Jalina's Journey

The Greyhound bus chugged along a barren highway, there had been nothing interesting to look at for miles.  Jalina sighed and pulled the black leather of her jacket more firmly around her.  This place reminded her of monsoon season in Mumbai, but not nearly warm enough.  She glanced around people on the bus, she knew this had been a bad idea, her mother had warned it was the worst idea ever, but Jalina had never been one to conform to what other people thought she should do.  As the bus tires rolled rhythmically down the road, she closed her eyes, recounting the events that led her to where she was right now.

Jalina and her sister Sundari, were exactly 13 months apart in age. it used to be a joke back home that Jalina had been such a needy child, that her mother needed to make her a sister so that someone else would be around to put up with her antics.  Back home, she sighed as she remembered her childhood in Mumbai India.  It was such the opposite of the state she found herself in now, riding a cold, lonely bus down some forgotten streets, to god knows where.  Every so often the driver would announce another city she didn't know existed, and then a few people would get on, and a few would get off.  

She went back to daydreaming right after the person that had been sitting next to her for the last 2 hours finally got off.  How had they gone from such a happy upbringing in India, and ended up in a place like this?   2 years ago Jalina and Sundari were freshmen at a small college in Oregon, they had a sizable community of other students also from India and while it was never exactly like home it made the transition to American culture easier to be surrounded by people who could appreciate curry, samosas, and a good Bollywood dance tune the same as they had.  

Some time into their second semester at college, Sundari got involved with a new club at school.  Jalina had never really understood what the club was about exactly, but the ssiter's had agreed that they would spend some time apart so they could make their own friends, but Jalina hadn't done that, while Sundari was off exploring new paths in her life, Jalina was usually in her room reading, studying and missing her sister more than anything.  Sundari would come home from the club talking about magic, and how the girls in the club thought that her being from India might even mean she could know some things they hadn't come across before.  Jalina laughed at how silly that was, but Sundari assured her it was harmless and that she was just using it as a way for people to like her, Jalina shrugged, it seemed harmless but she still didn't understand any of it.

At the end of the year, something strange happened.  One night Sundari came back to their student apartment and was acting extremely strange.  Jalina remembered how wild her sister's eyes had looked and how nothing she said made any sense.  She was going on about magic and some sort of monster in the forest.  Jalina thought maybe her sister was drunk, or tired and they went to sleep.  The next morning Sundari was gone.  And that was the last Jalina ever heard from her.

The girls from this supposed club that Sundari had gotten into wouldn't speak to her, though one of them did give her the name of a detective that they claimed was working on the case, but after that the girls refused to answer any questions and eventually threatened to report her for harassment if she didn't leave them alone.  The detective was also no help, but Jalina was getting desperate by this time and so was more relentless in her efforts to get information out of him.  Eventually, one day she finally broke and came down to the police station screaming and ranting about why he was not working harder to find her sister.  And the detective gave her the name of the town of Creekwood Washington.  He told her that he had no other leads, and simply that, as he put it, "a lotta weird shit seems to go down there, so you might check it out."  In reality, he had no hope that Sundari would ever be found, he simply wanted Jalina off his case, and he suspected that sending her off to the next state over to check out what he had heard was basically an abandoned town, would at least buy him some time.

And so here she was, on a bus, full of smelly people who seemed to have given up on life, lost souls wandering around tiny towns, looking for something but never finding it.  When the driver shouted the name Creekwood it was strange, but not a single other soul stood up to get off the bus.  She shrugged and stood up and got off, but the driver himself even touched her shoulder as she left, he wanted to check her ticket to mak sure this was indeed her end destination.  She showed it to him and he shrugged.  "Nothing to see here swetheart, but I come through here once every few days, so I reckon I'll be seeing you again "  Jalina nodded her head, as if she could care less, stepped off the bus, and took a good look around.

She felt her stomach rumble and she slung her duffle bag over her shoulder and just picked a random direction to walk in.  The streets were dirty, and for someone who grew up with slums literally lining the city alleyways of her home city, that was saying a lot.  She held her breath when walking by what looked like a homeless or drunk, possibly both, man that was laid down leaning against a building, and she stepped around broken bottles and other bits of trash on the sidewalks.  Suddenly the smells of the streets gave way to something a bit more appetizing. The scent of greasy burgers at least had her attention, and she wandered over towards the diner that she saw across the road.  

