The man turned back to Aimee. Their eyes met for an eternity, then he bolted for the emergency exit and vanished.
The woman lay lifeless, her body contorted. Blood oozed onto the tile from a long gash on the side of her head. Aimee heard a tiny whimper escape from her lips and noticed her hand twitch. She fell to her knees and pressed her fingers to the woman's neck. In the background Aimee heard screams, then footsteps on the tiled steps racing up the stairs, and the wail of sirens getting louder. She stood up to run, but as suddenly as she had arrived she disappeared into the blackness of the tunnel, barely escaping being caught. ...
...“Miss Schmidt! Miss Schmidt!” Aimee could hear anxiety in Mrs. Krause’s southern tone, which was usually thick and drawn out. “Miss Schmidt, oh my dear child, there you are! Are you okay?” Her voice was getting closer. Aimee looked up. She was standing in the middle of the empty hallway. Mrs. North was right behind Mrs. Krause, both of their faces appeared ashen. Mrs. Krause gently touched Aimee's arm and nervously started leading the way back into the nurse’s office. Mrs. North grabbed Aimee's other arm. Her fingers started searching Aimee's wrist for a pulse.
“Aimee, are you okay?” Mrs. North asked as they entered her office. She motioned for Aimee to sit on the exam table. Mrs. North's eyes shot to the toppled chair lying on Aimee's pack, then back to Aimee.
Aimee nodded and mumbled something about the chair that sounded incoherent, at least to herself. Her thoughts were clearly not quite settled.
“Do you know where you are?” asked Mrs. North as she tightened the blood pressure cuff around Aimee's right arm. The squeezing pressure caused Aimee to gasp.
“Ouch…uh, yeah, I’m in the nurse’s office, I think.” She checked the room to make sure her answer was correct.
“Hmm, 142 over 54,” stated Mrs. North. A strained silence followed. “Where did you disappear to?”
“I was feeling sick. I went to the restroom.”
“Anything stressful going on, Aimee? I haven’t seen you in my office for a while. Everything at home okay?” Mrs. North raised one eyebrow while she scrutinized Aimee's face.
Aimee hesitated briefly to smooth out her face and figure out what she wanted to reveal. She decided to answer, but only enough to avoid any further interrogation. She needed to get out of here as fast as possible to call James. She had to know what happened in Eugene! “Yes, Mrs. North, I’m okay. Everything at home is okay.” Aimee prattled on. “I’ve had a headache today, well actually one of my migraines. I thought I was gonna puke so I left to go to the restroom while Mrs. Krause went to get you.”
“Why didn’t you use the restroom here?” asked Mrs. North gesturing towards the restroom.
Aimee shrugged. “I dunno. I wasn’t thinking, I guess.”
Mrs. North stared at her for a few seconds. “Well, your systolic pressure is up, but the headache could explain it. Do you have a way home?” She continued studying Aimee.
Mrs. Krause returned with a paper cup of water and handed it to her. Aimee took one sip, slowly swished it around her parched mouth, and then swallowed. “I have my car,” she answered.
“Can you get a ride home? I won’t release you to home without someone else driving.” Her stern look told Aimee she better not argue.
“If I can get Chelsea Jenkins, she can take me home then get back to school in my car. I gave her a ride this morning.”
Mrs. North looked up at the clock and remarked, “Nine forty-one. Second period. Mrs. Krause, will you please find out what class Miss Jenkins is in right now, and get her to come to the office?” Without a word, Mrs. Krause shot out of the nurse’s office heading to attendance.
“Mrs. North…”
“Yes, Aimee.”
“…is that clock correct?” Aimee cocked her head, her eyebrows furrowed together in disbelief. Her entire journey seemed to take less than a minute.
“Yes, it runs maybe a minute ahead, but it’s close enough.”
“Mrs. North…” Her thoughts had now returned to normal. “…I really want to get home to, uh, rest. Is it all right if I walk out to my car and wait for Chelsea?”
