by Dale Mayer
That there was a comfortable blankness to her mind scared her. Surely she shouldn’t be comfortable with that, should she? Wasn’t her mind supposed to be full of memories and conversations, images of friends and family? Stuff…
“I have to leave now,” her husband said. He leaned over and kissed her. “Stop worrying,” he whispered. “It will be fine.” And with that, he left the room.
How could it be fine? She didn’t remember him.
Hell, she couldn’t remember her name. Yet some things were there. The word amnesia for instance. She knew what it meant. She frowned as she sat up, opened up the blanket and threw it across her legs. Warmer now, she stared around the cozy, beautiful room and wondered where she was.
“How are you feeling now?” said Dr. Maddy.
Thankfully she’d introduced herself again but more than that the doctor’s energy was soft, calm. She was serene inside. Hannah was envious. Her insides were twisted and confused.
“I’m okay,” she said quietly. “As in I am feeling no physical pain but emotionally…”
“You’re a mess, got it.” Dr. Maddy smiled cheerfully. “Can you tell me what you experienced during that scan?”
“I don’t know what scan you’re talking about,” Hannah said carefully. “So, no.”
“Okay, well in that case how about I do a quick repeat.”
Hannah studied the woman in front of her. She had no reason to refuse. And maybe it would help clarify whatever was going on. She nodded.
“Great.” Dr. Maddy pulled up a chair and sat down. “It’s important to remember to relax and keep your eyes closed.”
Obediently, Hannah lay down again and closed her eyes. She had no idea what kind of scan this was, but she was willing. She took a breath and waited. Then the warm caring heat started at her toes. “I remember this,” she cried.
“Good. Then relax as you know this feels good.”
It felt better than good. Soothing heat soaked into her bones and made her moan in joy. The warmth ran up her feet and over her ankles, up her legs and across her belly. She wanted to cry out to slow the movement down, that she needed more, but it was already up to her head and shoulders. She arched her back in a sinuous movement as the energy climbed up her spine. It never stopped but eased into her scalp and into her skull. Her head hadn’t been aching, but with the advancing heat it started to pound. She knew the scan would feel better though so she gritted her teeth. Only the headache got worse, and the heat seemed to sear not comfort.
She twisted uneasily, a whimper escaping. “It hurts,” she cried out softly.
“Can you tell me what you are experiencing?”
“Heat and a massive headache.”
“Where is the headache?”
Hannah lifted her hand to the back of her head. “It’s like a great pressure building at the top of my head. As if the whole top needs to blow off for it to go away.”
She gasped as a particularly loud boom crashed inside.
Instantly the heat eased back. And the headache eased with it. She sighed happily. “That’s much better.”
The scan then came to the front of her head and wrapped around her forehead. “That feels wonderful,” she said. “I–”
A scream ripped out of her mouth as sharp pains ripped through her head – and she blacked out.
*
Dr. Maddy stood up and approached the bed. She’d gotten the message. “Go anywhere near the head and be attacked. Nice,” she muttered.
“Do we know why?” Glenda asked from the doorway, her gaze on the unconscious woman.
“No, not yet. But I’m wondering at several options.”
Unfortunately they had a problem of bed space here too. She had to trust it would all work out.
“I wanted to tell you that we have a delay with one of the patients arriving tomorrow. So if we need to keep Hannah another day that window is there.”
“Excellent. I’m afraid we might need it.” Dr. Maddy reached out a hand and gently touched Hannah’s head. Again the aura so close to the skull was giving the impression of close to death, but she could see for herself how strong and vibrant this young woman was. A very interesting phenomenon. The part that really intrigued her was the complete absence of anything in the brain. It wasn’t possible and given the pain that Hannah experienced as soon as the scan hit the head, it was more likely that someone had set a blockage. Why? What could anyone possibly want to block in Hannah’s mind? If she couldn’t get inside the defense system easily, then it would be very hard to tell why and what.
Just then Hannah shifted uneasily. Maddy reached out a hand and soothed the energy along her body, adding a complex layer of healing energy to Hannah’s thin aura. The healing energy was accepted, absorbed almost as if it were thirsty. And that shouldn’t be. Energy was available to anyone and everyone in all amounts. There was no shortage. There was no permission or access key required. One had only to ask and it was there. Even if one didn’t ask but reached, the energy was always offered. Hannah had no shortage so why was her energy so greedily sucking back on the healing energy Maddy had given? She poured more into the same channel, happy to see Hannah absorb it all. So very interesting. As if feeling guilt for having taken so much, the energy pulled back in on itself.
Maddy immediately flooded it with happy healthy energy.
Hannah’s body sucked it in like a starving man at a buffet. She wondered how long it would keep going, so she poured more and more into Hannah. Hannah’s system kept accepting.
Slowly, Maddy reduced the flow to a level she could keep in place while she went about her day. In this way the energy could continue to heal but leave Maddy free to work on other people.
An important part of her work was determining the energy flow to an individual at any particular time. Normally, she could see a bleed where the energy was being drained out via other people’s hooks. One of the things she didn’t understand was that Hannah had no apparent drains. Her energy was self-contained.