She sat down in a booth, trying to ignore that there was something stinky that touched her leg when she scooted in against the seat back.  She ordered the biggest burger they had on the menu, with little shame, her mother would have disowned her for the sin she was about to commit, but she didn't care, when her meal came out, dripping in grease, she sat there and devoured it like a starving animal.  It wasn't that she didn't have manners, but as she finished the last of the fries that came with her burger she realized that she just had learned to enjoy being able to not have to be so prim and proper as her upbringing may have told her she had to be.

When her waitress came back to give her the bill, Jalina paid but then she stopped before leaving.  "Does umm, well I mean to say....you know, strange things, umm they happen here?"  The waitress seemed to barely hear her, she laughed a little.  "yeah ...sure they do...."  Jalina sighed, she pulled Sundari's picture from her pocket.  "I'm looking for someone....."  she started to say, but the waitress cut her off.  "Ain't we all......look the best way to find out anything around here, is to not find it out....there's nothing to see here."

Jalina sighed, realizing the woman didn't even want to look at the picture.  She hurried from the diner and stepped back outside.  She was getting more and more frustrated by the moment.  Why had she even come here?  It occurred to her that the detective had just been getting her out of the way so he could spend more time playing angry birds on his phone, and less time searching for her sister.  "But he said a lot of weird shit goes down....what did he mean by that...."  She mused as she stood on the corner, trying to decide where to check out next, and if it was even worth the effort.  After about an hour of wandering about, she realized the sun was starting to set and she needed to find somewhere to stay for at least the night.  

She started to hear her mother's voice in her head, a repeat of the conversation they had the night she told her Sundari had disappeared. She had told her to stay out and not go running off to strange places. Her mother had told her to let the police do their job. But they weren't doing their job at all. She sighed as she walked down the streets, feeling lost and like this had all been some sort of huge mistake.

[20:00] Kenna (Dezire Seriman) Creekwood... home of the lost, home of the deeply disturbed and home of things that nightmares were made of. This was the story that the children were told to keep them from ever going to Creekwood, and yet, somehow she was here, though where here was, she was clueless. She walked aimlessly down the street, her hand upon the side of her head. Her head hurt, it hurt bad but she didn't know why. She stepped on another rock and cried out as it stuck to the bottom of her bare foot. She looked down, where were her shoes? She didn't remember her shoes. Had she always been barefoot? She pulled the rock out of the middle of her foot. It was getting dark. She looked around, where was she? She rubbed her head again, whimpering softly "oow" She didn't know what had happened. She kept walking, she had to find.... what was she looking for? Shit.... she was so confused right now. She looked ahead and saw the lights of the diner flashing. It was a start. She made her way toward the lights in the parking lot, stepping over shattered glass trying not to cut herself. She looked down again and wondered about her shoes. Why didn't she have on shoes? As she neared the diner she saw a woman coming out. "Excuse me..." She asked trying to gain the woman's attention. "Have you seen my shoes?"


[20:07] JαℓIηα 'Jαѕmiηe' Bℓαckrαiη (mumbaibeauty Resident) Jalina sighed out loudly in frustration, had she actually managed to wander in an entire circle and come back to the diner already....yes, it appeared she had. Everything was so foreign, even more so than usual. America was always a little weird to her, and never ceased to have some strange thing that was confusing her mind. The drunks coming out of the bar were noisy and looked very rowdy to her, and so she steered clear and didn't go that direction again,. She thought of going back into the diner to ask that waitress, but she hadn't seemed to want to chat, and was clearly overworked. And then there was this weird girl, was she actually barefoot? Jalina winced at all of the dirty things she had stepped around already, and the thought of doing so in bare feet seemed absolutely ridiculous to her. And then she was speaking to her, she stopped, she had spoken English for a few years now, but it always still took her a moment to process what people were saying to her, Hindi and English did not always translate very well in her experience. "Shoes? You mean someone took them? Wee you wearing them at the time?" Jalina scratched her head and then shook it back and forth to indicate no, the confusion made her accent extra thick as well. "No....no shoes but maybe ....have you seen.....someone who looks like this...." She held the picture out, she had little confidence that someone who could not find her own shoes, could also find her sister who had been missing for weeks now, but she was running out of options very quickly here.


