The Weird Travels of Aimee Schmidt: The Curse of the Gifted (47 page)

She slowly edged around the corner and stopped abruptly. The breath stuck in her throat. Lying supine in the bed, every limb tied to the rails, was the woman from the black and white photo, and the same woman, but much younger looking, who had visited her a few weeks earlier. Joyful tears immediately poured down Aimee's cheeks as she bolted towards her mother. She rapidly started to tug at the bindings around her legs. Her mother didn’t stir. Her eyes were clamped shut. Aimee looked from her face to her arm where an IV dripping clear fluid was attached, then she noticed a tube running from under the blanket down by her hips to a bag holding yellow fluid hanging from the frame of the bed. Aimee winced.

“Mom,” Aimee whispered while she worked her way from a leg to an arm struggling to untie the tightly bound straps. Her mother never opened her eyes. Aimee paused for a moment, then let go of the knotted strap she had been struggling with on her wrist and moved up next to her head. Gently, as if her mother was a china doll, Aimee leaned over and cradled her hands on both sides of her mother's face and eased her lips to her mom's forehead. Delicately, Aimee kissed her and drew in her scent. It was the sweet smell of a mother. Aimee laid her head on her mom’s chest and felt her heart beating. Soft sobs erupted from Aimee and disappeared into the room. After a few minutes she looked up and peered into her mother's face. Her mother's eyes were open. She looked straight at Aimee. A smile spread across her mother’s lips.

“Mom?! Mom?!”
repeated Aimee. Her mother's lips suddenly dropped downward and a blank expression took over.

“Mom, I’m gonna get you out of here!” Aimee exclaimed.

Without warning, a man's voice filtered through from the other side of the door and Aimee heard a low squeak as the door began to open. She dove for the bathroom and slithered in just as the person pushed open the door and entered. The bathroom door was ajar just enough for Aimee to see a short, portly man with gray hair stroll by. A young nurse with a chart in her hand followed right behind him. They disappeared into the room. Their voices were low, but audible.

“I understand the husband will be signing the papers tomorrow. After he commits, and she’s had a couple days to recover from surgery, we’ll get Mrs. Schmidt transported to the facility. For some reason they are moving her out-of-state.”

“Dr. Walsh,” the woman started, “do you want to order another sedative for this evening? When the last dose started to wane, she got extremely agitated. She almost tore loose of her bindings.”

“I’ll up the dosage in her IV. We’ll just keep her sedated and let her rest tonight and see how well she responds in the morning. It looks like Dr. Rudolph saw her a few minutes ago. Everything looks good with the surgical site. Blood pressure is stable. Nothing concerning noted. I believe she should do well tonight.”

“Sounds good, Dr. Walsh,” the nurse agreed. The two suddenly reappeared from around the corner and hastily stepped out into the hall. The door swung shut. After a few seconds, Aimee slowly opened the bathroom door, then she darted back to her mother’s side. Time was running out. She had to get her mother untethered and somehow get her out of here, but the bindings wouldn’t budge. Aimee pulled and yanked and twisted. Nothing would loosen its grip. She dug through the drawers next to the bed, but they were empty except for some latex tape, gauze, and a Bible.

Just then, without any warning, the same young nurse returned. She quickly pushed through the door and dashed into the room. Aimee wheeled around. Their eyes met for only a second.

“Hey!” she exclaimed. “No one is allowed in here. What are you doing?” she asked in an authoritative tone. “You have to leave!”

Frozen in place, her hand glued to her mother’s arm, Aimee just shook her head and stared boldly into the nurse’s eyes. The nurse turned and bolted for the door. “Well then, I’ll let security remove you.”

Just as the nurse's hand reached the door handle, Aimee lurched towards her, leaped on her back, and squeezed her long, muscular legs around the nurse's waist. The woman started to scream, but Aimee covered her hands over the lady's mouth. Like a small, wild animal being attacked by a monstrous beast, the nurse fought to get free. She wasn’t going down easy. During their tussle she lost her balance and they both fell against the wall, but Aimee held on and tightened her limbs around the woman's frame like a steel clamp. The nurse continued to screech and claw at Aimee's arms. Her hand reached backwards flaying madly and grazed Aimee's sore nose with a gliding punch. The pain shot straight up through Aimee's brain and blinded her. Aimee dropped instantly like an anchor into the sea.

