Secret Past

Sorry, it's incomplete I know, and I don't really like sumbitting incomlpete work but I would greatly appreciate any feedback or opinons of this story, especially since I'm trying an experiment in perspective, each chapter it changes from the perpsective of my female lead charatcer to that of my male lead character and back again. (except chapters 3 & 4 both were the female character's POV.) I'm currently working on this and will post chapters as I finish them. Promsie!

Please enjoy reading this as I've enjoyed writing it. Believe it or not, I'm always thinking of my readers as I write.

TigerFan















Secret Past
By TigerFan



Chapter One


I slowly opened my eyes and sat up, I was in a hospital laying on a hospital bed, a bandage wrapped around my forehead. “Where am I?” I asked. The nurse who had apparently been sitting with me came in just as I sat up. “You’re awake now, good. I need your name, age and possibly the name of any family we can contact concerning you.” The nurse said. “I uh…I can’t tell you, I don’t know my name or anything that you want me to tell you, I’m sorry but I don’t.” I said. “Amnesia. (Sigh) I guess all I can tell the doctor is that you’re awake but, other than that there’s nothing else to tell.” The nurse said as she walked out of the room.


I slowly got up and walked into the bathroom and looked in the mirror at a face I hardly recognized, my own. My gorgeous midnight colored hair, my lightly tanned complexion, my beautiful emerald eyes, my overall beauty was almost foreign to me but I did know that the face in front of me was mine, even if I barely recognized it. “Miss?” The doctor walked in. I came out of the bathroom and greeted him.


“Hello.” I said. “Good afternoon. I‘m Doctor Thomas.” “Tell me, how long have I been here?” I asked. “As far as we know, you’ve been out of it for three days.” He replied. “How did I get here?” “A Good Samaritan brought you in, the fellow said he didn’t know you but had found you unconscious. I wasn‘t here that day so I can‘t tell you much of anything else.” The doctor told me. “I see. Did I have any kind of ID on me?” I asked. “No you didn’t. I was told that you had been found with nothing more than the clothes you were wearing. You had a nasty bump/cut combo on your head; that’s what the bandage is for. Now you tell me something, can you remember anything? Anything at all?” I did remember something but some instinct told me not to mention it.


“No, I don’t remember anything before waking up.” I said. The doctor frowned. “ I see. Well let’s get on with it then. I’ll have to give you a physical just to make sure you’re okay, and you’ll have to stay till tomorrow. Hopefully you’ll remember something by then.” The doctor said then had me sit down on the bed and he checked me and physically I was fine, but there was no telling when or if I would get my memory back. I tossed and turned all night long, unable to sleep thinking, what if I have a husband and children who have no idea where I am or will come looking for me and I don’t even know them anymore? What if I never get my memories back? What if my family finds me and I don’t even recognize them anymore? What if I don’t have a family and spend the rest of my life searching for something that doesn’t even exist?


I was awake for hours with thoughts like that running through my mind. I woke up at seven the next morning although I hadn’t gotten to sleep till almost five. A nurse brought me breakfast after a second physical. I spent the next few hours waiting and thinking. The doctor had said that he would come back once he finished checking up on some of his other patients. I had some time to think, so I made the best of it. I looked around my room; it was fairly plain, white walls, white bedding and two brown chairs. The only thing in the room that was the least bit colorful was the bouquet of flowers in the vase on the table by the chairs. I took a sniff of the sweet aroma of the blooms and noticed a card in the flowers. I took the card and read it, half expecting it to be either blank or signed by the doctor but it wasn’t. It read:

‘K
Get well soon so you can get out of there ASAP!
Signed a Friend’


“Okay, that’s weird, who sent the flowers? And who’s K? Am I K? Well I know I’ll find out, somehow.” I said to myself. The doctor came in. “Doctor, who sent these flowers?” I asked. “I don’t know, the day before yesterday the desk nurse who takes the dayshift found them at the front desk and the envelope had your room number on it so we put them in here. Sometimes a group of people, like students from the local schools, who, whether or not they have a personal connection to any patients here, leave flowers just to cheer them up so we assumed that’s what it was.” He set his white lab coat on a chair and continued to say that I would be released into the care of my brother who had been trying to find me for the past three days and was now outside my room talking to the nurse who‘d led him up there. “You get ready and then I’ll bring your brother in.” The doctor said walking out the door.