[20:13] Kenna (Dezire Seriman) She moved closer to the woman to get a good look at the photograph. She squinted trying to see it clearly in the twilight hour when the sun was starting to set but the light had not quite left the sky yet casting eerie shadows and a strange hue in the atmosphere... or perhaps that was just the filth of this city. She blinked a few times on the verge of tears herself. She shook her head. "I don't know, maybe?" She said having no clue if she knew the girl in the photo or not. Hell, she wasn't even sure who she was right now. She had no ID on her, she didn't even have shoes! She looked down seeing a tear in her jeans and a little blood soaked around the rip. When did that happen? She reached down and placed her finger in the hole and then pulled it back out seeing the blood tainted on the end of her finger. She looked back over at the woman with the strange accent. Had she already asked her about the shoes? "I can't find my shoes." She said again, "Have you seen my shoes?" She looked around noticing she was standing in front of a diner. How did she get here? What was she doing here?


[20:19] JαℓIηα 'Jαѕmiηe' Bℓαckrαiη (mumbaibeauty Resident) Jalina rolled her eyes, maybe this woman was a mental patient of some sort, she clearly needed some kind of medical attention at least, evidenced by the fact that there appeared to be blood coming from some kind of cut. Jalina pulled the photo in her hand back, slipped it back into her wallet and moved closer. "Did someone attack you? Or did you fall? You're bleeding.....do you want me to help you find a hospital or....." Being the naturally helpful sort, even though she was just wanting to find Sundari and know she was safe, seemed to take priority here. Jalina also reasoned that if she took her to a hospital, she could find out more there, if Sundari had been taken to the hospital, maybe they had seen her. She walked closer to the woman and tilted her head a little, trying to get a better look at her, while she did know a little first aid, she wasn't sure what was going on, and this town was turning out to be weirder by the moment. "What's your name? I'm Jalina...." Of course she wondered if no-shoes girl even remembered her name, but it seemed like an easier place to start.


[20:29] Kenna (Dezire Seriman) So many questions, she couldn't hardly focus on one much less more than one. She tried to remember. Her hand moved back to the side of her head, god it was pounding. Did she fall? She shook her head. She hated not knowing anything. And of course, her name, surely she knew her name. She stood there in silence, her mind drawing a complete blank. Her eyes started to gloss over with unshed tears as she fought to hold them in. "I don't know." She finally spoke with a light tremble in her voice. She glanced up to the sky for a moment and could see the faint lines of the moon breaking through what was left of daylight. She stared at it a moment and somewhere in her mind she was reminded of a song that was sung in spanish. Why that small memory returned but nothing else was beyond her. She blinked back the threatening tears and looked back at the woman who called herself Jalina. "Luna... you can just call me Luna." she said still completely clueless as to what her name was. "I think I must of hit my head." she
[20:29] Kenna (Dezire Seriman): rubbed her head again. "It hurts so bad.... " she looked down seeing her bare feet again. Right next to her was a pile of broken glass. She had completely forgot about the woman's offer to take her to a hospital. Once again she was fixated on finding her shoes. "I have to find my shoes." she felt that first tear break past the lower lid of her eye and start to trickle slowly down her cheek. "I don't know what I did with them".

[20:37] JαℓIηα 'Jαѕmiηe' Bℓαckrαiη (mumbaibeauty Resident): As the older sister in her family, she'd naturally been protective of her sister, but somehow throughout childhood that maternal streak had spread to cousins, friends and even into dorm mates who she couldn't believe had never boiled water or done their own laundry before. She stepped even closer and looked around her. This place was confusing and she had walked all along and around this block and found nothing but stores, but wait, hadn't there been some building that she thought had some sort of broken down ambulance in front. No, she thought a hospital would have working ones, that couldn't be it, or could it. "Luna.....that's beautiful you know, even if it's not your real name.....we'll figure it out alright?" Jalina stepped closer cautiously, if she really had hit her head, or was in some other sort of dangerous mental state, then Jalina didn't know what she would do, but she knew she wanted to help, maybe, just maybe, it would lead to her finding answers of her own. But, she reasoned with herself, at the very least it would provide some distraction from what was making her worry so much. "Will you let me take you to get help? We at least need to find you some shoes, you're going to get even more hurt walking around like this. I think there was some sort of medical building not too far....I'm not from here you see....but we can work it out....that is if you want me to?" Jalina stepped close enough that she could place a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder, trying to help console what she could see was very clear distress in her eyes..