“I guess that would be okay. Just drop this slip at attendance on your way out.” She handed Aimee an official looking form checking her out of school for the remainder of the day. Aimee hopped down from the table and flipped the chair back on its legs, then picked up her backpack. She looked back. Mrs. North smiled, and then looked down to continue jotting notes in a manila folder. Aimee supposed she was documenting today’s event. She wasn’t worried though. Fortunately her journey went unnoticed, and she came back safe with no observable damage.
Chelsea met her in the hallway as she was coming out of the attendance office. Chelsea's face turned pale. Who knows what they told her when they got her out of class.
“Aimee, omigod, are you okay?” She grabbed Aimee's backpack and keys, then held open the massive glass doors at the entrance for her.
“Thanks, Chels, I’m not an invalid.” She reached over and reclaimed her backpack. “I’m fine. Just one of my headaches.” Aimee couldn’t look her in the eyes. Like Aimee's dad, Chels always knew when Aimee was covering up something. Aimee could feel her penetrating stare, but she didn’t waver. Aimee continued walking rapidly to the student parking lot while Chels tried to keep pace with her. She didn’t even notice it was starting to sleet as the icy rain hit the pavement with a muffled clink.
“Aimee…” Chelsea said cautiously while unlocking the passenger door, then opening it to let Aimee get in. Aimee tossed her pack over the seat, got in, then reached over and unlocked Chelsea's door. Chels slid in and cranked the motor. Before putting the car in Reverse, she started her question again. She placed her hand gingerly on Aimee's arm. The pain on her face was genuine. “Aimee, are you sure you’re…okay?”
Aimee searched Chelsea's eyes. She wanted to make sure she understood the message Chels was asking in her word. Of course Chels was referring to her past brush with insanity. Her worries weren’t too far from the truth. If she only knew what Aimee had just gone through she wouldn’t doubt Aimee was nuts.
“If you mean, okay, as in – the word stuck in her throat – sane, don’t worry. I’m fine, all right?” Chelsea didn’t press. The look on Aimee's face must have told her to change the subject.
“Do you mind me taking your car back to school?”
Aimee didn’t dare look at Chels. She kept her eyes straight ahead as she forced the emotion in her voice to steady. “Just drop me off and come back after school. I don’t think I’m going to work.”
Chelsea eased the Bug into the driveway. After shifting into Neutral, she engaged the emergency brake, then reached back to grab Aimee's pack while Aimee got out. Aimee took it and managed a smile before slamming the door and running towards the house. Chelsea waited with the car idling until Aimee got through the door. Aimee heard the familiar grind of the gears when Chelsea backed into the street, then the engine whining as she sped away down the slick roadway.
Zonker greeted Aimee at the door with his tail wagging. “Hey, Z. Do you need to go out?” He raced her for the backdoor. After letting him out, Aimee noticed the kitchen clock. It was a little before ten. James probably was in class right now. She hated to bother him, but she had to know and she couldn’t wait until tonight’s news. Aimee took her cell phone out of her backpack, flipped it open, and plopped down into her chair at the kitchen table. Her fingers sailed across the keys texting him.
James…hey call…aimee
Aimee hit Send and closed the phone, then stuffed it in her back pocket. She flicked on the ancient radio sitting on the kitchen counter hoping to hear any breaking news of a robbery on the UC campus. Listening without hearing the music, she paced around the kitchen waiting for James to call. No news. She switched to another station, but only nonstop country hits flowed from the antiquated box. She couldn’t wait any longer. She let Zonker in, then flew to her room to crank up her desktop. Perhaps she could find some news
on the Internet. While watching the blue screen fill with flashing icons as it slowly came to life, Aimee felt the cell phone vibrate urgently in her back pocket. In one swift movement she had the phone open and to her ear. The voice she was waiting to hear was on the other end.
She answered, “Hello.”
“Hey, Aimee, what’s wrong?” There was panic in James’s voice.
“Hi, James. Nothing’s wrong.” She paused briefly trying to sort out how to ask him about the…event… without raising any red flags. Aimee knew if something had happened, no matter how recently, James would surely know. He was majoring in journalism and was working part-time as a reporter for the UC’s student newspaper. Aimee said, “Uh, I was just listening to the radio in the, uh…uh, the nurse’s office, and I heard there was a robbery on campus.” There was silence on his end so she continued, “Well, you know how Dad worries about you and Sacha up there. I just had to make sure everything was all right.”
