Chapter Ten
The next morning, Scully found herself up before Kayla once again, and headed down to the gift shop to pick up some more books for Kayla. Scully couldn't believe it when Kayla had told her last night that she had read through Little Women and Great Expectations, and she was halfway through Lord of the Flies. Scully picked out a few new classics, and a mystery novel, and brought them upstairs, leaving them by Kayla's bed.
Right on time, the same police officer who stayed with Kayla the previous day rapped lightly on the door. Scully answered it and gave the woman a smile.
"Thanks for doing this." She said kindly, grabbing her bag and slinging it over her shoulder. The police officer shrugged.
"Well, she didn't really do anything yesterday. She just sat on her bed and read all day." She smiled. "Kinda got to admit, it's a bit of a boring post." Scully nodded.
"I know, I'm sorry. But until we figure out what's going on, we have to keep her safe." She explained. The officer nodded, and headed inside where Kayla was still asleep. After Scully made sure the police officer stationed outside the room was good to go, she headed down to the lobby where she found Mulder waiting patiently. He was holding a map.
"I mapped out the easiest way to get to Bedford's." He stood up with a sarcastic boy. "Shall we go, m'lady?"
Scully was silent for most of the ride up to Bedford's, which was also in Chicago. She was feeling slightly pessimistic about today, unsure of what they would find out that they didn't already know. It didn't seem like anybody could understand, or have a good reason why anybody would be after Kayla. She seemed just like any other typical orphan. Why were people only after her?
The drive up seemed to only last moments, as Scully was lost in her own thoughts, and the two agents headed up the steps to the large, brick building, and rang the doorbell.
An older child answered the door, probably about nine or ten years old, and asked them how she could help them.
"We would like to talk to the person who's in charge." Mulder said in a kid-friendly voice. "Can we do that?"
The girl only nodded, and opened the door wide enough to allow Mulder and Scully to follow her. She led them down a hall, and down another hall, and up a flight of stairs. Finally, she pointed to a large space, which looked like an office. Scully thanked the girl, who promptly ran off.
Scully tapped on the glass door that led into the office, and a straggly woman with red hair opened the door.
"Can I help you?" She asked in a high-pitched voice. Mulder and Scully pulled out their badges.
"I'm agent Scully, and this is agent Mulder. We're investigating a situation that involves a girl who used to live here. Kayla Reynolds?" Scully said. The woman didn't seem to recognize the name, but she brought the agents over to her computer where she looked up the name.
"You're in luck," The woman announced. "The woman who used to be Kayla's social worker is still here. Her name is Jennifer Loll, she's just over there." The woman pointed to a tall, thin, blonde woman who was seated at a desk not far from them.
Mulder and Scully approached the woman, introduced themselves, and sat down.
Jennifer scoffed.
"Oh yeah, I remember her. Freak kid, I gotta tell ya! The little brat was completely antisocial and absolutely defiant. I couldn't stand working with her, she was just impossible! All she'd do was keep to herself, except when she went to her lessons. All the kids hated her, can't say as I really blame them, she was so strange. Especially with all her attention-getting schemes." She said in a bitter tone. Scully inwardly sighed. This woman was clearly not a fan of children, and the way this woman talked about Kayla hurt Scully in a strange way. Scully found herself wanting nothing more than to defend Kayla. No, she had to remain detached. This was a serious investigation.
She cleared her throat.
"What do you mean by attention-getting schemes?" Scully asked. Jennifer rolled her eyes, reminiscing.
"I mean, I've heard of temper tantrums, but she was just something else! She'd go mental-case on us, catatonic, I guess you could call it. She'd sit on the floor, staring at the wall, rocking back and forth, whispering. Back talk, was what it was." She replied. Scully puckered her brow.
"She back-talked you?" She asked. Jennifer shrugged.
"Well it's not like we could actually hear what the kid was saying, but what else would she be doing? Defiant little brat, and then she'd look up after a while and start crying about how she didn't remember what she said. She just wanted to avoid getting punished. Well, we saw past that and she was disciplined for her behaviour. Kayla spent a lot of time in this office, writing me lines." She said, as she played with a rubber band on her desk.
Mulder shared a significant glance at Scully. He was clearly thinking the same thing she was. This woman hated children, and she was obviously speaking about Kayla's seizure-like episodes. These people obviously had no idea they had been dealing with something medical. Scully felt for Kayla. She had been punished for something she had never been able to control. No wonder she hated it here.
"Ms. Loll, while Kayla was here, or since she's been gone, has Bedford's ever received any threatening phone calls regarding Kayla? Have any strange individuals been interested in Kayla, or asked after her?" Scully asked, changing the subject. Jennifer looked slightly confused, but she shook her head.
