by Imogen Rose
Raj watched her get back into the tiny car and drive into the distance. He wished he’d had more time with her. They still had so much catching up to do. He looked toward the room where Arizona had been sequestered. It was time to get rid of her. She was irrelevant now. It suddenly occurred to him that it was odd that Olivia did not insist that Arizona return with Simla in order for her to release the blueprints. Did she accept that Arizona was to stay with her father, even after all the trouble she went through to get Arizona to move to her dimension in the first place? What was he supposed to do with the pesky teen now? He couldn’t keep her here. He had better things to be getting on with than babysitting. There was, in fact, no reason for him to stay here anymore. He did need to be back here in a week to meet Simla again, but he could take off in the meantime and leave Arizona to be dealt with by Dan and Sophie. He didn’t need them anymore, either. He had the blueprints. He was free. He hastily gathered the few items he needed and walked off toward the road. He would catch a ride at the next rest stop.
~
I could hear muffled sounds coming from the living room. I tried the bedroom door again, it was firmly locked. The knob didn’t give at all, no matter how hard I tried turning it. I contemplated banging the door down. That wouldn’t exactly be a new accomplishment for me. I had done it before, out of anger, in my own house. However, I had learned to weigh the consequences. Months of therapy had taught me that, if nothing else. There were at least three of them on the other side of this door. I felt fairly confident that I would be able to handle Raj and Sophie, however there was no chance of me getting past Dan. Dan had said he would protect me from Raj, so it was best not to anger him at this point. Appealing to his gentler nature would probably be the most efficient way to get out of here. I’d wait until I was left alone with him again. Perhaps even try pretend crying… I rolled my eyes at the thought.
I wondered what was going on out there. Had Simla arrived? Should I try to get her attention? We were sort of friends after all. She should help me out. I had done so numerous times for her. I hadn’t seen her for a while though; she seemed to have disappeared from school again. That was fairly common, though. Simla had long, unexplained absences from school, always coming back looking deflated. I tried to talk to her about it, but she always brushed me off saying something about family issues. Some family issues! Turns out her dad is a kidnapping freak! A criminal. No wonder she always looked so beat. She probably spent her spare time visiting him in prison. Would she help me if I banged on the door?
I wasn’t even sure she was there. It was probably just Raj, Dan and Sophie and I couldn’t risk enraging them. Why would Simla’s dad have kidnapped me? Did Dad owe him money? Had Dad gotten involved in something really shady that involved Simla’s dad? Sheesh! I put my ear to the door, but could hear absolutely nothing. I looked around for another way out but all the windows were boarded up. I probably could have kicked them out, but not without creating a racket. So I waited.
When the door finally unlocked and opened, Dan came into view. His brows were furrowed and lips pursed. He sighed heavily when he saw me.
“Have you seen the boss?” he muttered.
“No, have you?” I responded. It was immediately apparent that something unexpected was up when Dan turned around and shrugged at Sophie.
“What’s going on?” I asked, prompting Dan to turn back toward me.
He heaved his shoulders up and down and sighed.
“Sophie, we need to take Arizona back to her parents and then deal with Raj. We can’t do much while we have her here with us. We can’t just leave her here, she’s just a kid.”
Sophie came into the room, nodding at Dan.
“Arizona, any idea where Raj went?”
I shook my head.
“Did you hear anything? Was a girl here? Did he leave with her?”
“Look, I did try to listen through the door, but I couldn’t hear anything. I’ve no idea if Simla was here or not. Why would she be involved with this? What is this anyway? Why am I being held here?”
“Shush, don’t talk, I need to think. Stay in here for another ten minutes while Dan and I talk and then we’ll let you know what we’re going to do. But don’t worry. We’re not going to hurt you.”
I nodded and waited in silence as the two of them went back out for their chat, closing the door behind them. Something was definitely up. But, more to the point, I was thirsty and hungry.
I didn’t have to wait long. The door opened and Sophie beckoned me to follow her. I was relieved to see Dan standing in front of the stove cooking.
“I need to use the restroom,” I mumbled. Sophie nodded and pointed me to the hallway bathroom. When I got back, the two of them were sitting down, digging into burgers. I was has happy to spot a third plate waiting for me.
“Dig in, Arizona,” Dan offered, pointing to the plate.
I didn’t need to be told twice. I sat down and dove right in. The juicy meat combined with barbeque sauce and caramelized onions were sheer heaven! “Thanks, Dan! This is really good,” I managed to splutter between chews.
Dan nodded. “Sophie?”
“Arizona, Dan and I have decided to let you go. We’re hoping that you’ll keep our names to yourself. We didn’t plan this, this was all Raj’s doing. He seems to have disappeared.”
“Why did you take me in the first place? Is he going to come after me again? Is my dad okay?” I asked, looking to her for some answers.
“Arizona, I won’t answer any questions. All I’m going to say is that we, Dan and I, don’t want to keep you captive. So, we are going to drop you off somewhere you can get help to get home.”