I was puzzled but I couldn’t even remember not having a brother so I peeked out after the doctor to get a look at my ‘brother’. I knew I wouldn’t recognize him but somehow I had a very bad feeling about him, I got an instinctively bad feeling just from looking at him, he was of average height, with a strong build and he had dark hair. I didn’t want to go with him and even seeing him there gave me a feeling of urgency, like I had to get away from him. Then I thought about the card, the words ’get out of there ASAP’ had been bolder than the rest, as if it was some kind of warning. Although I only had gut instinct to go on I decided that I was going to slip out without the guy claming to be my brother.


I pulled my long black hair back into a pony tail and dressed in the jeans and pink sweater the doctor had said I was wearing when I was brought in. I put the crackers I was given with the soup I had for lunch in my pocket and decided to take the card that was with the flowers, if it was hiding a message then maybe there was some kind of clue in it that I could use to figure out who had sent the flowers and go from there. Then on a spur of the moment decision I put on the doctor’s coat since he left it there and walked out and wasn’t noticed…at first.


Chapter 2


I thought I had finally gotten my life back on track. I had just left what I hoped was the last meeting I’d ever have with my lawyer, Thomas Grady of ‘Grady, Robertson & Lawrence attorneys at law’. I drove along the highway towards my hometown, Reddington Vermont and thought about the night that I wished had never happened, the night that had hurled me into an endless nightmare that I had desperately wished I could wake up from, but I couldn’t because it wasn’t a nightmare, it was real, too real. It had been almost a year since that terrible night.


I had just been sitting at home, waiting for my sister to return from her friend Courtney’s house when I’d gotten a call from her. “Taylor! Taylor you’ve got to come and get me! Please come and get me…I’m scared, I need my big brother, please help me Taylor!” Then I had heard what sounded like gunshots and then the line had gone dead. Phoebe had sounded so terrified I had decided to get over to Courtney’s as fast as I could. On the way I had dialed the cell number of one of my best friends, Marcus Brent who had just started as a police officer on the force there, it was what he’d always wanted to do. I told him about the call and the gunshots and he said that not thirty seconds ago a neighbor had called saying she thought she’d heard gunshots and screams coming from the house and was already on his way there. I told him that Phoebe was there and I’d meet him there, then I’d hung up before he had the chance to say what I thought he’d say: “No stay where you are. I’ll bring Phoebe to your house if I can okay? Just stay put.”


Marcus was three years older than me and had always been kinda like the big brother I never had, he even stayed with Phoebe and I for a few days after our parents passed away, they had died in a car crash about two years prior to that night. When I arrived at Courtney’s house Marcus had just pulled up and was knocking at the door. When no answer had come to his knocks he walked over to me. “Stay here. I’m going in, if it’s clear I’ll get you and you can come in got it?” I hadn’t a chance to respond before he turned the doorknob and upon finding it unlocked opened the door, went inside and closed it behind him. No less than twenty seconds later I heard several gunshots from inside and ran to the door. I could see the silhouette of someone at the door and I heard a click from the other side. I tried the door only to find that whoever had been on the other side had locked it.


I had just started to make my way to the back door when I saw someone making a break for the next yard from the window and gave chase. I called both my friend and my sister’s names but when I got no reply I realized that whoever I was chasing was the nut job who had been firing the gunshots that I heard. As I ran I was sure I could heard sirens not to far off and then suddenly it felt as if the earth under my foot moved right out from under me and I fell to the ground. I looked and felt around and discovered a gun on the ground. I realized that I must have stepped on it and it slid from under my foot causing me to fall.


I picked up the gun as I realized that the sirens I heard where coming from Courtney’s drive way. I dashed back to find several police cars and two ambulances. As I handed the gun to the first officer I saw and explained how I’d chased the culprit and tripped on the gun after he dropped it I saw men push two stretchers out of the house and into the ambulances. Each had a body bag on it and they wouldn’t push empty bags on stretchers into ambulances. With terror I realized that one bag contained the body of my sister Phoebe Travis and other contained the body of one of the best friends I ever had, Marcus Brent.