"No, not about Kayla. That kid was hated by everyone. The only people who ever took an interest in her was the foster family we were finally able to place her with, and they called a week later, saying they wanted her gone. She caused a lot of trouble there too. We had to go over there right away to remove her, because the couple was having a hissy fit. They already had kids, and they were scared to death of Kayla." She said, breathing out. "I hear Kayla's still in the system. If she's still pulling the same crap as she was back then, I'm not surprised."
Scully realized there was no lead at Bedford's, nothing threatening had happened to Kayla here, apart from the obvious hatred her social worker had toward her. After obtaining the address for the foster family who took Kayla in for a week, Scully and Mulder thanked Jennifer Loll and left the building, feeling rather discouraged. At least, Scully was, but not for the reasons she would have thought. She couldn't help but feel disheartened at the idea of Kayla having had to spend a large chunk of her life in a place where she was ridiculed, hated, looked down upon and punished for something she couldn't control.
Mulder and Scully drove away from Bedford's, out into the outskirts of Chicago, where the foster couple lived. Scully looked at the small post-it note that held their information. Their names were Brent and Anita Whim. They had three children, aged 12, 14 and 18. Scully did the math, and realized that, since Kayla was 8 when she had been placed with these people, the other three children would have been 4, 6 and 10. Scully sighed, turning over to Mulder.
"You don't think it's them, do you?" She asked. Mulder raised an eyebrow.
"Who? What?" He asked.
"Them, the foster parents. Do you think it could be them that's after Kayla?" She asked. Mulder frowned and shook his head after a moment's speculation.
"But that doesn't make any sense. You said the note you found in that file that was left for you said 'they know, and they want her.' What could this foster couple possibly know about Kayla after only having spent a week with her? A week that made them decide they wanted nothing to do with her." Mulder shook his head again. "It just doesn't seem to fit."
Scully had to admit, he was right. Another lead down the drain. She at least hoped the Whim's would be able to tell them something that would point them in the right direction.
It wasn't long before they found themselves in the Whim's living room, accepting iced tea and cookies. There were no children around; Anita explained the two younger children were obviously at school, and their oldest was working at his part-time job. Scully and Mulder had already introduced themselves as FBI agents, here to talk to them about Kayla, and the agents were surprised at how open the couple was about letting them in to talk about a girl they had only known for a short time, and gave her up on such seemingly harsh conditions.
"I must say, when you mentioned her name, it took me a minute to remember her. You have to understand, we've been fostering kids ever since before our children were born. We've had many children in this house, but when you told us what year it was, it became very clear. You're right, we only had her for a week. It didn't work out. We sent her back." Anita explained, offering the agents another cookie.
"I know how this sounds. You said you talked to Jennifer Loll. She probably made it sound so horrible - she isn't a big fan of kids." Brent sighed. "We're not bad people. I know it sounds bad, keeping a child for a week and then giving her up like that, but you have to understand, there was something...different about her."
"We figured she was developmentally delayed or special needs, or something," Anita continued. "But her social workers never warned us about anything of the sort. We didn't know what to do. Kayla never talked to anybody, and she would drop to the floor unexpectedly and rock, whispering and staring at the wall. Nobody could pull her out of it. She was upsetting our children, scaring the younger girls. All they wanted to do was play with Kayla, but she would just freeze up and mutter to herself."
"We gave it a week, and it wasn't improving. Our children were very upset, we were upset, so yes, we called the home and told them we changed our mind. We weren't prepared for Kayla, and she deserved better than what we could give her." Brent said.
"It wasn't as though we didn't want to offer Kayla a chance. If we didn't have our own children to think about, Kayla would have stayed, but our children had to come first." Anita added, her eyes sad as she remembered. Scully sighed. These people were not horrible people, and Scully got the impression they had genuinely wanted to help Kayla, but didn't know how to go about doing so, and she was right, their children had to come first.
Scully and Mulder stayed for a little while longer with the Whim's, but they quickly realized this conversation was going nowhere. They didn't know anything about why Kayla would be in danger, nor had they ever received any kind of threatening phone call or visit for the girl.
They thanked the couple and began their drive back to Deerfield.
"What time is it?" Scully asked, breathing out slowly. Mulder checked his watch.
"11:30a.m." He stopped at a stop light. "Why don't we head back to the hotel and take Kayla out for lunch. I feel kinda bad leaving her alone all day. Besides, we could call it quits for the day. At least until we figure out our next course of action." Scully nodded.
"Okay, sounds good. I don't know how much more we could possibly find out. Nobody knows anything about Kayla being in danger. The only consistency between all of the people we've talked to about her is that she's never fit in because of her medical problems." She replied. Mulder agreed, feeling just as frustrated as Scully, but neither were going to give up. As much as Scully wanted to, the more time she spent with Kayla, the more she felt inclined to protect her at any cost.