“Why can’t you drive me back?”
“We have other plans, and besides, it’s too far,” she said, and then pursed her lips. She wasn’t going to say anymore, that was clear.
I had absolutely no idea how far from home I really was. The drive had been long, but I had no way of knowing where we were. I guess I’d find out soon enough, I thought to myself, as I was directed to take my place in the back of the van again. The journey didn’t take long. Half an hour was my guess, perhaps slightly longer. Shortly after the van stopped, the door opened and Dan let me out.
“Go over to that house there and ring the bell. It’s Kevin’s.”
“Kevin?”
“Oh, drop the act, Arizona. You’re free now,” Dan muttered as he walked back to the driver’s door and got back into the van. I watched the van drive into the distance before I turned to look at the house. It could be a trap. In fact, it almost certainly was. I would be much better off trying to find a cop and getting some real help. Kevin? I had no idea who that was, or where I was. I looked around trying to figure out which direction to walk in to get some help. This was a quiet neighborhood. Nice mini mansions with perfectly manicured lawns, but no kids playing outside or anyone for that matter. No one to ask to borrow a cell phone from. As I was deciding which direction to start walking in, I spied a motorcycle turning into the road and making its way down toward me. I hastily started walking up the road, in case it was Kevin, I didn’t want to bump into him and face any complications that would entail. I put my head down and covered my face the best I could with my hoodie and walked briskly up the road, but the bike slowed down as it approached me. It stopped and I clenched my fists getting ready to punch the snot out of him–or her–if he tried anything. I watched him take his helmet off and look at me intently, his face breaking into a wide beaming grin.
“Poppet!”
He was cute. Especially beaming like that–he looked really happy to see me. I almost let my guard down and my lips twitched wanting to smile right back at him. But I didn’t. Poppet? He was clearly demented.
“Poppet?” he said again and got off the bike.
“Come near me and I’ll pound your brains in,” I growled and picked up a large pebble from the walkway–that would have to do. I brought it up over my shoulders getting ready to throw it at him.
“Geez, Arizona! Calm down!” he muttered, taking a step back and glaring at me. His nice smile had turned into a frown.
“Who are you? And what do you want with me?”
He continued to glare at me, shaking his head.
“Look, tell me who you are and what you want. And how do you know my name?”
“Arizona, what’s the matter? It’s me, David. But you know that! Why are you acting so odd? And what happened to your hair?”
My hair? Right, enough! I threw the pebble at him with the greatest force I could muster.
“Ouch! Stop that!” he cried, as he bounded toward me, grabbing hold of my hands.
I struggled to get free of him, kicking his shins and spitting on him–it landed on the tip of his nose.
“Gross!” he yelled and let go of me, wiping his nose with his sleeve.
I bolted. I ran down the street as fast as I could. I could hear him following me on his bike. I turned right onto another road, and kept on running. I noticed a car slowing down and curious glances from the passengers. No other cars drove by; this road appeared pretty isolated. I wasn’t just running; I was sprinting. I kept glancing back, hoping that a cop car would come by. Then I tripped. Stupid rock. I fell knees-first onto the hard concrete, but managed to steady myself, preventing my face from hitting the pavement.
“You, okay, Poppet?” David–I gathered that was his name–asked as he tried to pull me up.
“Ouch! Don’t!” I yelled and hit him. “It hurts!”
“Let me get you to the ER. It’s not far.”
My eyes were welling up from the intense pain in my knees. What if I had fractured them? What if I couldn’t play hockey? Tears started streaming down my face.
“Arizona, I promise I’m not going to hurt you, okay? The hospital isn’t far. Let me take care of you.”
What choice did I have? There were no signs of anyone else stopping. No signs of any cop cars. What if David abducted me, maybe he worked for Raj. How did he know my name? I knew that if I tried to ask him any questions right now, they would just come out in big sobs. And I was in no position to fight him. So I nodded.
He placed his helmet on my head and secured it. Then he gently lifted me up and placed me on the bike. I flinched with pain. Although he looked concerned, he stayed silent and brought the bike to life. I hung onto him as he maneuvered the bike through the roads to the emergency bay at the hospital. We stopped right outside and he carried me in as we were greeted by the hospital staff. I was put in a wheelchair and pushed along the corridor while David explained what happened. I only had to correct him once. He called me Arizona Darley or something.
“No, it’s Stevens,” I interrupted.
David shrugged and we walked into an elevator. There was a nice, peaceful silence as we ascended up to the second floor where I was once again wheeled through never-ending corridors. We finally came to a halt in front of a set of double doors.
One of the nurses turned and spoke to David. “Mr. Skoog, you can’t come any further. Wait here, we’ll be about an hour. If you give me your cell number, I’ll call you with an update. There’s a cafeteria on the ground floor.”
David nodded. “Arizona, I’m going to look in on my dad. I’ll come back to see you when I get the call,” he said, handing the nurse a bit of paper with his cell number. “Okay?”