I turned to the cop and asked what happened. “We had received a call from Officer Brent about a shooting victim and needing back-up cause the crazy who shot her was still in there but we got here too late. Officer Brent and the other victim were dead by time we got here.” the officer had told me. I felt an overwhelming wave of guilt as I realized that if I hadn’t chased that guy but gone inside instead I might have been able to save Phoebe and Marcus.


I explained that my sister was supposed to be here visiting with her friend who lived in the house and the officer had me identify the first body in the bag. In one moment that seemed to last forever I gazed, for the last time, at Phoebe’s sweet, innocent face and desperately wished she would stir or open her eyes if only for a second, just to prove she wasn’t dead, but I knew that she was. I left the scene feeling like the worst big brother in the whole entire world. “How could I have let that happen?” I kept asking myself. “Weren’t big brothers supposed to protect their little sisters? If so why couldn’t I protect poor Phoebe? She didn’t deserve to die like that! She had so many dreams for the future, she wanted to get married and have kids of her own. She always told me that someday I’d be ‘Uncle’ Taylor and then I’d tell her that I was too young to be an uncle.


A few days after Phoebe died I was called in to the police station while trying to make the necessary arrangements for her funeral. When I arrived I soon discovered that the worst was yet to come. Here I’d been going crazy and beating myself up over what had happened to Phoebe and they had the nerve to accuse me of killing her! It went on for the first month or two while the stupid cops kept trying to find a way to nail me for a crime I didn’t commit. The tabloids getting wind of the story didn’t help either, some called me the ‘ The big brother who went over the deep end after his mommy and daddy died.’ or ’ The big brother who put a permanent end to a sibling rivalry’ others took my side…sort of. They called me the ‘big brother who had failed to fulfill the sacred duty of big brothers every where, to protect the younger sibling.’


“Or siblings, as the case may be.” I had said to myself as I read that headline for the first time. I had figured that at least somebody had the right idea but the authorities sure didn’t. I had been in multiple meetings with my lawyers after the funerals of Phoebe and Marcus and eventually the charges were dropped because they didn’t have enough evidence to condemn me of anything and the case went cold. Of course, I already felt condemned, like I had been condemned the moment I let Phoebe walk out the door that night. I had promised my parents a long time ago that I would protect her and I failed.


My cell phone started to ring knocking me back to the present. I answered it. “ Taylor Travis.” “Taylor, how‘d it go with the lawyer.” the voice on the other end said. I recognized the voice of one of my best friends, Quinn Wheeler. I had been not only Quinn’s best friend but also sort of a mentor to him, like Marcus had been to me. Now the 19 year-old robotics genius, who was two years younger than me, was my right hand man. But, cool as his gadgets were and as loyal a friend as he was, he could be a real pain in the neck sometimes.


“Hey! Earth to Taylor!” Quinn shouted into the phone. “Oh, sorry. Now what do you want?” I asked fully coming out of my repartee. “I just wanted to know how things went with your lawyer.” he asked me. “I think I‘m finally finished with him, and his bills.” I said. “Great. Do you think you might want to go and catch a movie tonight? You know, get your mind off things for a while? Even if it is for just a couple of hours?” Quinn asked me as I drove down the exit to Montpelier, I had to drive through Montpelier if I wanted to avoid the heavy traffic on the interstate. “Yeah, sure Quinn. Seven thirty good for you?” “Absolutely.” “Let me guess, no robotics convention tonight?” “You got it. But even if there was I’d still rather go to a movie with my best bud, especially if he wants to make it a double date.” “Double date Quinn? Who’s the girl this time?” I asked slyly. “She just moved into town a week or so ago, name’s Bernadette, she’s very beautiful too, Taylor.” “Sounds like a nice girl to me but I have to burst your bubble pal, no double date.” “Why not?” “No date. That’s why not.” “You’re kidding me! Taylor “chick magnet” Travis doesn’t have a date for Saturday night?” “Nope. And how many times do I have to tell you to quit calling me that Quinn?”


