Wednesday came sooner than anyone had expected. Time went by at the same speed it always did, but strangely it felt to Alex as if it had gone by in a heartbeat. This was probably due to the fact that she had been so busy trying to get everything ready for the return of Marissa.
Tuesday, while Luke had been occupied at work, the first thing Alex had done was taking two weeks off from her own job. That way she would have the time to be there completely for Marissa during the first weeks.
Once she had taken care of that, she'd returned back home to start cleaning up. As far as dirt was concerned it wasn't really necessary. However, she did need to make space in her closet. Fortunately she had a big walk-in closet, and it only took her a little rearranging before she had more than enough space for Marissa.
After this rearrangement, Alex went shopping for groceries. Her refrigerator only had two microwave meals, a few bottles of water and a couple of beers in it. With Marissa coming home Alex decided it was time to finally get back to healthy meals and real food. Besides that, she bought stuff like a new toothbrush, a mug with Marissa's name on it, a hairbrush and a new cell phone, all for Marissa of course. One of the most special things she bought was a wooden plate for her door, saying 'Marissa and Alex Kelly' She put it up the minute she got home.
She also bought a few plants and flowers for her house. She knew Marissa loved having flowers at home, simply because it made a house feel more alive. As Alex herself had not felt alive in a long time, she had neglected buying flowers and plants. The one plant she still had, had died years ago. She had never bothered to remove it until now. This was just the right time to replace it by something living and growing.
She had also bought a single red rose, with the intention of giving this to Marissa the moment she would step out.
Another thing she had done, was picking out her outfit for the next day. Marissa had once mentioned that she loved it when Alex wore black shirts on top of a denim skirt, or jeans. It was casual, but Marissa really liked it on Alex. So Alex picked exactly that, denim jeans, a black shirt and a thin black cardigan to wear on top of it. Her outfit was draped over a chair in her bedroom, waiting for the next day.
Alex paid attention to all the details. She had said she wanted everything to be perfect for Marissa's return, so she even made sure she had a cd of Marissa's favorite band, The Clash in her car. She had dug up Marissa's old purple Care bear and had placed it at the nightstand that would become Marissa's. Everything was completely ready, the only thing still missing was Marissa herself.
Wednesday morning nerves started to show. Alex kept running through her house to check if everything was the way it was supposed to be. She opened the door to her closet, checking if there really was enough space for Marissa's stuff. She kept replacing her framed photo's, only to put them back in their old place a few minutes later. She ran to her car to see if she really had enough gas, then back into the house to see if the rose she bought Marissa was still looking as beautiful as it did the day before. After that she'd check the time and the process would repeat itself.
By a quarter past one, Alex could finally leave for Foster's. She would be early, but she didn't want to take any chances. Just a little after half past one, Alex parked her car. She got out slowly, taking a long look at the giant old building that was surrounded by an electric fence. This electric fence had been placed after Alex tried to climb over the old one. As she stood there, chills ran up and down Alex's spine. It was a strange feeling, knowing Marissa was in there completely unaware of the fact she was about to get released. She stared down at the rose she was holding for Marissa.
Because she was about ten minutes early, she crossed the street to grab a cup of coffee at Starbucks. When she returned from her cup of coffee, Luke was already waiting at the gate.
"Alex, hi." He gave her a quick one armed hug and kissed her cheek. "How are you holding up?"
"I'm okay, I guess. Nervous as hell." Alex replied honestly. Her cheeks were flushed and her voice had a slight tremble to it.
"Don't worry, everything will be fine, I promise." Luke spoke reassuringly. "Doctor Wu should be here in a few minutes."
Just as he spoke those words, a black car came around the corner, followed by two police cars. Doctor Wu got out of the black car and three police officers stepped out of the police cars.
"Doctor Ward, a pleasure to see you again." Doctor Wu noticed Alex, holding her rose. "And you must be Alex, right?" He spoke calmly as he extended his hand to Alex. She however was panicking because of the police officers that had joined doctor Wu.
"Yes, I am. What are they doing here?" Alex sounded upset as she asked her question.
"They are here for my assistance, in case doctor Hamilton or someone else stirs up trouble. We have an official order to release Marissa, but just to be sure we've brought them along."
Alex visibly relaxed as she heard this. Luke shot her a comforting smile as he spoke up.
"Doctor Wu, officers, I think we've kept Marissa in there long enough. Shall we go in?"
Everybody nodded their heads, agreeing with Luke. He quickly turned to Alex and gave her one more hug.
"Don't worry, okay? You just wait here and we'll be back with Marissa as soon as possible. It might take a while, but that's because it's all official stuff. We'll make it as quick as we can."
One of the police officers returned to his car. The four remaining men made their way onto Foster's grounds, leaving Alex all by herself for the longest wait of her life.