Ida the Tornado

“You have been through a lot, and this is normal that right now you don’t remember everything. You have to give it more time. It would help if you rested the mind, so the memories come back, and your body heals faster.” he said. I kept staring at him. “What is it?” he asked.

“Nothing, I’m just tired,” I said, smiling, trying to hide my thoughts to myself. He had no idea what I was capable of. I stood up to leave. I looked at my hands. “Before you came, I hid something back there in the woods. Something important. I have to go back and find it. Maybe being back in the woods helps me remember and fill the gaps in my memory.” I said, knowing that I had to find the baby; losing him could ruin everything, but Jake didn’t have to know that. I feel like he doesn’t even believe I had a baby.

He looked out the window, rubbed his eyes with his fingers, then looked at me. “That is not possible.” Looking at me with frustration.

“Why not?” I said, thinking we had to go back.

“The bad news is that you are 22 years early. The good news is that you have 22 years to prevent that from happening.” he paused for a moment. “It was too dangerous to stay there. We had only one shot, one cube to travel in time to find you and get you to safety. There is no going back,” and he waits to see my reaction. “Even if we had another cube, consequences of traveling there again and changing the course of the time loop is a big risk.” He said.

“No,” I whispered. I walked to the window, looking out. The sun was still there. It was shiny and beautiful. There was a time I thought that everything I needed to have a perfect day was sunshine. I spent hours taking photos of my friends under those golden sunbeams. We lay down under the sun, drinking margaritas, and talked and talked. Everything was perfect. But not today, the sun was there, but the day was millions of years away from being perfect. I had to find the baby. That was the only thing that mattered.

I was leaving that Jake called my name “Ivy?” he said. “What exactly did you hide under that tree?” he said.

Oh no! What should I say? “Some documents. Why?” I said, trying to be convincing.

He looked at me like he saw a ghost. “Are you sure?” he said with fear in his eyes.

I frizzed. Why is he asking these questions? “Yes, that part I can remember clearly.” I said, “Wait a minute; You do not think that I buried the baby, are you?” I said. “Are you out of your mind? Do you think I am a cold-blooded murderer? How could you even think that? That I can bury a baby?!” I said, outraged. Like I wanted to hear myself say it out loud.

Jake stood up, looked me in the eyes. “No, don’t get me wrong, I’m just saying that maybe he was dead and you were burying him, or..” he said, looking down.

“Or what?!” I said with anger and fear. Angry of the fact that he might know something and afraid of the fact that maybe he is right. 

“I’m just saying that maybe there was no baby, you were beaten to death, that is why you were covered in blood. Hallucinations are very common in these situations,” he said very kindly and came closer.

There might be a chance that I was hallucinating at that moment. I couldn’t even trust my own mind anymore. But I was not going to give up easily. “Look, I always had a very vivid imagination, but what you are suggesting is a whole new level of madness! I can clearly remember the baby on the ground when I was burying those documents. He was not in my imaginations. He was crying when he heard the sound of gun fires; he felt warm. What I buried wasn’t alive.” I said with confidence and hid all my fears of going insane behind that shield. 

“What documents?” he said.

Here came the question I wanted to avoid, “Documents I stole from the lab I was imprisoned in for two months! If we are done with the interrogations, I would like to leave and think about how I can find the man. He is the only one who might know what happened that night. Then you will believe me.” I said, giving it another thought. “I don’t even care if you believe me or not,” I continued, building up a guard around me as I expected.

“I’m sorry if I offended you.” He said and walked to the door to open it. “See you tomorrow,” he said and walked to the bookshelves on the wall of his room.

Somewhere between Chapter one, and chapter three