Although I hated the moniker I had to admit that with my “Gorgeous” as some women like to call it, brown hair and dark brown eyes, combined with my lightly tanned complexion and my somewhat muscular physique he did have a point. Not that I was one of those guys who would spend hours a day in front of the mirror or at a tanning booth or anything like that. I just do all the yard work on a regular basis to keep my house looking nice outside as well as on the inside. I mean, after all, I don’t want people thinking I’m a slob. It doesn't hurt that I stop by the gym every now and then either. As I continued to talk with Quinn I past by Montpelier General Hospital where I saw him, the same guy my sister had been dating and broke up with before she died, walk into the lobby. I told Quinn I’d call him back, flipped my phone shut and followed him inside. I watched him get into the elevator to another floor so I took the emergentcy stairs so he wouldn’t see me.


Chapter 3


“The patient isn‘t here.” The nurse said as he opened to door to the room that the man before him had said was his sister’s room. I heard that and turned tail from heading to the elevator to the emergency stairs. I bolted down the stairs so fast I hadn’t seen the man on the stairs and nearly ran him over. “Hey! Watch where you’re going!” he snapped. “I’m sorry. I stammered. I looked at him for a minute, he had dark brown hair to match his brown eyes, he wore blue jeans that had a tight fit and looked good on him and black boots to match his leather jacket, he looked like he belonged on a Harley instead of in a hospital. Suddenly we heard the voices of the doctor and probably the guy who said he was my brother. “I’ve got to go.” I said quickly. Catching a glimpse of the doctor and the other man, whom he’d seemed to recognize, he looked at me. “This way.” He said taking me by the hand and dashing down the stairs and out of the hospital. He took me towards a jet-black corvette, stuck a key in the ignition, the engine roared to life and we were cruising down the highway.


“Okay, why did you help me out of there and then push me into your car?” I asked. “That guy who was with the doctor, I know him; He’s bad road and apparently he’s after you.” He said. “Me?” I asked. “What I want to know is why.” He said. “I honestly have no idea why he‘s after me.” I said. “What?” “I don’t remember much of anything before waking up in that hospital yesterday, I-I have amnesia; I wouldn’t even recognize my own mother if she were standing right in front of me.


The doctor said that that guy was my brother but I got a really bad feeling the minute I saw him.” I said. “Well that’s good cause that guy is bad news,” he said. “And just how do I know you aren’t bad news yourself?” “I guess you’ll just have to trust me.” “You’re a perfect stranger and you want me to trust you!” I asked incredulously. “Well right now your own sister would be a perfect stranger to you.” He said flatly. “Touché. Point taken. But let me ask you one thing.” “Ask away.” “What’s your name? It’ll be a lot easier to trust you if I know who I’m trusting.” “Taylor, Taylor Travis. Now what about you?” Taylor asked. “I just told you I’ve got amnesia! I can’t remember my name! I can’t even remember my cat’s name! I can’t even remember if I even have a cat!” I snapped at Taylor. “Okay, stupid question. Well, anyhow I don’t think you want to be called no-name so until you can remember your name how about you think of a name for yourself, and an apology would be nice.” Taylor said. “Okay okay, I’m sorry, I guess this whole amnesia thing has really got me flustered.” I said.


I sat in silence for a moment thinking when I suddenly decided to ask, “Hey, can you tell me what state this is?” “What? You don’t even know what state you’re in? Well I can tell you. We’re in the state of Vermont and heading toward a lovely little town, my hometown to be exact, called Reddington. There are lilacs all over the area; they seem to grow everywhere. Now about your name…?” Taylor asked. “Okay until I remember my real name I’ll name myself…” I thought for a moment. The card had the letter K on it as if it was my name so that’s what I would call myself…for now. “Kay.” I said. “Okay then, Kay it is.” Taylor said.


I wondered about Taylor, why did I feel so safe with him? Supposedly it was my brother at the hospital but if that guy was my brother wouldn’t he have given my name to the doctor? I would have had a feeling of comfort or reassuring if that really was my brother, wouldn’t I? Well I had only gut instinct to go on, so I decided to trust Taylor for the time being, but if I started to feel like I couldn’t trust him I would get away from him, fast. “So… can you remember anything before waking up in that hospital?” Taylor asked. “Yes, the very last thing I remember is a voice over an intercom saying: flight 212 to New York now boarding. Somehow I get the feeling that I should have been on that flight, I just don’t know why.” We were silent the rest of the trip, Taylor had apparently decided to leave me to my thoughts.


