A Hidden Past

Chapter 4 – Here I Am

Jason stopped his Chrysler outside the surgery. I sat in the front passenger seat gazing up at the building.

"I've got a spare room in the back. You can stay here tonight."

I realised he didn't want me to be alone at the motel after what had just happened. I got out of the car slowly and followed him through the surgery to his living quarters. There he showed me to a room in the back of the building and left me alone with my thoughts. I spotted a chair in the corner of the room. I went over to it and sat down.

Now that the anger had gone, I felt a little guilty. I knew my mother wanted to speak to me, but I didn't really want her following me around the country as she had been doing for the last five years. Sometimes I got a few months break, other times she was there every single week, regardless of how far I had travelled.

The door to the room was still open a short way when Sheriff appeared in the corridor. I heard him knocking on Jason's bedroom door and then quiet, urgent voices. I went to the door and peered into the corridor, wondering what was going on. Jason looked in my direction and beckoned to me when he saw me.

"Perhaps you should come with me." He said as I joined the two men.

"What's going on?" I ran after them, Sheriff leading us towards the motel. I had seen the black medical bag in Jason's hand. Neither one answered my question.

Jason was the first to reach the motel. He slowed when he entered the corridor to the bedrooms. I suddenly realised what was going on. There was only one other person staying in the motel at the moment. I stopped dead in the middle of the corridor. I couldn't face going any further. I turned and went back into the parking lot. There were two Hudson Hornets parked in front of the reception building. My mother's blue-grey car was considerably less dirty than mine. I leaned on the hood of it, my eyes fixed on the doors into which Jason and Sheriff had disappeared.

I wasn't waiting long before someone appeared from within the building. I stood up quickly. Flo saw me and shot a harsh look in my direction.

"Is Michelle going to be all right?" I asked quietly as she passed.

Flo's expression softened. "I can't be sure. I'm not a doctor. It's Jason you need to speak to."

"Thank you." I replied. Just because I didn't like talking to my mother, it didn't mean I didn't care about her.

Flo crossed the road and returned to the café.

I waited another hour before I returned to the room Jason had given me for the night. I went back to sitting in the chair while I waited for him to return. It was going to be a long night.

Before I knew it, the first light of morning had arrived. I awoke slowly, still sitting in the chair in the corner of the room. I had waited a long time for Jason to come back the night before, and had evidently fallen asleep at some point. I stretched lightly and yawned.

It was still too early for the café to be open, but I could still sit outside until more people arrived. Jason's bedroom door was closed when I passed it. He had left it open when Sheriff had come calling for him. I hovered for a moment before deciding I was too early to disturb him. I would wait for him at the café.

I didn't have to wait long for Flo to arrive at the café. She nodded to me as I followed her in and went to an empty table.

"Jason spent the night with Michelle. He asked me to tell you if you got her before him. I'm not sure where Sheriff is, probably by the sign as usual. It seems to be his favourite place." She came out with my usual order and put it in front of me.

Jason hadn't arrived by the time I was done. I took my empty plate and mug to Flo, told her I was going for a short drive and left.

I retrieved my car from outside the motel and took it back towards the top of cliff, though not because I wanted to end anything. I simply wanted somewhere quiet to do some thinking.

I followed the road through the woods and past the lake again. I hadn't noticed the waterfall last night. It cascaded down the side of the cliff into the pool beneath the road. I paused for a moment at the side of the waterfall before I carried on to the top. It wasn't much further up to the plateau where I had stopped the night before, and I wasn't the only one there either. I turned the corner onto the plateau and found Sheriff sitting at the edge of the cliff in his mercury cruiser. I hung back, watching him carefully. He showed no signs of what I had felt, so I left him to it.

By the time I returned to the town, it was gone midday. I had driven around a little rather than going straight back. My eyes fell on the door of the motel as I stopped my car and got out of it. I quickly locked it and headed for the room opposite mine.

The door was open a touch. I put my hand on it and opened it further. Jason looked up at me, though I didn't go any further than the doorway. Neither of us said anything in the five or so minutes that I stood there.

Song Artist: Leona Lewis