Page 5 of Dream Girl
But that was a very long time ago.
The look on the officer’s face told me that wasn’t what he wanted to hear, and my hands shook. This didn’t make sense. It didn’t help that it hurt to think.
But I also didn’t want to end up in a psych ward.Keep it together.I took a deep breath.3.1415926535,I recited in my head to calm myself down.I exhaled and smiled.
“Sorry, sorry. I don’t know what I’m saying, officer,” I deflected, trying to smooth things over, wiping the tears from my eyes. “I’m pretty disoriented. Um, I know it’s early, but did you get a hold of anyone? I know the ambulance checked me out, but I should probably go to the doctor.”
“Let me check on that.” With a nod, the officer stood and left the room, leaving the door a little open like before.
Hopefully, one of my friends would come and get me.
There was a knock on the open door, and a large officer walked in. He was older than the others and had a little gray in his beard, and dark skin, reminding me of the sergeant on a TV show I liked.
Wow, I could remember that but not my name.Good job, brain. Not.
“Hi, I’m Sergeant Hawthorne.” He came over to the armchair where I was sitting. “Are you doing okay?”
“I…” Time to smooth everything over. Taking a deep breath, I blurted, “I’m so sorry for sleeping on the bench. Hopefully, I didn’t break any laws. I’m so sorry that I don’t remember much that’s useful.”
“It’s okay. Please, may I sit?” He gestured to the other chair where the officer had been sitting.
“Sure. Am I almost done here?” Of course, I had no money, no ID, no phone, no insurance card. All that made me anxious since I still didn’t understand what had happened. If they couldn’t help me, maybe the hospital could?
“We can’t find any of your friends. You probably have a concussion, and it’s making it hard for you to remember, and you’re scrambling their names,” he explained, expression sympathetic.
There was something very relaxing about the way he smelled. I needed to get some of that to spray at work on stressful days.
Sergeant Hawthorne continued, “Did you want to press charges against those betas in the park?”
“No, sir.” I shook my head. While it had been scary, I was pretty sure they weren’t the ones I was running from.
What was going on? What I could and couldn’t remember made no sense. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to take another breath, but it came out like a shudder instead.
“Are you all right?” His voice was soft.
“I’m so confused. Why can’t I remember anything useful?” I gasped.
“This must be scary. Can we talk about Fade?”
“He didn’t hurt me.” I shook my head, as more memory-bubbles popped, but they were older memories. No, often I’d felt like Fade was the only one who consistently showed me any genuine kindness. Which was why he wasimaginary.
“He’s your alpha?” the sergeant prodded.
I frowned, trying to remember more, then shook my head. “It was a long time ago, and I imagined him. He’s not real–and neither are alphas.”
“I’m an alpha, and I’m pretty sure I’m real. Who told you that?” He gave me a puzzled look.
“My mom, the doctors, the people at…” I took another deep breath at the onslaught of images and partial memories. Painful ones. “It doesn’t matter. It was a long time ago.”
No, I could do without remembering all of that.A name would be nice, though.
“I see.” His look turned sympathetic. “Can you tell me again, what you remember about your injuries? Was there an argument? Did someone hit you? Were you in a car accident?”
For a moment I tried to remember what I needed. Useful things. Not fantasies or bad things.
Think, think, think.
“All I remember is running in the dark and being afraid. I can’t even remember where I was running to and who from and why.” My shoulders slumped as defeat coated me.