Chapter 4


Within an hour I found myself in the little town of Reddington, which as Taylor had said was covered with lilacs. “It’s a quiet, peaceful little town but, I call it home just the same.” Taylor said. “It’s a beautiful little town, and the lilacs are gorgeous.” I said. “Yeah, they are. You know I’ve seen quite a few beautiful women before but I think you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, you’re even more beautiful than the lilacs around here.” Taylor told me. “Thanks for the compliment, so where are we going? Your house or your mother’s house.“ I asked. “I said this was my home town, I didn’t say I was living with my mother, besides that would be kind of hard to do considering she passed away three years ago.” Taylor said solemnly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know, I wouldn’t have-” Taylor interrupted me. “It’s alright, you couldn’t have known.” He said pulling up to a charming white two-story house with green trim.


Taylor unlocked the front door. “My humble abode, it isn’t much but it’s home.” He said with a smile. “It’s beautiful, I must say you have good taste in furniture.” I said. “It’s stuff I picked up at yard and garage sales, and, of course some of the furniture from my mother’s house.” “Your house is very lovely Taylor.” I said. “Go ahead and make yourself at home Kay. I’ll go ahead and make something to eat, how does Mac’n’cheese grab ya?” Taylor asked heading into the kitchen. “That sounds wonderful to me, after all I’ve been eating hospital food for a day and a half so something home cooked would be a nice change.” I said as I sat down on the sofa in the living room looking around at the room.


The floor was a solid hard wood oak floor with a beautiful finish, the coffee table and the end tables that were on either side of the sofa were full of old papers and magazines and this and that, old soda cans and other things too. They looked to be finished in a darker color than the floor but I wasn’t sure exactly what shade it would be called. The walls were somewhat bare with the exception of a few pictures here and there, there was on of a woman with a little boy sitting on the same sofa I myself was sitting on but in a different house; I assumed that the boy was Taylor and the woman was his mother, she was a lovely woman, in the picture she had short blonde curls that hung just an inch or so below her ears, beautiful brown eyes which she obviously passed on to Taylor and she was wearing a lovely sun dress with a charming flower pattern on it.


I also noticed that she was wearing a beautiful but dainty golden locket around her neck. ‘My, how pretty. Taylor’s mother was a very beautiful woman, and she looks like she was a very sweet person too.’ I thought to myself. I then noticed a picture of a lovely young woman with red hair about the same length as Taylor’s mother’s hair and she had the same brown eyes that Taylor possessed. However, she looked to be about three years younger than Taylor. “I wonder who that girl is?” I said aloud.


“Mac’s ready.” Taylor called from the kitchen. As I started to get up from my spot on the sofa I saw Taylor heading toward me with a bowl of Macaroni in his hand. He swept away some the trash on the table and set the bowl down in front of me. “Sorry about the mess. Here’s your food. Do you want something to drink? I have water, milk and I think there might still be some orange juice in the fridge but it’s probably bad by now so you might not want that.” “Uh, I’ll just have a glass of milk, thank you.” I said “Ah, that would be my choice too.” Taylor said. And with that he disappeared into the kitchen momentarily and returned with two glasses of milk and then went for his bowl and sat with me and we ate our Macaroni and Cheese. When I finished my Macaroni and downed my milk I realized just how tired I was and promptly fell asleep before I could take my dishes to the sink.


Chapter 5


I put a blanket over Kay and took her dishes to the sink and washed all the dishes. When I finished the dishes I went up to my room to try and watch some TV but there wasn’t anything good on so I went back down stairs to try and find something to do. I stood in the doorway that led from the main hallway to the living room and looked at Kay. She looked to be no older than myself so I placed her at about twenty-one or twenty-two. She was beautiful, her long, gorgeous black hair was getting a little tousled as she slept, her stunning green eyes were closed at the moment so I couldn’t see the lovely emerald hue they had. As I sat there watching Kay sleep I realized something, she had nothing with her. She didn’t have any extra clothes to change into or anything, so I decided to go and get her a few things while she slept. I’d just get her some clothes, shoes and a few hair ties. When it came to things like underwear and feminine things I decided I’d let her handle that herself.


