VICTORIA

Five

I open my eyes in slits as I feel something being attached to my hand. I open my eyes to find an iv attached to the back of my left hand and that’s when it hits that I must have passed out.

“How long?” I ask her and she lets out a sigh of relief.

“six hours, it’s dark already.” She replies.

“Oh!” I say as I sit.

“At first I thought you were sleeping, but when you weren’t really breathing I had to bring you here. I am glad that you are fine now. Why were you keeping sleepless nights? And you didn’t just keep sleepless nights, you also didn’t eat properly.” She says with worry laced on her face and I smile.

“Tonight is the first time someone is worried about me in twelve years and today I could go into my mom’s house. I always dreaded going there because I thought I might find something that would make me miserable for the rest of my life. Today, you went with me and because I was cautious of your presence I could even go into my room.” I say and she holds my free hand.

“I glad that I make you feel at ease. The doctor said you could be discharged as soon as you wake up.” She says and I nod.

“I want to go home, I can’t stay here for long. I will be wasting my time here, I have some new cases at the office.” I say.

“Okay, I will call the doctor or a nurse now.” She says and walk away from my side.

She returns with a doctor who gives me a smile before turning to Cara to tell her some things which are incoherent to me. A nurse takes off the IV and I murmur a slight ‘Thank you’ before getting off the bed. Cara walks beside me as she holds my hand and I shake my head.

“I think you should eat before dropping by at the office.” She says as we step out.

“I will. It won’t take long, I just have to pick up the files on my table and then I can eat.” I reply as I sit shot g*n and she nods in understanding.

“Do you ever have it in mind to stop working after you’ve found your mom?” She asks as she drives and I sigh.

I don’t really know. In fact, I never actually thought of my life after I found my mom. The major deal in my life right now is finding my mom…

“I never actually thought about it. If things go really well, I might still continue but I feel like I actually spent my youth days on becoming someone who has the right to investigate cases.” I say and she moves her free hand to touch mine.

“It’s okay. You would know what you want to do after finding her.” She says as she continues to drive and I nod as I rest my head back with my mind filled with different thoughts until she stops in front of the police station.

I get off the car and walk in.

“Is Nana back?” I ask.

“No.” Okay.

“Give me the cases I am to resolve.” I say and he hands over some papers to me.

“Here, Niall called.” He says and I nod.

“I will give him a call later, thank you.” I say and walk out.

“You’ve got pasta at home?” Cara asks as I sit in the car.

“I do, a lot of uncooked ones.” I say and we laugh together as she drives.

“We are cool then, we just need to charge the phone we found.”  She tells me.

“Right. There’s a phone slot very close to my place, but they close way too early.” I reply and she looks at her wrist watch.

“It’s just few minutes past eight. If I can drive fast enough we would be there before they close.” She says and I smile.

“Getting an apartment that is fifteen minutes away from my office has so many advantages right now.” I reply.

“Right… I can be faster, I can be faster…” She keeps mumbling until she stops at the phone slot.

“I will go.” I say.

“No you shouldn’t. You should rest, I will go.” She says and get off the car, but not before taking my mom’s phone off the console.

I sit in the car and tap my fingers on my thigh repeatedly until she returns.

“I guess we are lucky after all. The guy asked where I got such an old phone, I wanted to snap so much but I am cool.. haha, here’s the battery and the charger.” She says and I grin as she gives it to me.

I fix in the battery as soon we get into my apartment and move to charge it.

“Show me the kitchen, you could lay on the sofa as you read through the new case you just collected.” She says as I turn on the light.

“Thank you and the kitchen is there.” I point towards the kitchen door and she smiles.

I take out the last letter my mom wrote and I can’t help the bother I feel from the multiple ink dots and the ruffle at that part of the paper. It makes me feel like someone else came into our house that day… The only reason why I am not panicking now because there are no bloodstains on the paper, neither was there a single drop of blood on the floor twelve years ago.

I feel my eyes droop as tiredness takes over my body. I try to remember the code to my mom’s electronic safe, but it just seems hard to remember. The more I try to remember, the more our last memories play in head and the more head ache I feel.