[20:46] Kenna (Dezire Seriman) She started to mutter, mostly incoherent ramblings that had no meaning, with the occasional 'shoes' thrown in there. She was a mess, that much she did know. But why? It was driving her crazy that she could not remember anything. She moved her hand away from her head and wiped her cheek of that dampness that had fallen from her eyes. She looked down at the ground again and started to take a couple steps trying to avoid the glass. "I drove here... no no... I walked here.... no shoes?.... Luna... who is Luna? Is that me?" she kept mumbling trying to make sense of this. "Did I fall?... no... someone hit me?.... did I wreck my car? Do I have a car? Where is my car?" She looked back up and started to look around the parking lot which only led her back to... "How did I get here? Did I walk?" She was horribly confused. It was too much. And then she felt that woman's touch upon her shoulder. She jumped startled by the touch and looked up at the woman. "Can you help me find my shoes?"


[20:52] JαℓIηα 'Jαѕmiηe' Bℓαckrαiη (mumbaibeauty Resident) Jalina jumped only slightly when she could feel that she had startled her, when she only meant to provide comfort, this was unlike anything she had ever experienced. She had watched tv shows, silly sitcoms when people got amnesia, but this seemed to be the real thing, right in front of her face, and it was neither funny or amusing, it was terrifying. She realized that maybe some shoes would help the woman, but what could she do? She couldn't sacrifice her own shoes or she'd really be in trouble. Maybe one of those dumpsters had shoes in them? No, she couldn't even believe that she just had that thought. "I can help you find them, but we've got to try to remember where you might have left them. Do you not remember anything at all? Where was the last time you remember wearing shoes?" She sighed, this was not going to be the easy thing she had thought when she was riding on the bus, this place was messed up, and it would just be her luck that someone who didn't even know where her shoes were, had crossed her path. "You got a wallet in your pocket? I don't want your money, I just mean, do you have an ID on you?"

[20:58] Kenna (Dezire Seriman) She stared blankly at the woman for a moment. What did she say her name was? J...... fuck, what was her name? "A wallet?" she asked like she had no clue what that even was. She reached down to feel her pockets, at least she had those. She dipped her hand into one pocket and pulled out a small bit of fluff and shook her head. From the other pocket she pulled out an old receipt to a gas station in a town about sixty miles back dated for today. She shook her head. "No... no wallet." The loud sound of a motorcycle caught her attention. She turned and when she did, sure enough she stepped right onto one of those shards of glass. "Oww!" she called out lifting her foot and hopping around on one foot. "I don't know what I did with my shoes. I need my shoes." she reached down and pulled out that shard of glass and watched as the small trickle of blood started to seep out of the small wound. She looked back where the sound of the bike had died and a man's voice called out. "Have you seen my shoes? I can't find my shoes." She cried letting another tear fall.


[21:02] JαℓIηα 'Jαѕmiηe' Bℓαckrαiη (mumbaibeauty Resident) Jalina bit her lip hard and trembled at the sound of the motorcycle, just another thing that she was not so used to, these loud cars and bikes were a different sort of noise to back home in Mumbai. What was happening here now? She turned to the man and then walked back over to the woman, as if she already felt protective, and because she felt nobody who could not even remember where she left her shoes at, should be messed with, not by anyone. But she did wonder if he couldn't somehow provide some help. So she stepped closer to the woman she was calling Luna for now and looked over at him with a nod. "Seems she has lost her shoes....in a bit of trouble, she's also got some sort of wound on her leg, maybe hit her head....." Jalina sighed again, this was turning out to be a right little mess she had walked into. She turned back to the woman and put her hand on her shoulder once more. "We'll get you some help....I can promise you that..."


[21:07] BrentleyFine Resident stops the bike in time to hear the women talking about shoes. He thinks to himself, what is it with women and shoes? Noticing the barefoot woman and a small wound on her foot. "Damn that's got to hurt. Where did you last see them?" He thinks to himself that was about the dumbest conversation starter. Perhaps that's why had given up on Bumble and Tinder. "Probably gonna need a tetanus shot or something." He looks around the street trying to remember what he was going to pick up.


[21:14] Kenna (Dezire Seriman) She crinkled her nose as if to get a whiff of a bad smell in the air. She clearly wasn't getting anywhere here. Her shoes clearly were not here, but everyone else had shoes on. She nodded to Jalina. "help..." that seemed like the best thing right now, some help. She looked back over at the man wondering when he got here. Did she already ask him about her shoes? She closed her eyes for a moment and held those lids tight blocking out the light from the diner that seemed almost blinding to her. She tried to think back to what could have happened. But all she could remember was standing here, stepping on glass, asking about her shoes... yes! She did ask about her shoes! She remembered that much. She opened her eyes again and took in a deep breath and then wished she hadn't as the smell of the alley way trash filled her senses making her want to gag. She looked across the parking lot, it was scattered with trash, so much trash. How was she going to get anywhere without hurting herself even more with no shoes? "Did I drive here?" She asked looking back at Jalina, the woman who seemed to be the only one willing to help her in this current crisis.