I made sure to forward any calls to the home phone to my cell phone, turn on the security system and lock the door before I left. Like being in the witness protection program, I was glad that I didn’t have to move on account of everything that happened, I liked my house just fine, I didn’t ever want to leave it, after all, it had been my home since I was a child. I’d grown up in that house and there were just too many memories there to leave it. Pushing my current thoughts aside I parked in the parking-lot of the local Wal-Mart and went inside. Only then it had occurred to me that I had no idea what kind of clothes Kay would like, let alone what size she was. “Oh, great. What do I do now?” I muttered under my breath as I started to look around in the women’s clothing department. “What are you doing here?” A familiar voice asked from behind me.


I turned and saw Linda Stone one of the women whom I’d dated before, standing right behind me obviously confused as to why I was looking at women’s clothes since she knew full well I didn’t have a woman to shop for. I mentally rehearsed the first excuse that popped into my mind. ‘Oh, hi Linda. I was just… trying to find an outfit for… my…Cousin! That’s it I was just trying to find an outfit for my cousin.’ Then said it out loud. “Oh, hi Linda I was just trying to find an outfit for my cousin.” I said hoping I didn’t sound as nervous as I felt. If she found out that Kay was staying with me she’d start asking questions, lots of questions because no matter what I could say I’d end up backing myself into a corner. “I thought you said you were out of touch with any family you have?” She asked me looking at me with the look that told me she thought that either I was lying to her or she had just found the mother load of gossip for the week.


The whole reason I quit going out with her was because if there was one thing she loved to do, it was spreading the local gossip with her friends and that could mean serious trouble for me if she had gotten wind of the one thing I was trying to hide. So I let her down gently which was fine with her because apparently her one true love was gossip. “I was, she just… you know, showed up. I thought I’d pick up a little something for her and we have arrangements to go to dinner tonight so I thought I’d just pick her up a new outfit for tonight.” I said. “That’s great! Where are you going? My brother Myron is taking me out to Chile’s tonight for a late birthday dinner so maybe we could… you know? Make it a double date?” “What do you mean ‘Double Date’? Me with you and Kay, that’s my cousin, with your brother?” “That wasn’t what I was thinking, but-Yeah sure that would be splendid. I’ll have my brother drive us over to your place tonight and you and I can go in your car while your cousin rides with Myron. What was her name again? Kay?” “Yeah, Kay. But-” “Then it’s all settled. See you tonight.” And with that Linda walked over to the nearest register to check out.


“Well if that isn’t fine and dandy.” I muttered to myself. ’What the heck is Kay going to think when I tell her she’s got a date?’ I Asked myself as I went about trying to find something she might like. After about three hours of searching I finally decided on a couple pairs of jeans like the ones she already had, a pair of plain solid color shirts and a white skirt that I hoped would look good with her sweater for the ’double date’. I then realized that I should probably stock up on some groceries, (Thank goodness for Wal-Mart super centers! No extra trip to another store!) so I went straight to the grocery section as fast as I could without looking like I was trying to run a marathon around Wal-Mart.


As I walked through the frozen foods section selecting some of the more generic choices, Chicken nuggets, Pepperoni pizza, and other foodstuffs most people like, I was carefully scanning every other person in the aisle and anyone walked by trying to see if anyone else I knew was here as I still had women’s clothing in my basket. After all the hassle with the cops and my lawyers and everything else that came down on me after Phoebe and Marcus’ deaths the last thing I wanted was more people sticking their noses into my business and asking me millions of questions. Especially questions I didn’t want to, or couldn’t answer.


When I had chosen a couple bottles of soda and picked up some fresh OJ (Orange Juice) I headed to the front, checked out, and got home as fast as I could, still in an effort to avoid any other people I knew, like Quinn. I could just imagine what he would say if he knew about Kay.


‘I thought you didn’t have a girl Taylor. Have you been holding out on me?’ I inwardly cringed at the thought of having to explain Kay’s sudden appearance and relation to me, not only to Quinn, but to anyone else who might ask.


