talk to her grandmother about this, but the only person who would know about this now was her mother, but she was in a coma in the hospital and she didn’t know what condition she was in or if she’d even want to discuss it with her.
She folded the letter back up carefully and put it back in the envelope. She knew she had to confront her mother about this letter and she had to do it soon. It might shed some light on what’s been going on with her recently.
CHAPTER 9
Rachel couldn’t wait one more minute to see her mom. She needed to find out answers and she needed to talk to her about the letter. She quickly ran out of her house with the letter safely zipped in her coat pocket as she headed out for the local hospital. The freezing cold air hit her face as she walked briskly into town.
The thought of seeing her mom in a hospital bed frightened her. She’d never seen her in a vulnerable state before and she didn’t know how she felt about it. To her, her mom was a strong, fearless woman, but now she was sick, laying in a bed with nurses and doctors around her. It was night and day to how she’d remembered her mom.
She hoped that her mom would be able to speak to her and she hoped she’d be able and willing to talk to her about her grandmother’s letter. Her anxiety about seeing her mom was rising as she neared the hospital. She stopped as she approached the parking lot of the hospital and then turned around, and started walking away. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t bear the thought of her mom in the hospital. She figured if she never saw her mom there, than it wouldn’t be real. Then, she stopped again and turned back around and headed towards the front doors of the hospital. She had to see her. She couldn’t live in a fantasyland anymore. Sh
e had to get to the bottom of things and she had to see her mom, for her own peace of mind.
As she walking in through the large automatic sliding doors, the smell of hand sanitizer filled the air. She looked around at the stark white walls and fluorescent lighting, and the hustle and bustle of the nurses and doctors and they ran from one room to the next and then back out to their stations. She stood there and watched for a moment and then, a nurse came over to her and said, “Can I help you?”
“Oh, right!” Rachel snapped out of it. “Yes, I’m looking for my mom.”
“Your mother, Dear?” the nurse asked sympathetically.
“Yes, I think she’s at this hospital,” Rachel answered.
“Well, what’s her name, Dear. I will look her up. Follow me,” the nurse said, ushering her over to her computer station.
“Betsy Wood is her name,” Rachel said.
“Let me see here,” the nurse said as she clicked away at her computer.
Rachel watched as she scrolled up and down on the computer screen searching for information on her mother. Then, she saw the nurses eyes open wide and then make a frightened face.
“Yes, she is here,” the nurse answered. “I’m so sorry.”
Rachel didn’t know what to make of that statement, but she figured it was going to be a bad situation when she saw her mom by the looks on this nurses face.
“She’s in room 501,” the nurse said. “It’s right down the hall and make a left.”
“Thanks,” Rachel said, as she started in that direction.
Nobody told her what to expect when she saw her mother for the first time and nobody could have prepared her for what she saw as she entered room 501. Her mom lay there, under the white hospital sheets with her head wrapped in bandages and air tubes coming out of her nose and mouth. There were wires hooked up to her body that poked out of the sheets and hooked up to loud beeping monitors that sat at the side of her bed.
Rachel walked in slowly and quietly towards her mom’s bedside. She peeked at her over the railing of the bed and noticed that her eyes were taped shut, too. It looked to her as if her mom were dying. A tear fell from her eyes and rolled down her cheek, and landed on the white sheet that covered her mom. She reached under the covers and grabbed her mom’s hand, which had an IV coming out of her wrist. She clutched onto it, happily feeling the warmth of her body.
BEEP BEEP BEEP
Her eyes quickly focused on the monitor next to her bed as it started to beep louder and more frequently. The line that ran across the screen was jumping up and down in an erratic rhythm. The noises and the whole situation made her heart race and she began to feel panicked. Was her mom dying? Was her heart stopping?
She watched as two nurses came running into her room to examine her. They opened her eyes and shined a flashlight in both of them watching her pupils expand and contract and then checked each of her heart monitors to make sure they were tightly secured to the round patches stuck to her skin.
“Is she OK?” Rachel asked, in fear.
“Shh,” one nurse said. “We’re checking that out now.”
“She’s never done this before,” the other nurse said. “It’s almost as if she’s waking up?”
“Is she OK? Please say she’s OK and that’s she not dying!” Rachel begged.
“Doctor! Doctor!” the nurse yelled out of the room. “Hurry!”
Within seconds a doctor came running in, wearing a white lab coat and scrubs.
“What’s going on here?” he said, looking at the nurses.
“Look! Her heart rate is plummeting, quick, get the AED,” the nurse yelled.
Rachel watched in horror as the nurse ran out and ran back in with the machine to jump-start her mom’s heart. The noise coming from the monitor was now a continuous loud tone and the beeping had stopped. It reminded her of when people would flat line in the movies, except this wasn’t a movie, this was real life and it was her mother on the other end. It was all too much for her to watch so she ran out of the room sobbing as she slunk down to the floor put her head in her lap.