That was unusual. People of all walks of life shared energy and had energy drains in every chakra. Energy they were feeding to other people that bothered them or needed something from them so they allowed that person to hook in and take what they needed. Other drains were because of particularly bad events in the past and unable to let go, the person fed the memory to keep it alive – regardless of how horrid. Equally the energy could be directed to remembering a loved one who’d died, as if the person was unable to let the deceased fully go.
Whatever the reason, Hannah had no obvious hooks.
And that concerned Maddy almost as much as the complete absence of energy in the top of her head. It meant she had no emotional connection to anything in her life. Or in her past. Trevor had shared that Hannah had lost her mother, fought with her father, appeared terrified of her father’s right hand man, and when he’d mentioned people who he should contact, only one friend was brought up.
She studied Hannah’s heart chakra. And found it empty too.
Hannah was a shell living in the moment. She had no memories of most of her history. Of any time – or anyone.
In terms of living and lifestyle, Hannah was living completely isolated.
What fascinated Maddy was that as far as she could see, Hannah was doing this to herself.
*
Trevor found the florist shop easily. And he got there a few minutes before closing time. So in theory, he should have been able to have caught the manager and explain what happened to Hannah.
Except for one thing.
The building had been reduced to ashes.
And it appeared to have been done so recently. There was a takeout Chinese food restaurant next door. Trevor walked in and said, “Hi, I was looking for someone who used to work next door. But I had no idea it had burned down.”
That set them off. Apparently the police had come inside the restaurant several times to check them out. And the owners were still smarting from the suggestion that they might have had some
thing to do with the fire. They said the manager had been a young woman and was lonesome. She’d planned to leave and go back East to her family. The old owner had been helping the new owner out for the first three months, but that came to an end and he hadn’t seen them since. They hadn’t seen the new owner for over a week. The manager, however, had been really capable but didn’t want to stay.
“Do you have any contact information for her?” Trevor asked, notepad out and pen in hand.
Only the older couple shook their heads. “Not on her, but the old owners were Delilah and Wilson Hunter.”
The woman smiled and said, “They live only a few blocks from here. Used to walk to work in the mornings.”
“Thank you, I can find them from that.” At least he should be able to. He closed his notepad and said good-bye. Returning to the florist shop he walked in front of the burned out shell then kept going until he walked around the block and came up the back alleyway. This was where they would have received deliveries and likely had parking for staff. Sure enough there was a small parking lot and one of those tiny, almost micro cars – burned to a crisp. He was surprised to see it still here. Normally something like this would have been hauled away. Then again, the area wasn’t terribly busy and the shell in front of him desolate.
He stood at the back door and wondered at the extent of the fire. He’d have to contact the investigating officer and see what if anything he could to find out. From the surface it looked like an accident, possibly insurance fraud. Failing business, absentee owner who didn’t care but needed the money back out and insurance was the best option. It was hard to sell a nonviable business.
He could barely see a license plate on the small car but jotted down the partial that was still visible. And walked back to his car. There he phoned Drew, Dr. Maddy’s partner.
“I hear you’re married.” The snickers came through loud and clear. “Figured you do it like this. Don’t tell anyone and have it over and done with before anyone could protest.”
“Speed was a factor this time,” Trevor said with a grin. “But if it manages to stick we’ll invite you and Maddy to come for the real ceremony.”
“Better make it stick. Maddy says there’s something between you two.”
“Yeah, puzzles and deceit.”
He explained what he knew so far.
“Jesus. So she didn’t know you when she woke up and this scary dude is her husband. This is another hocus pocus case, isn’t it?” Drew said in disgust. “Why can’t it ever be easy?”
Trevor laughed. “There is nothing straightforward about this one. And the store is the only connection I have to someone who can confirm her former life.”
“I’ve got it on screen. Business burned down yesterday.” He paused reading. “No leads, no clues. Definitely arson.”
“Who is the owner, and how do I locate the manager?”
“Manager is dead, presumed killed in the fire…as one very crisp critter was found inside. Autopsy is still pending. Whoa, this is a whole new level of bad. And yes, the owner is none other than your new wife.”
Chapter 12
Hannah opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling. Pure white and the opposite of an institution. Relief flooded her psyche. She wasn’t back in the private hospital. Or was she? Some of them had been damn fancy. Then they were gilded cages so the birds wouldn’t mind being imprisoned. Like hell. As she studied her surroundings, she rotated her neck and tried to ease the achiness in her body. Although most of her felt great, her head and neck were burning as if a headache and a fever had combined.
“Hi.”
She rolled her head to see Glenda bringing fresh water.
“Hi,” she croaked. “Can I have a glass?”
Glenda reached down and helped her to sit up. Then handed her the glass full of ice cold water. Hannah drank greedily. When she was full up, she sighed happily and tried to speak again, this time her voice sounded normal. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
She replaced the glass, her gaze intent as she studied Hannah. “How do you feel?”
“Better except my neck. It’s on fire.” Hannah stretched out on the bed. “I’m also hungry. Any chance of something to eat?”