Chapter 6


I yawned and stretched out on the couch then sat up and looked around. My dishes were gone. “Taylor must have taken them to the kitchen.” I said to myself. I began to wonder where Taylor had gone so I got up and looked for him. I looked in the kitchen, then I looked around the first floor searching for Taylor. I found the laundry room, inside there was a washing machine and a dryer placed against one of the white walls as well as a pile of laundry in a basket next to the washing machine. I moved on and found a room that appeared to be a study. Inside there was a desk that had a complete computer set up on it, a laptop, a printer, audio speakers for the laptop, as well as several CDs for the laptop. The desk had a lamp on it and things like a stapler and a scotch tape dispenser too. There was also a bookshelf in the room that reached from the floor to the ceiling and it was filled with books.


Out of sheer curiosity I walked over to the shelf and examined the books. The shelf that made eye contact with me had lots books for different computer programs; some were different video games and others were for other programs that were most likely of a more professional nature like document processing programs and such. I looked at the other shelves below one at a time and there wasn’t anything real interesting just a few books like encyclopedias and dictionaries and a few books on cars and car parts.


I then pulled the chair from the desk and looked at the two shelves above my head. The second one from the top caught my attention, on it was a nearly complete set of original series ‘Hardy Boys’ mysteries in the newer hardcover as well as some other books garnered more to the taste of a little boy than that of grown man. On the very top shelf there was a complete set of ‘Nancy Drew’ mystery books, the original series #1 through #99 also in the newer hardcover. “Why does he have ‘Nancy Drew’ mystery books?” I asked myself aloud. I also noticed a couple other books that seemed to be more for young girls rather than boys and wondered why Taylor had them. Then it occurred to me that it might have something to do with the girl I saw in one of the pictures in the living room.


I got down off the chair pushed back in front of the desk. I looked around the room again and then I spotted a picture on the desk. Taylor was in it, so was the girl from the other picture. There was also a young man who looked to be a little older than Taylor standing beside them wearing a policeman’s uniform. They all looked happy and couldn’t help but wonder who the girl and young man were and what their connection to Taylor was. I turned to the door realizing how silly it was to be so curious, it was none of my business. I continued my search for Taylor. “Taylor!” I called his name a few times there was no answer. I walked back towards the living room and noticed the small dining room just off the hall by the kitchen for the first time and peered in. It was slightly larger than I thought but very plain, only a round table with a solid white table cloth draped over it and five small but comfortable-looking chairs were present.


The only thing on the wall was a picture of Taylor, the girl from the other two pictures and a couple who appeared to be in their late forties to early fifties. I assumed that they must be his parents since the woman was the same one who was with the little boy in the picture in the living room and since the girl was in the picture too I assumed she must be Taylor’s sister and the picture I was looking at was their family portrait. Taylor’s father was an incredibly handsome man. He had deep, expressive eyes of brown just like the rest, his hair was black with some distinguishing gray on the sides, his face was handsome and clean shaven. I could tell now were Taylor got his looks from. I left the dining room and realized that aside from a bathroom on the first floor only the upstairs was left for examination. I decided I didn’t want to go upstairs because I realized as I’d walked around Taylor’s house that I felt more and more like a trespasser in someone else’s house.


I sat down on the couch and figured that Taylor must have gone somewhere while I was asleep so I took the card from the flowers out of my pocket, it was a little bent but still in one piece. I looked at the card as I turned it in my hand.

‘K
Get well soon so you can get out of there ASAP!
Signed a Friend’


As I looked I realized that ’get out of there ASAP!’ was darker and the ‘d’ at the end of ‘signed’ was darker than the rest of the word, as was the ‘a’ between ‘signed’ and ‘friend’. I also noticed that ’F ’R’ ’I’ and ’E’ in ’friend’ were darker too. I knew there must be a secret message so I tried to figure it out. “That’s weird. Dafrie? No that makes no sense. Wait a second, the letter f is capitalized and none of the other darker letters on the bottom are, maybe that’s the first letter.” I thought. I looked at closely. I looked for an extra piece of paper, a small note with random doodles was on the table so I took it and the pencil next to it and began writing the darkened words on the note but last line escaped me, I looked at it again. D, A, and FRIE. I said the portions aloud to my self. Frie and A and D. Frie and Da. Wait a second Frie and Da is Frieda!” I exclaimed as I wrote that down on the paper.

K,
Get out of there ASAP!
Frieda

“Who the heck is Frieda?” I asked myself as I read the note. Suddenly I heard a noise at the front door. Someone was trying to get in!