She could still her the commotion from inside the room as the nurses and doctor tried to revive her. She couldn’t believe what was happening and she hoped it wasn’t her fault. She hoped that she didn’t cause this. Perhaps her mom sensed that she was there to see her and went into shock. She felt awful.
One of the nurses came walking slowly out of the room and over towards her computer station.
“What happened? Is she OK? Please tell me she’s alive!” Rachel asked in fear.
The nurse looked over at her, smiled and then said, “She is OK. The doctor will tell you more.”
“Will she make it?” Rachel asked.
“Why don’t you wait to talk to the doctor? He will be out in a few minutes. They’re just patching her up in there,” the nurse said.
“Please just tell me. I can’t wait. Please!” Rachel yelled. “That’s my mother you’re talking about!”
“The doctor will be right with you,” the nurse said, as she turned and walked away.
Rachel couldn’t believe how cold this nurse was to her. She’d never experienced a situation like this before and she never expected the nurse of all people to shrug her off like that. Sometimes she wondered about people. She couldn’t understand why they acted the way they did sometimes. Especially in hard situations like this one. She would have assumed the nurse of all people would have more sympathy for her.
“Young lady?” the doctor said from inside the room.
“Me?” Rachel asked as she peeked her head in.
“Yes, what’s your name?” the doctor asked.
“I’m Rachel. That’s my mom,” she said.
“Rachel, Dear. I haven’t seen you here before,” the doctor said.
“I’m Dr. Henley. I’ve been working with your mom since she arrived a while back.”
“Dr. Henley, will my mom be OK? What happened to her?” Rachel asked, with a worried look on her face.
“She made it this time. Thank God. Her heart had some unusual movement and it forced her heart rate to drop drastically. We had to jump start it, and it appears that she will make it. We will keep a close eye on her to be sure, but she looks to be doing fine now,” Dr. Henley added.
“But Dr. Henley, what caused this?” Rachel asked.
“I wish I knew. It is very rare what just happened. She had been in a rater static state for months until just now. We don’t know what set it off, but we will keep a close watch on it,” Dr. Henley said.
“She’s not going to die is she?” Rachel asked, with tears running down her cheeks.
“Rachel, it appears she will be OK for now. I wish I could tell you for certain that she’ll be OK, but I can’t. Not after what just happened. Like I said, we are going to monitor her closely and take every step necessary to ensure that she is healthy and on the road to recovery,” Dr. Henley said. He then looked down at his watch and said, “I have to run to surgery now. I hope to see you around more often.”
“But…” Rachel began.
“I have to go. I’m sorry. I am late,” Dr. Henley, said, as he walked away down the hall and into the operating room.
Rachel stood there until he was out of sight and then waited a minute until she calmed down before she went back in to see her mom. She pinched herself first to make sure this wasn’t a dream, as it was all so surreal to her. She couldn’t understand what had just happened to her mom to make her almost die. She couldn’t believe she was here to witness it and that after all these months the one time something like this happens was when she was here.
She slowly crept back in towards her mom, who was laying still in her hospital bed. She looked so lifeless laying there, with her eyes closed and her body motionless. Then, she noticed that her fingers were wiggling from inside the bed sheet. Rachel walked over and touched her hand again, and held onto it. Her mom’s hand stopped moving and again she was comforted by the warmth of her body. She felt lucky to fee
l her warm body: to feel her alive was now something she would never take for granted again.
“Mom. Mom. Can you hear me?” Rachel whispered.
She watched her moms face to see if she showed any signs of life, but she didn’t.
“Mom, I’m sorry. I hope you know I never meant to cause any trouble,” Rachel said. “I know this is all my fault.”
She looked at her mom’s eyelids as they began to flutter without opening.
“Mom? Can you hear me? Squeeze my hand if you can hear me!” Rachel said wishfully.
Rachel waited patiently for her mom to squeeze her hand or make another motion to let her know she was listening. Then, after a few minutes of sitting in silence her moms hand started moving.
“Mom!” Rachel yelled. “Can you hear me?”
Her mom moved her hand again so Rachel could feel it.
“Oh, thank God you’re alive! I’m so sorry this is happening. Can you speak, Mom?” Rachel asked. “There are so many things I want to tell you and talk about. Please speak to me!”
She waited and then heard her mom try to clear her throat and open her mouth. She no longer had the air tube going down her throat since they jump-started her heart. She saw her mom’s lips move up and down but she couldn’t make out what she was saying.
“Mom? Are you talking to me?” Rachel asked. “What are you saying?”
She watched again as her moms lips moved up and down. She tried to make it out and could see that her mom was saying I love you, Rachel.
“I love you, too, Mom!” Rachel said back. “I love you so much! Please come back to us. Please!”
Rachel watched her mom as she started to smile. A tear ran down her cheek and Rachel began to cry as well. She was happy yet scared at the same time. She couldn’t help but think she’d nearly just lost her mom forever and now, she was coming back to her and talking. Rachel couldn’t have been happier at that moment.