But she didn’t hit the floor. She didn’t hit anything as she fell. Nothing was there to catch her. Nothing existed but dark, empty space below her, above her, and around her. The familiar icy space of the black tunnel seized her. Aimee closed her eyes and felt the frigid nothingness swirl around her and seep into every pore. ....

…“Dad, she’s okay. I found her in her car.”

Aimee's eyes were still shut, but she could hear a voice; James’s voice. He was talking on his cell phone. Slowly, she opened her eyelids and stared out the front window. She was sitting in her car. It was still parked in the grocery store’s parking lot. Aimee glanced over at James. He was sitting in the passenger seat with a worried look on his face. She continued her glance over her shoulder. Sacha sat on the edge of the seat in the back, and was leaning over the console looking first at Aimee, and then at James with a fretful look on her face.

“Dad, I’ll call you back in a couple minutes. She’s coming around.” James quickly ended the
call and asked, “Geez, Aimee.
Whathahell
happened?” He handed her a wadded napkin for her nose. “Here,” he continued,
“your nose is bloody. What did you do, pass out and hit your face?”

Sacha reached over the seat and delicately touched Aimee's shoulder. “James, give her a second. She doesn’t look so good.” Sacha twisted the top off, then handed Aimee the bottle of water that she dropped into the passenger seat when she fell into the car. “Here, Aimee, try to take a sip of this.”

Aimee just shook her head and looked out her side window. After a few seconds, Aimee turned back to James. Both he and Sacha were anxiously studying her, waiting for an answer to her odd behavior. James couldn’t wait. “Aimee, do I need to take you to the hospital?”

Finally Aimee spoke. “No. I just wanna go home. I’m fine now.”

“Well, like hell,” James argued. His usual jovial tone was missing. “You’re not driving by yourself anywhere. So what the fu…”

“James!” Sacha interrupted, cutting James short with a
if looks could kill
stare.

“Sorry. I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be terse, but Aimee, this is becoming a routine thing for you. Every time you get into your car you seem to zone out and something happens. Hey...” he paused for a second, his eyes narrowed, “you aren’t high, are you?”

Aimee whipped her face around and threw darts at him with her eyes.

“I guess not,” James resigned. “It’s just that…well…you have been acting really weird the past couple of months, and strange things keep happening to you. You have Dad worried sick...”

At the mention of Dad’s name, Aimee's whole body went rigid. James noticed.

“…and Dylan. Shit, he’s been burning up my phone for the past fifteen minutes trying to find you. If it wasn’t for you telling him where you were stopping, we wouldn’t have found you so fast. Man, the dude’s totally freaked out over you, Aimee.”

Her body got even harder at the mention of how frazzled Dylan was over her brief disappearance from the radar. Aimee took a long breath, then spoke, “I’m sorry I worried everyone. I know you all care…a lot…about me. I don’t know what happened. I musta blacked out from not eating and busted my nose on the steering wheel, or something…”

James shot a look at Aimee, then at Sacha, his eyebrows pitted together, then back to his sister. He said, “Well, whatever happened, I’ve been given strict orders to not let you drive back…”

“
What
?!” exclaimed Aimee.

“Yeah, little sister, no arguing. I’m gonna drive you back, and Sacha is gonna follow…”

“But, James, that’s totally ridiculous,” Aimee snapped, trying to hold her temper in check. “You and Sacha don’t have the time to haul me back home like I’m helpless. You won’t get back here until way after midnight…” Aimee tried to convince him the idea was stupid, but the look on his face told her he wasn’t giving in. “All right,” Aimee said disgusted, “you win, but I’m driving.”

James held out his hand for the keys. “Nope, not even. Hand them over.”

Aimee stared angrily at him for a few seconds. His face was as stoic as a Royal Palace guard. She tossed the keys into the cup holder of the console and jumped out of the car. Irately, she leaned against the car and watched the customers coming out of the store stroll by, awkwardly trying not to stare. Aimee reached up and wiped her fingers across her upper lip. Flakey, dried blood rubbed off. With a dab of spit on her forefinger, Aimee raked the rest of the blood off and stayed planted against the car. Aimee could hear James talking on his cell phone.

“…yeah, well, she said she musta passed out from not eating.”

Silence.