And according to that file, she was the only one who could.
Scully and Mulder arrived back at the hotel and surprised Kayla by taking her out for lunch. They spoke only briefly about Bedford's, and Scully decided not to mention the Whim's, and soon, the three were speaking about other things. Mulder and Kayla had a conversation about cell mitosis, which Kayla was apparently having a hard time understanding in biology class. Kayla talked about the first books she ever read as a child, which were clearly advanced for her age, she talked about the State Home a little, and she asked a lot of questions about what it was like to be an FBI agent. Scully couldn't believe they had been at the restaurant for two hours, simply engaging in conversation, and having a good time. Scully had to admit, it was good to see Kayla laughing.
They brought Kayla back to the hotel, and Scully told Mulder she'd be over in a little while to plan for the next day. Scully needed time to think, and she felt bad leaving Kayla alone again.
Kayla walked over to her night table where she picked up one of the new books Scully had picked up this morning. She was already halfway through it. Scully laughed.
"When you told me you liked to read, I didn't realize you were that hardcore." She said, sitting down to take off her boots. Kayla looked up and smiled.
"Yeah, I guess I am." She paused. "Thanks for getting me more books. You don't have to do that, you know."
"I know, but it gives you something to do while we're gone all day." She smiled. "What do you think of that one?" She leaned down to undo her other book, and was surprised to hear silence. She puckered her brow, looking up. Her heart stopped.
"Kayla?" She asked, standing up.
Kayla wasn't moving. She was sitting on the bed, rigid, staring at the wall past Scully. Her eyes were as wide as saucers, and her lips were moving gently. Scully quickly realized this was it, this was the 'episode' everybody kept talking about. Scully moved closer to Kayla, kneeling down in front of her, watching her.
"Kayla?" She tried. No response. Scully noticed Kayla was trembling slightly, and her knuckles were turning purple from clinging to the book so tightly. Scully could only watch, surprised at what she was seeing. Never in any of her years at medical school had she seen or heard about anything like this. It was no wonder the doctors weren't able to diagnose her - this was not medical. Scully was convinced of that.
Suddenly, Kayla's breathing intensified, and her eyes began shifting back and forth, widening every once in a while. It was almost as though she were seeing something, because her eyes fixated on a single point, but not on something that was in the room. Kayla began whispering again.
Scully couldn't make out what she was saying, because it was too low and too quick, but she leaned up closer to Kayla, hoping to make out something - anything. Then she heard it. Only one word that she could make out, and it didn't make any sense.
"...Marzulli..."
Scully stared at her, surprised. How did Kayla know about Marzulli?
Kayla let out a breath, her body relaxed and her eyes focused on Scully. Kayla looked at Scully, and knew just by looking at her what had happened. Kayla sighed, looking away, embarrassed.
"It happened, didn't it?" She asked, her voice shaking. Scully tried not to show alarm or shock at what she had just seen. Until she could figure it all out, she didn't want to frighten Kayla even worse than she already was.
"Yeah, but it's okay." Scully paused. "Are you okay?" Kayla shrugged.
"I guess. I...I don't remember anything about it, so the last thing I remember is you telling me that I was a hardcore reader." She replied. Scully smiled.
"You are definitely that." She said.
Once Scully was convinced Kayla was alright, she headed over to Mulder's room, where he was, again, watching television. Mulder took one look at Scully and knew something was up.
"What's going on?" He asked, turning the tv off. Scully stared at him.
"Kayla just had one of those 'episodes' everyone keeps talking about." She replied. Mulder stared at her.
"Is she okay?" He asked. "Do you have to give her those pills or anything?"
"No, Mulder, I'm not giving her any of that medication. I watched her as it happened. I've never seen anything like this - it was so disorganized and nothing added up. She has no memory of what has happened to her, and that's not normal." Scully breathed out. "I want to go talk to her doctor tomorrow, the one at the State Home. I want to figure out once and for all what is going on with Kayla. It's not fair she's been misdiagnosed all this time." Mulder smiled a little.
"You want to take a break in our investigation to find out what's wrong with Kayla." He nodded with a grin. "You are getting attached, admit it."
Scully sighed.
"Not now, Mulder, and no, I'm not taking a break in this investigation, I just want to talk to her doctor. I've never seen anything like what I just saw, and being on medication for seizures is not going to help Kayla." She explained. Mulder nodded his agreement, but Scully couldn't help but think about what he had just said. Getting attached? Maybe she was. Why else would she step away from the investigation to find out what was wrong with Kayla medically, if it was medical at all? Scully sighed. It didn't matter. Whether she was getting attached or not, that girl was Melissa's daughter, and she wouldn't just stand by and not help her, if she had the chance to do so.