Chapter 7


As I unlocked the door, opened it, and walked inside Kay was ready to throw the couch cushions at me. “Whoa!” I exclaimed as I dodged a flying throw pillow. “Hey, that’s some way to greet someone who probably saved your life and just bought you a nice surprise!” I said as I shut the door behind me despite the fact that I had two arm loads of groceries in my arms. “I’m sorry Taylor, you scared me. I had no idea it was you at the door. Good thing I didn’t chuck the table lamps from the end tables though.” She said in an attempt to laugh it off. “Yeah, that would have given me a nasty bump for sure. Hey could help me put these things away? I only have one bag left in the car so I’ll get that if you’ll put things away in here.” I bargained with Kay. “Sure, just one problem. I don’t know where anything goes.” She said looking at the TV dinners I brought. “It’s pretty much all frozen stuff so just put in the freezer and anything else I’ll handle when I come in. ‘Course the soda and the OJ go in the fridge.” I said walking outside to get the bag of things for Kay.


I had no idea why I was doing this, opening my home to a total stranger, a total amnesiac stranger, buying her clothes, leaving her alone in my house while I shopped. I thought about it and wondered if Phoebe wasn’t lending a heavenly hand in all of this because Kay didn’t seem like she would harm anyone and if HE was after her then just possibly I could catch him or get the cops off their idiotic, lazy, good-for-nothing, butts and arrest him. Then we could get his side of the story, his confession and motive and clear my name once and for all. Thinking about those idiot cops made me so mad I wanted to spit, but I pushed them and their accusations out of my mind. I had other, more current, things to worry about. Like tonight’s ‘double date’ with Linda and her brother.
I still needed to tell Kay about that.


I walked inside to find that Kay had put everything away except for the two boxes of Mac ‘n’ Cheese I had purchased so I stuck them in the cabinet and went into the living room where she was sitting on the sofa. “What’s in the bag?” She asked. “I’ll show you. I’m not sure if I guessed the size right but here’s some extra clothes and an extra pair of shoes. If you need anything else then we can go and get you some more.” I said placing the shirts, jeans, and skirt on her lap so she could examine them. I realized she would need some better shoes to wear with the skirt so I got her a pair of cream colored flats to wear with it.


“Well, I think they’ll fit, why did you do this? I mean, why’d you bring me here and buy me clothes?” She asked as she herself began to wonder about that. “I don’t really know, I guess I’m just trying to be nice.” I said. “Well it’s very appreciated. Thank you Taylor.” She said in earnest. It was obvious that she was confused and somewhat scared given the circumstances but she was grateful for my help. Of course, now I had to tell her about the double date. “Um Kay, I don’t know how exactly to tell you this but we sorta kinda have dates tonight.” I said trying to be as gentle as possible, which proved to be unnecessary.


“Say what? What did you do? Tell one of your buddies you had a woman at your house and set me up with him while you go out with some other woman and leave me with a total stranger?” She blew up at me. “That’s not exactly what happened. See at the store I ran into a woman I had gone out with once and she kinda roped us into this, I told her you’re my cousin and she set you up with her brother.” I explained. “And you’re going with her right?” She asked. “Right.” “Okay, well who is this guy?” She inquired. “His name’s Myron and other than that I know nothing ‘cause I never met him before.” Was all I could say. “Okay, that’s not much help. Think there’s a chance I could just talk with lady and ignore him?” She asked. “I doubt it. If Linda still likes me then she’ll probably focus on me all evening.” I said. “Well, I guess I’ll just have to play it by ear.” She said. “You seem to have calmed down.” I commented.


“Well I guess I’m just used to this whole blind date thing. Frieda did that to me a lot.” She said with a sigh. “What? Who’s Frieda?” I asked. “A friend of mine. I guess. Her name was on the card I got at the hospital. See.” She said showing me the card and pointing out the darkened text. “Hmm. Maybe if we this Frieda she can explain things.” I suggested. “Maybe so. I’ve remembered a little like what I said about the blind dates. She thinks I need to find a guy.“ She said. “Okay well, let’s go and get ready for tonight.” I said as I got up. “When we get through this we can start looking for Frieda. If you remember anything else let me know.” I said.


Again that's it for now. I'll get more up soon.
I'm already working on the next chapter.
Again, reviews would be greatly appreciated.