“I know it sounds weird, Dad, but at least she’s okay…this time. I mean, she had a bloody nose when we found her…”

Silence.

“…yeah, but she thinks she hit the steering wheel when she fainted.”

Silence.

“I know. I know. She’s acting okay, I guess, kinda weird, but nothing abnormal for Aimee.” James sniggered lightly.

Silence.

“Okay. Nope, we don’t need to go back to the apartment. We’re gonna take off now. I’ll drive Aimee’s car and Sacha’s gonna follow.”

After a couple minutes of muffled talking, James and Sacha stepped out of the car at the same time. Sacha reached up and tenderly touched Aimee's shoulder, and then gave her a sympathetic smile. James stood at the passenger door, holding it open for Aimee like a valet attendant. A sigh of frustration slid out of her mouth, and Aimee reluctantly rounded the car and angrily plopped into the passenger seat. James slammed the door, quickly paced around the front of the car, slid into the driver’s seat, shut his door, and cranked the engine.

Ten miles down the road, James turned off the radio and broke the silence. “Uh,” he began, “you know, I think we have a fairly close relationship for a brother and sister...” He paused and looked over at Aimee to check if she was listening. She kept her eyes frozen on the road ahead, trying her best to pretend to ignore him. “Well, anyway, I know something is bothering you. I’ve seen you act like this before…”

Aimee whipped her eyes towards James. He looked at her for a second, then back to the road.

“And James, just how
am
I acting?”

“Different. Not your normal kinda flaky self, but really weird,” he admitted as he stole a glance at her then back to the road. “Listen, so you know, Aunt Lauren called Dad. She’s really worried about you. She said you were talking some crazy shit. Dad didn’t tell me what it was, but they both think you should be back in therapy.”

Furiously Aimee spit out, “I bet they do!”

James looked over at Aimee with a bewildered stare. After a few minutes of driving in silence, James began again, “Hey, look, if you don’t want to see the shrink, you can always talk to me.”

Aimee thought hard about his invitation. God, she didn’t know how many times she wished she
could
talk to her brother about all the weirdness in her life, but he wouldn’t understand, not yet any
way.

She sighed loudly for a long time, then quietly answered, “Thanks, James. Maybe someday soon I’ll take you up on your offer. But…” Aimee stopped and looked out the side window at the scenery whizzing by.

“But what?” James asked.

Gradually, she eased around and stared intensely into his face. His eyes impatiently met hers waiting for her to finish.

Aimee finally answered, “You aren’t ready to hear what I have to tell.”

Chapter 18 Bon Voyage

“Yeah Dad, we’re coming into Medford right now.” James was on his cell phone to their dad for the eighth time since they left Eugene. Ten minutes later they pulled up into the driveway. Sacha pulled up right after them and parked James’s car behind Dylan’s FJ along the curb, and then got out.

Dad and Dylan were both pacing on the front porch. James got out and looked back into the car at Aimee. “Coming?” he asked. Aimee ignored him. “Okay. Suit yourself,” he said, and slammed his door and walked with Sacha up the sidewalk towards the house. Aimee stayed planted in her seat with her arms crossed tightly across her chest.

James, Dylan, Dad, and Sacha all huddled together on the porch. Aimee watched from the car, unable to hear what they were saying. They were obviously discussing her. Occasionally each one would look Aimee's direction, and then go back to talking. Finally, James and Sacha went into the house. Her dad stood there with his hands perched on his hips, staring at Aimee for a long minute. He looked worried, but fortunately stayed put on the porch. He turned and leaned into Dylan. Dylan nodded, then Dad went into the house leaving Dylan alone on the porch. Dylan slowly came down the steps and continued walking towards Aimee's car. His eyes were focused on her. The door opened and the ceiling light popped on. Dylan slipped into the driver’s seat, shut the door, and looked over at her. She kept her eyes straight ahead looking out into the nothingness of the dark. The light from the porch dimly lit their faces. Dylan cleared his throat, slid his hands across the console and covered Aimee's hands. His hands felt warm. Strong. Safe. She looked over at him, and her eyes immediately filled with tears. Dylan touched her cheek.

“I’m…sooo… sorry,” Aimee cried in between each word.

Dylan softly said, “Hush. Don’t worry about it. As long as you’re okay, that’s all that matters to me.”

“Dylan…”

“Yeah?”