[21:20] JαℓIηα 'Jαѕmiηe' Bℓαckrαiη (mumbaibeauty Resident) "I'm starting to think you did fall from the sky, and that I have to tell you that this isn't kansas anymore but.....now isn't the time for jokes. I'd pick you up but....I mean...." Jalina shrugged a little and wondered how she was going to get her to some kind of help. "You know where I come from street kids make shoes out of old tires, but we don't have time for that either. Do you think you can walk just a little farther with me?" This man, she didn't know him, he was giving her strange vibes, but that could just be that this whole city was strange, and it seemed like some bad chance of fate that her and this 'Luna', had ended up here. She took the woman's hand and squeezed it gently. "I don't see a car, just you walking up but if we walk back that way, do you think you might remember something, anything?"


[21:24] BrentleyFine Resident wandered over to the news stand, remembering what he came for. He picked up a couple of magazines and thumbed threw them. Unlike the man next to him, he studied the photos inside. Under his breath he mumbled "the layouts are terrible....what kind of lighting did they use?....this could be tons better" He seemed to be judging the magazines rather than enjoying them.


[21:27] Kenna (Dezire Seriman) She didn't quite get the reference to Jalina's joke which just left her pondering what she could have meant. She looked up at the sky. Had she fallen from the sky? And had she been in Kansas? What was she doing in Kansas? She had never been to Kansas before... or had she? Her mind was spinning in circles trying to put together the pieces of the puzzle. "Maybe?" She shrugged. She watched as the man who was clearly uninterested in what was going on wandered off to some magazine news stand. Obviously he had no clue where her shoes were, unless he took them and didn't want to give them back. But why would he want her shoes... why would anyone want her shoes? She sighed. "Where am I? What is this place? Did I come here from Kansas?" For some odd reason she suddenly got the joke, or at least she thought she did. She started laughing. "Toto must of run away." Her laughter died down quickly as the gesture caused that throbbing pain in her head and her hand moved up to the side of her head. She lowered herslf down and sat down in the parking lot. "I don't feel so good." She complained.


[21:34] JαℓIηα 'Jαѕmiηe' Bℓαckrαiη (mumbaibeauty Resident) That was all it took, seeing her sitting down, and she instantly thought how this was a horrible idea for her to do that. "No...no sitting down here won't help either....we've got to take you somewhere safer. Will you let me try to carry you? I'll give you a piggy back like I used to for my little cousin Kamah. But you can't sit here, it's dirty! Somebody very bad could come along and hurt you worse. " Jalina was a bit more forceful this time, trying to pull the girl to her feet, trying to judge if she could carry her weight easily or not. She was sure that the medical building, however run down it looked, would at the very least have something, maybe she could steal an old wheelchair to get the woman somewhere more safe in. Would she let her? She tried to tentatively lift the woman up so she could somehow get her just a few streets down, this had to work, she mustered up all the strength she had and held her breath a moment, maybe she would just act like a sack of rocks and refuse, but Jalina felt like she had to try.


[21:41] BrentleyFine Resident noticed that the ladies still hadn't found the shoes....He walks over back toward his bike and turns toward the one standing up still "Do you need some assistance?" He looked the girl on the ground over and thought to himself that was a shitty thing to do to her...He almost felt sorry for the girl knowing how scrambled up her mind might be. But it wasn't his doing and he wasn't certain who had done it. Best to be cautious in a new town. "If there is a clinic nearby, I can give her a lift"


[21:44] Kenna (Dezire Seriman) She stood up with Jalina's help, though she didn't want to. She felt like she could just lay down right here on the pavement and go to sleep. But, she was right, it was filthy, and it stunk something awful. She wobbled a bit as she was lifted back up but caught herself and held her balance using Jalina as a crutch to keep from going over. Her eyes felt heavy though. She was fighting to keep them open. She blinked a few times, each time finding it harder to open her eyes again. "I can walk.." She said not so sure if she could. She felt super light and was afraid she was going to float away if she didn't keep hold of something... that something being a someone namely Jalina. "Hospital is that way." She pointed between a couple of buildings and then opened her eyes wide. "How did I know that?" She looked around but nothing looked familiar, yet she knew somehow that she had been here before. "Where are we? What is this place?" She asked again realizing nobody had ever answered her from the first time she had asked. Slowly, little bits of information seemed to be coming back to her. She hoped it wouldn't take long before she remembered the rest of it, like how she got here, and of course, most importantly, where were her shoes? She turned her eyes to the man as he returned. "Did you see my car? Do you know what happened to me?" She asked grasping for some information.


