September 14th, 2010
I looked at my dad, still laying down in the hospital bed, unmoving. His hand was in mine, and I had just hoped. Hoped for that movie moment. A squeeze or a sign that he knew I was here.
I wondered if he was dreaming, and what he was dreaming about. I wondered if he knew what today was. His birthday. What a way to spend your thirty-eighth.
I wanted time alone with him before everyone got here. My uncle Jeff was renting some kind of SUV from the airport, and I was sure he already landed. I didn't envy him having to drive around his parents, wife, and three kids, and I didn't want to be a part of the chaos when they got to my parents' house.
It was perhaps selfish of me to leave my mother to deal with it herself, but Shane had made it a point to be there for us, and I was sure he was going to be more help with all of that mess than I was.
The television played the same news as yesterday- with some updates about new attacks. I didn't want my dad to have to listen to all this over and over again. There had to be something happier on- a rerun of Friends or some dumb sitcom that wasn't so depressing.
I grabbed the remote to change the channel when something else popped up on the news. Something that caught my attention.
"A prison bus, said to be transferring female inmates has crashed near Alpharetta this morning. The crash was reported to be the result of an infected driver, though exact details have yet to be confirmed. Unfortunately, as a result several prisoners have escaped and have yet to be tracked down. Among these prisoners are Adriana Lamar, Florence Meister, and Magna Katsaros-"
Wait. What?
Sure enough, a photo of Magna- a mugshot- popped up on the screen. It was clearly a picture I hadn't seen before, but it was certainly her. Olive skin, dark eyes, auburn hair.
Prison?
I waited for the story to elaborate, but the news report only moved on to more things about the rising pandemic.
I heard the door to Dad's hospital room start to open, and I rushed to turn off the television like I had been caught watching something I wasn't supposed to.
Alpharetta? That was just north of Atlanta. Not incredibly far from here. She was in Georgia.
I had to have imagined that. The grief of my father's coma. It must have been playing tricks on my mind.
"There's little Rick!" my uncle's voice cut me out of my thoughts.
I liked Uncle Jeff. He was a little ridiculous, but a good guy overall. But right now, I couldn't think about him. I couldn't think about my disdain for my grandparents as they entered the room behind him. I couldn't think about how big the kids had gotten since I last saw them two or three years ago. All I could think about was her. About if what I'd seen- or thought I'd seen- was real.
Uncle Jeff came up and took me in a bear hug, but I didn't look at him.
"I have to go," was all I could say.
Grandpa Arthur scoffed.
"Already, honey? Everyone just got here?" my mom said, she had entered the room too with Carl and Shane.
It was crowded at that point, but I wasn't even bothered by that.
I nodded. "I'll be at home when you guys get back."
I rushed past everyone, and down the stairs to the outside of the hospital. Walking as fast as I could back towards my mom's house- she'd given me a spare key.
I figured Mom still kept that laptop under her bed. They barely ever used it- and it wasn't a fancy one, but I'd sneaked in to get it many times as a kid to watch YouTube late at night. I was hoping it was still the same password.
Sure enough, the laptop was still under there, sitting in a plastic container. I grabbed it and rushed off to my room, closing the door and sitting on my bed.
Opening the thing, it prompted me for a password.
Carl's birthday. 0627.
I was in. Mom liked that I shared my birthday month with Dad, and Carl shared his birthday month with her.
The screensaver was an old photo of the four of us on Carl's first birthday.
I clicked on the web browser tab and Googled-
Magna Katsaros jail registry Virginia
Up popped the website for Virginia Correctional Center for Women, and I could see her name, Magna K. Katsaros in the link.
I wasted no time clicking on it. The same mugshot that was shown on the news popped up.
It was her photo, information about her sentence on the side.
Full Name: Magna Kassandra Katsaros
Date of Birth: 12/01/1989
Charge: Homicide
Sentence: July 11th, 2009- January 31, 2029 (Not Eligible for Parole)
Homicide? No. That couldn't be right. Why would she? She wouldn't? Maybe I didn't really know who she was at all.
There had to be more information. I clicked the back button, but no more pages popped up. No news story covering what happened or her arrest.
I had to know though. The only way I could find out was to ask her.