I nodded. I guess it was okay. I’d get the nurses to try my dad. But if I couldn’t get in touch with him perhaps this do-gooder could. Not before he told me how he knew my name, though. Before I could ask him, I was pushed through the double doors into the exam suite.
~
As David made his way to the elevator, he was overcome with a sense of unease. Something felt very wrong, in addition to the obvious. What was Arizona doing back here? She’d been transported back to her family. He’d just seen her at the Halloween dance! Yet, here she was. He needed to talk to his mother. As he exited the elevator, he hurried down the corridor to his dad’s room. The cops guarding the door let him pass. His mother was sitting on a chair beside his dad’s bed, unobtrusively reading on her lighted Kindle. His dad was fast asleep, breathing deeply, his chest heavily bandaged, heaving with every breath. His mother’s eyes widened in surprise when David entered the room. She stood up and beckoned him to walk with her outside.
“David, I am surprised to see you. I thought you were going back to the house to get some rest. There’s nothing you can do here for the moment. Your dad’s heavily sedated; he’ll be out for a while. I’ll call you when he wakes,” Inez said.
“Mom, as I was heading back, I ran into Arizona, just outside Dad’s house.”
“Arizona?” Inez repeated, furrowing her brows.
David summarized the events to his mother. “I’ve no idea what she’s doing here. She doesn’t seem to recognize me. It’s bizarre,” he concluded, shrugging his shoulders.
Inez looked grim. It was odd to see her look like this. She was usually a picture of calm and serenity. “I don’t know what to think! I just saw her, safe with her family. How did she get back here?”
“I don’t know, Mom. The last I saw her was at the Halloween party. She seemed fine. I told her about Erica and she was upset for Simla, but didn’t want to get involved. I saw her leave the lake with Kellan. She seemed a bit sad after our talk, not surprisingly. I can’t imagine how she got back here. The portal is inactive, right?”
“Yes. I’m fairly sure of that. It was going to take a year for it to become active again. She must have come through some other way,” Inez mused.
“How, Mom? None of the Wanderers would transport her without Constance’s permission. And Constance would let you know, even though you passed the leader role onto her. So how?”
“David, did she say anything at all to you? You said that you think that she didn’t recognize you. That’s impossible unless she has been drugged or had her memory messed with in some way. Did she look confused?”
“She looked scared and a little disoriented. She did look different. Her hair was light brown rather than platinum blonde. I almost didn’t recognize her at first. She was hovering around outside Dad’s house, which was the only reason I stopped and spoke to her. I didn’t recognize her from a distance. She looked pretty disheveled, like she hadn’t washed in a few days–very unlike Arizona.”
“Where is she now?” Inez inquired.
“Well, she tripped when I was trying to catch up with her. She was sprinting away from me and crashed down pretty hard on her knees. Anyway, I helped her get to the hospital; she’s in the ER at the moment. Someone is going to call me once she’s done.”
Inez ran her fingers through her hair. “David, I need to think. And I need to contact Constance.”
David nodded. “Mom, go. I’ll stay here with Dad until Arizona needs me. I’ll contact you as soon as I find out what’s going on. Go back and find out how Arizona disappeared from there. I can transport her back as soon as you get permission from Constance and the rest of the Elders.”
Inez gave her son a hug and looked in on Kevin before she left David looking over his father.
David sat down and picked up the Kindle that his mom had left behind. He scrolled through the NY Times while listening to his dad’s labored breathing. His silenced cell phone vibrated in his pocket causing him to flinch. “Hello?”
“Mr. Skoog, I’m calling from the ER. Are you still at the hospital?”
“Yes.”
“We are done with Arizona Stevens. You can come and pick her up. We tried calling her dad, but he didn’t answer.”
“Okay, I’ll be right down,” he said. David got up to leave, glancing down and touching his dad’s hand briefly before exiting the room. How would he handle Arizona? He needed answers; hopefully she had calmed down enough to be able to talk to him now. He wasn’t feeling confident, though.
~
I hate hospitals, I always have. The smells, the sounds, the people–yuck. If you’re not ill when you enter, you almost certai
nly will be by the time you get out. Even if you manage to escape the zillions of disgusting bugs saturating the air, some drunk will probably puke all over you. I asked the nurse to wheel me into a corner away from the other patients. We’d been unable to get hold of Dad. He wasn’t answering his phone, as usual. I had found out that I was in California… thousands of miles away from home! So, I couldn’t really call Monica or Christian to take me home. No, I needed to get on a flight. But how? I didn’t have any money. So here I sat and waited for the boy who brought me in here. I should be grateful, but it was his fault I was here in the first place–so I wasn’t–the least bit grateful, that is. Who was he anyway? Maybe he could lend me some money for a ticket back home. If not, I’d have to call the cops or something for help. Just then, David walked though the door and looked around trying to find me. I waved.