[21:48] JαℓIηα 'Jαѕmiηe' Bℓαckrαiη (mumbaibeauty Resident) Jalina nodded to the man, "I think, if she'll let me lift her up we can put her on it, I can walk there fine and meet you but I'm almost positive.....ohhh....you DO remember something!" Kalina hugged her suddenly, maybe this was going to work out alright after all. She slowly walked towards the man on the bike. " so anyway II think if she will let you, it might be a good idea to drive her there, but I'll head over as well, don't worry..." She said, glancing back at the woman, wondering what her real name was, and hoping that someone could help them figure this all out. "Do you think you can let this nice man give you a ride to the hospital so we can get you checked out?" Her eyes were pleading with deep concern that she would let them get her to safety so they could figure out what had happened to her, in the moment she even forgot all about finding her sister as well.


[21:53] BrentleyFine Resident approached the girl "what do you think? Can I help you over?" He offered his arm to her. He did feel sorry for her but was visibly irritated. Under his breath he mumbled an indistinguishable "amatuer mind fuckers scrambled another fucking one" He offered her a smile to show that he was genuine.


[21:58] Kenna (Dezire Seriman) She was a bit startled by the woman's sudden show of affection when she reached out and hugged her. She just stood there. She didn't know this woman.. or maybe she did? Ugh... she was getting frustrated with herself. She turned to look at the man, had he told her his name? Did she know him too? They both seemed to want to help her. She nodded briefly and reached out to take hold of his arm letting go of Jalina. Her head was still hurting and she wasn't feeling steady on her feet. She was thankful to have someone to hold on to. She looked at Jalina again. Why did she look so familiar? A thought for another time. She found herself letting her head fall to rest against the man's arm. "I just want to sleep now." She said feeling very warm inside. She let her eyes close this time, giving up the fight to hold them open. "Can you take me home?" she mumbled in a half daze.


[22:01] BrentleyFine Resident: Famous last words rang in his head.....can you take me home? He had already told the woman taking care of her that he would take her to the clinic. "Let's stick with the clinic" he said....there ware something still off about the situation and with the other things that had been going on in town, he felt best to stay on the right path.....for now.


[22:04] JαℓIηα 'Jαѕmiηe' Bℓαckrαiη (mumbaibeauty Resident) Jalina sighed a bit, she had a feeling her touches were startling, but it was just her nature, and even though she had learned early on at collage that Americans were far less touchy and seemed to want a much larger personal space between them when talking, she still could not help herself from trying to want to care for someone she had just met, if only that it made her realize that her sister being missing for a few weeks, could still be nothing compared to what someone else may have gone through. She looked up at the ma, she still had not asked his name but for some reason, right now, just didn't seem the time for formal introductions. So she simply mouthed the words 'thank you' and started to walk in the direction that she had seen that clinic at. "I'll meet you over there, make sure she doesn't fall off please!" Jalina sighed as she jogged away, really hoping that this was going to work out so she could go back to looking for Sundari.


[22:08] BrentleyFine Resident helped her over to the bike "hop on the back" he told her....the engine rattling as he kicked it over.


[22:08] Kenna (Dezire Seriman) She wanted to open her eyes but they were just too heavy. She couldn't seem to get those lids to raise up. Her green orbs were sealed away by the prison of her lash and that was where they would stay... for now. She could still hear everything going on around her. She knew the words that were being spoken, but they held very little meaning to her. Clinic... home, it didn't matter, she had no idea where either place was. She merely let this strange man lead her to his bike and on the back of it. She leaned against him, her eyes still closed.


[22:11] Aaron Twine It had been a slow night, he stood at the counter flirting with his nurse while enjoying a bit of coffee.