A few more strained seconds of silence passed before James spoke. “Aimee, where did you hear this?”
“I told you, I heard it on the radio. I don’t know what station.”
“Aimee, that story hasn’t broke yet. It just happened maybe ten minutes ago. Joe just paged me to get over to the bookstore and get on top of it.”
Shit, think fast! “James, I swear, somehow the station must have picked it up, maybe they listen to the police scanner. I don’t know, my God, I was just worried sick.” She desperately tried to elude his skepticism. She didn’t want to give him another chance to continue his scrutiny. “James, it doesn’t matter how I heard it. I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I mean we’re fine. Sacha’s in class right now. I’m heading over to the bookstore to get the story so I don’t know much yet, but what I got from Joe is one of the workers was seriously hurt during a robbery.”
“Hurt?” Aimee tried to keep her tone convincing so he would continue. “What happened?”
“The details are sketchy. There weren’t any witnesses, and I understand the security camera wasn’t working on that floor at the time of the robbery.”
“So they don’t know what happened? How about the girl? Is she…okay?”
“Joe wasn’t sure what happened. He tried talking to the manager, but they were in the middle of the cops’ investigation so they couldn’t really talk. The only thing he knew was that the girl was hurt really bad, but she’s alive. If I can get in to see her at the hospital I’ll know more.” He stopped abruptly. “Hey, how did you know it was a girl who was hurt?”
Damn it. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Think fast, Aimee. “I didn’t. I just guessed.”
“Oh,” he said, again a few seconds of silence passed while Aimee assumed he was processing her reply. “Well,” he finally said, “you’ll probably hear more on the news tonight. Hey, I’ve gotta get going.”
“Okay. Thanks for calling, James.”
“Hey, Amos...” His voice lightened up a bit. “...how are you and Dad?”
“We’re fine. We miss y'all already. You weren’t home very long at Christmas.”
“I know. We miss you, too. Maybe we’ll be home in a couple weeks. I heard the powder’s good at Ashland.”
“Yeah. I haven’t been since we went, but I think it’s decent. Take care. Tell Sach I said hi.”
“Will do.”
The call ended as the desktop finally brought up her browser. Aimee stared at the bright screen for a few moments, her mind spinning back to the journey earlier this morning. She shuddered thinking how close she had come to being a victim herself, the bullet sailing past her within inches. Thank God the girl was still alive, or at least that was the latest news. Aimee looked at her reflection in the mirror above the desk. The color in her face was pale, almost pallid. She must still be experiencing the effects from the travel. She pinched at her cheeks trying to pull some color back into her skin. At least she was safe and unscathed, and the pain in her head had died down to a dull throb. She grabbed the ibuprofen bottle, twisted off the lid and swallowed a couple without sipping any water. Her thoughts soared back to her conversation with James. A security camera, she suddenly recalled. A chill riveted through her when she thought about the consequences of the robbery being caught on camera. Of course the investigation might be more challenging to solve without the details being captured on film, but she was extremely relieved it wasn’t working at the time of the robbery. Somehow, Aimee knew it would get solved without the benefit of the camera.
Suddenly the adrenaline completely drained from her body. She felt an overwhelming urge to sleep. The morning still had over an hour left, but it felt like she had been awake for days instead of hours. She needed time to shut down her brain to let her subconscious bathe over the events of the day and file them away where they needed to be. Aimee collapsed on her bed too exhausted to pull up the quilt around her limp body, and quickly drifted off into sleep.
“Aimee…” Her dad sat perched on the edge of her bed, gently shaking her back to wake her. “…hey, are you okay?”
Aimee lifted her face from the pillow. With only one eye barely open she noticed the room was dark, except for the soft light filtering in from the hall. Aimee peered up at the clock. Six twenty. It had to be night. She couldn’t have slept all the way through until morning. Aimee turned over swiftly and sat up against the headboard, rubbing her eyes trying to get the sleep out. “Yeah, I’m fine,” she said through a yawn.