“Sure. I’ll see what I can find.” And she walked out.
A few minutes later Dr. Maddy walked back in. Hannah smiled. “That’s quite a scan. I’m not sure exactly what technology you used because I never saw it, but the effects were great. Except for my neck.” She reached up to massage her sore neck.
“What’s wrong with your neck?” Dr. Maddy asked. She reached out and gently removed Hannah’s hands and replaced them with her own. Hannah moaned softly as soothing coolness washed through the heated area. When Dr. Maddy removed her hands a moment later, the heat was gone and a wonderful soothing calm replaced it.
“You have magical hands,” Hannah said seriously. “That did the trick, whatever that was.”
Dr. Maddy smiled. “Good. I’m glad to hear it.” She shifted position and said, “How are your injuries feeling?”
“Right, I forgot about those.” She couldn’t reach her leg to check as she was still wearing jeans, but it felt fine. “I need to shuck off my jeans and take a closer look,” she said in surprise. “It feels not only fine but like it’s fully healed.” And that couldn’t be.
She hopped off the bed, feeling better than she had in days, and removed her pants then laid back down. Dr. Maddy removed the bandage and both bent their heads for a closer look. There were stitches, but the wound had completely healed over.
“I need to remove these,” Dr. Maddy said. “Just a minute while I get the scissors.”
Hannah didn’t say a word as the woman left. She was too stunned. In her mind she couldn’t reconcile the evidence before her eyes. She lifted her shirt and struggled to see the bruising at her ribs then her collarbone. It was hard to see, but the lack of pain was obvious. Whatever Dr. Maddy had done, it had been a miracle. She reached up to her head expecting to see the same progress and cried out at the pain.
“Your head injury is a different problem,” Dr. Maddy said cheerfully as she walked back into the room. “But first things first.” She sat down on the side of the bed and before Hannah even understood what had happened she felt tiny tugs and the stitches were gone.
“This looks great. The last bit of healing should happen overnight.” Dr. Maddy checked the rest of her body, even her arms. She studied the long clean skin where the scratches had been.
“Everything looks good but the head.”
Hannah desperately wanted her head to be healed as well. “Is there something you can do for that?”
Dr. Maddy wrinkled up her face. “Well, yes and no.”
“Damn. I was hoping for another miracle,” Hannah admitted. “It’s been a hell of a day with Trevor whisking me away to safety already, so I guess I shouldn’t be too greedy and ask for more.”
There was an odd silence. Hannah looked up to see a serious look on Dr. Maddy’s face.
“What’s wrong?” When the doctor didn’t answer, Hannah bit her lip. “Is the head injury more serious than I know? Is there permanent damage?”
“No, not like you mean.” She sighed and sat down on the chair beside Hannah. “I was in here a little while ago and did a second scan.” Hannah could feel her searching gaze and wondered what was going on.
“And?”
“Do you remember that?”
Hannah frowned. “A second scan?” She shook her head. “No.”
Dr. Maddy nodded.
“Maybe I was asleep?” Hannah ventured slowly. “I don’t remember a second one.”
“How about seeing Trevor and not recognizing him?”
Hannah gasped. “I didn’t?”
Dr. Maddy shook her head. “And you thought you were married, but to a man named Will.”
Her skin burned hot then shifted to ice and she could feel the tremors start deep inside. “No!” she cried. “Never him.”
/>
“That’s what Trevor said.”
The tremors shook her whole body as she realized Dr. Maddy was serious. “Why? Why would I say that? I hate him. He terrifies me. I know I married Trevor today.” Her gaze locked on Dr. Maddy’s face. “Please tell me that’s true. That I married him at the hospital with Stefan and his wife standing beside us. Please tell me I’m not making that up?”
“It’s true. That’s what you did today,” she confirmed. “So you can understand my confusion when you woke up not recognizing me or Trevor.”
“Oh God. Why is this happening to me?” She wrapped her arms around her chest. “I’ve had blackouts since forever. I want them to stop.”
“Let’s start at the beginning of what you remember in terms of the blackouts. When was the first one, and do you remember anything that might have triggered it back then.”
“Triggered it?” She stared at her in surprise.
“Any emotional trauma that might have given you a reason to not remember what was going on?”
Hannah opened her mouth to answer but was too shocked to formulate words. “Do you really think this was triggered by some kind of trauma in my life?”
“It often happens that way.”
How could such a thing happen? “Lots of people live through all kinds of horrific events,” she said. “Why aren’t they having blackouts?”
“Good question,” Dr. Maddy said calmly. “And we can’t worry about everyone. We can only worry about you.”
Hannah reached up to touch her head and the stitches and dried blood mess. “I’d hate to think of something going on inside my head that is so weak it hits a reset button every few weeks. And it’s not like I’m traumatized over and over again,” she said. “So why am I blacking out so often then?”
“I don’t know.”
Moodily she shifted her gaze to the doorway and heard sounds of footsteps coming down the hall. She sighed with relief, at least he was okay. “Trevor is back.”
Dr. Maddy nodded, her gaze intent on Hannah.
“Now what?” Why was she looking at her so intently?