[22:14] JαℓIηα 'Jαѕmiηe' Bℓαckrαiη (mumbaibeauty Resident) the clinic was even dirtier than she had thought it looked passing it earlier, what on earth was this place. She walked inside and felt as if she was walking into some clinic in Mumbai just with hoe dirty and out dated everything seemed to be. She looked at the woman, and then opened the doors to help her inside. "WE need help....well she does..." she said, speakong very mater of fact, not caring how rude it might of sounded. "Think she has hit her head or something, she can't seem to remember anything.....well then she remembered where this clinic was so there is that.....anyway she needs help" She said in a flustered tone, her accent coming out so thick it was embarrassing her.


[22:19] Kenna (Dezire Seriman) she slipped off the back of the bike with Jalina's help. She somehow managed to open her eyes though they were so heavy. She held on to Jalina and let the woman lead her into the clinic. When she stepped inside the floor felt very cold upon her bare feet. The whole building felt cold, much colder than it was outside. "Why is it so cold?" She mumbled and shivered. She heard Jalina speaking but she was talkign so fast and that accent was so strong she couldn't hardly make out what she was saying. It was as if she was speaking a foreign language. it reminded her of something she had heard before... but where? By who? Maybe it was Jalina. Maybe she did know this woman. She smiled half heartily, "I know you.." She whispered and then at that moment she let her eyes fall again, this time letting the darkness claim her and pull her into that unconscious slumber.


[22:21] Aaron Twine He set the cup of coffee down the moment the door opened and he saw those two women walking inside the clinic. "Get a chair." he instructed the nurse and pushed himself away from the counter and stepped over to the two. He barely reached them when the girl passed out and he reached out just in time to catch her from falling. He scooped her up in his arms as if she weighed nothing and started through the double doors to the back where the exam room was.


[22:22] JαℓIηα 'Jαѕmiηe' Bℓαckrαiη (mumbaibeauty Resident) Jalina was tapping her foot impatiently, you had to be stern with doctors in India, they could be lazy or not take women seriously, and she forgot herself as she stared from the doctor to the woman she was helping, and then suddenly felt her falling, the doctor was quick though, that made her feel better about things. She went to follow them, not caring who might stop her, this woman had just said she knew her, and the first thing that popped into her mind was Sundari, and how alike they looked and in the excitement of what that might mean, she didn't want her out of her sight for even a second.


[22:24] Aaron Twine He laid the girl out on the exam table, glancing over for a brief second when he heard the doors again. "What is her name and what happened to her?" he asked trying to get as much information as he could. he pulled out his pen light and lifted the girl's eyelids to check her pupils.


[22:29] JαℓIηα 'Jαѕmiηe' Bℓαckrαiη (mumbaibeauty Resident): "She...." Jalina stopped, she didn't really know anything about her, and yet she was passed out unconscious now and she was having to speak for her, and it made her words get choked up a bit. "I don't know, she told me to call her Luna but....no I don't think that is her name, it might be but, she was really confused, I found her walking, I was looking for my sister you see and....well this woman..." She stopped gesturing to her on the table. Looking down at her and starting to feel real concern again. "She was walking up to me asking if I had seen her shoes.....and she has a cut on her leg and her head...seems that she hit it somehow. I think she also asked where her car was, but I don't really know....if she had one or not. And this clinic! Just as I was trying to get her help she suddenly knew where the clinic was! So I am not sure if she is from here or.....knows this place, but so far that's the only thing she knew for sure...." Jalina realized how fast she was speaking and how strong her accent had gone in her worry, and she blushed and mumbled something about sorry for that, before she went silent for a moment. "Do you think she will be alright?" She asked nervously, the woman had gone totally still now and it was a bit frightening to Jalina to see.


[22:37] Aaron Twine He listened to the woman speak. He could almost place exactly where she was from with that accent. he had spent a good deal of time over that way, having traveled the world numerous times over in his lifetime. He merely nodded to her as he picked up a pair of sheers and started cutting the fabric of the girl's clothing so he could check for other injuries. His nurse wandered in carrying a clip board. 'Put her down as a Jane Doe." He told the nurse and went back to his work. as he got the clothing off he placed a blanket over her body. "Injuries are concussive of a car accident." he confirmed noting the bruises across her chest where the seat belt had caught her. He pulled over a portable x-ray machine. "miss, I'm going to have to ask you to stand behind the curtain." he positioned the xray over the girl's body and started to take pictures, moving it from one area to another until he had scanned the entire body. he would have preferred an mri but of course this clinic didn't have one and the closest hospital was not all that close. When he finished he loaded the images and then walked over to the monitor to bring them up and view them. "Hmm... mmhmm... i see...." he talked to himself without giving any real indication of what he was seeing.