“I got a message that you missed school,” said Dad, his eyebrows forged together.
“I had one of my migraines. Mrs. North sent me home. It was throbbing so bad Chelsea drove me in my car. She was supposed to bring it back after school. Is it in the driveway?”
“Yeah, and the keys were in an envelope taped to the backdoor. Here.” He handed Aimee a small stationary envelope with keys sealed inside. On the front scribbled in purple ink, Chelsea had written…Call me when you wake up. Love ya, Chels.
“Oh, crap,” she moaned, and then scooted around her dad to get to her desk. “I didn’t call Michelle to let her know I wouldn’t be in to work today.”
Dad waited by the door while Aimee grabbed her phone and hit the number for work. He listened while she profusely apologized to Michelle for missing work and not calling in. She had a spotless record, that is up until today, no absences, not even a tardy. Fortunately, Rhonda, their boss, was off today. Michelle had covered for Aimee. Michelle assured her not to worry about it, and she would see Aimee on Saturday. She hung up and sighed with relief.
Dad said, “Well, you lucked out this time.” He smiled wryly, then turned to head for the den. He shouted back to Aimee over his shoulder, “Don’t worry about dinner. I ordered pizza. Got our usual. They should be delivering it any min…” Just then the doorbell buzzed. Zonker’s barking drowned out Dad’s yelling.
Before eating dinner Aimee figured she better call Chels and get the interrogation over. She flipped open her phone and hit Chelsea's number while she tried to comb through her tangled hair with her free hand. The phone rang a couple times then rolled to Chelsea’s voice mail. She left a short message to reassure Chels she was okay, her headache was finally gone, and she would see her in the morning at school. Before hanging up Aimee added a gracious thank you for bailing her out today, and Chelsea's needless concern about Aimee's health. She added she was going to bed early since she still felt exhausted. Aimee hoped Chels would get her subtle hint and wait until she saw Aimee tomorrow before she had to disclose anything else about her totally bizarre day. Aimee was curious if Chels had heard any gossip about her aimless wandering in the hallway this morning, but she was certain no one saw her travel, or her return. Aimee thought she had covered her tracks well enough to nip any suspicions Mrs. North or Mrs. Krause had about her brief disappearance.
Aimee decided she was too tired to eat, or even take a shower, although she knew she should do both. After a quick goodnight kiss, she left her dad sitting in front of the
TV eating pizza and drinking a beer. As soon as she hit her bedroom she tore off her jeans and hoodie, and climbed into bed. She laid perfectly still trying to empty her mind of everything that had happened since her surreal dream early that morning. Aimee figured she should be afraid to sleep. Afraid to dream. Afraid of the next journey. Afraid of the unknown. But something calming swept over her, and instead of being fearful of what she knew would eventually happen again, she felt at peace, even exhilarated. Some people spend their entire lives trying to understand why they exist. Aimee knew, without a doubt, what she was destined to do with her life. She was born to travel.
But, unfortunately, Aimee now knew there was a good chance she could die doing it.
Chapter 6 The Date
The alarm buzzed unmercifully until Aimee reached over and swatted the snooze button. She seldom slept until the alarm went off, but she had slept harder last night than she could ever remember. No dreams. No nightmares. Just deep, empty sleep. She laid there with her eyes still closed. It felt good to be rested. Her brain no longer felt pained by the headache. The alarm popped off again, and instead of hitting snooze for a second time she turned it off and sat up on the side of the bed.
Dawn was just emerging. Aimee could tell it would be another dismal day. The light sneaking through her blinds was too gray for this time of the morning. Zonker didn’t stir, only raising one eye to peek at her when she stood up to stretch. She slid her finger under one slat of the blinds and peered out.
“Geez, rain would have been better than this,” she grumbled when she stared out into the front yard frosted with a pale gray sheathing of snow. Big, fat, white flakes were still falling lazily from the cloud laden sky.
The Weird Travels of Aimee Schmidt: The Curse of the Gifted Page 6