[22:43] JαℓIηα 'Jαѕmiηe' Bℓαckrαiη (mumbaibeauty Resident) Jalina listened to it all, but didn't really take anything in, she should have, she was still doing pre-med though at college and had very limited clinic experience. Her mother's hopes and dreams of raising a doctor and a lawyer were evident, but she lacked the motivation and wanted to do other things with her life. She stepped back as the curtain closed and the sound of the xray machine working could be heard, this was so primitive she thought, but she was more concerned for the girl, wanting her to wake up so she could tell her where Sundari was, she knew, Jalina was sure of it, why else would she say she knew her? Jalina had certainly never seen this woman before. "So she was driving! Will she start to remember things again? This isn't permanent right? I really need her to remember some really....important things...." Jalina let her voice trail off, she didn't want anyone to suspect anything weird, she had just admitted that she didn't know her, but now she felt as if she needed to know her more than anything else right now.


[22:54] Aaron Twine He moved back over to the bedside. "She's quite lucky she wasn't hurt more." he said. He looked to his nurse, "call the sheriffs department, have them be on the look out for a wrecked vehicle, probably outside of town. that might give us more information." He proceeded to clean the wound on the girl's leg and also her feet. he then pulled out a syringe and filled it. As he stuck the needle into the girl's thigh he looked to Jalina again. "We have two options here. As you can see we were not a full hospital. We don't keep people overnight. She is going to need to be monitored, but i dont think its serious enough to warrent a hospital stay. I can either release her in your care for you to take to your home and watch over her for the night, or we can have her transferred to the nearest hospital about fourty miles south of here." he looked at the young girl on the table. He knew he could easily fix any of the injuries, but a head trauma was something else. He frowned, "As for her remembering, amnesia is a tricky thing. sometimes memories come back right away. Sometimes they can take years... and in worst cases, amnesia patients just end up taking on a new identity and live out the rest of their lives never remembering. At this point,its difficult to say." he started to feel around on the girl's head for any bumps. "If she is remembering a little now, then that is a good sign, but, still, hard to say how long."


[23:00] JαℓIηα 'Jαѕmiηe' Bℓαckrαiη (mumbaibeauty Resident) Jalina started to say that she had no home close by, that she was not even from this city, but quickly changed her mind, if she said that then they might send her anywhere, and she'd never see her again. She knew she still had money in her bank account for a motel room, but she couldn't go asking this doctor if he knew of one, but that was ok, she pulled her phone from her pocket and did a quick search, luckily something came up, it looked like the ad for the place was horribly photo shopped to not look like something out of a horror film, but what else did she expect from a town such as this. She looked back up at the doctor and nodded. "Sure, I was uhm, out walking but I will certainly call a cab and have them take us to my....home." She smiled, hoping it covered up her nervousness, and hoped that even that could be explained away by how weird this night had been. "Is there anything special I need to do, or just watch to make sure she is alright or...." Jalina bit her lip, she'd been responsible for a lot in her life, but this was different, this girl held answers in that scrambled up mind of hers, and she needed to get to them somehow, no matter how long it took.


[23:05] Aaron Twine He glanced over to the lady. he could tell she was lying. He knew she wasn't from around here, but he didn't really care either. he patched people up and sent them on their way. He didnt get the feelign that this woman was a danger or a threat to his patient so he was perfectly fine releasing her. "Leave your name and number with my nurse. if we get any information on her we'll give you a call. Until then, looks like you are now responsible for ... Luna?" he made his way over to the cabinet and pulled out a clean pair of scrubs. He brought them back over to the table and carefuly started to dress the girl in them since he had cut off her clothing. Once she was dressed he got some smelly salts and placed them under her nose. "wake up." He spoke softly. He glanced back to Jalina. "Call that cab, she will be ready to go in a couple of minutes." he watched as the young girl's eyes started to flutter open.


[23:10] Kenna (Dezire Seriman) She was deep in the darkness of her mind, lost in a world beyond worlds, and then suddenly she got a whiff of those salts and she came spiraling through that darkness toward a light. Faster and faster she seemed to spin out of control until that light pulled her in completely and her eyes started to flutter bringing her back into the real world. She laid there on that table not quite sure what had happened. She wasn't sure where she was. The bright overhead light was blinding her. She mumbled something as she brought her hand up to cover her eyes. As her mind started to become a bit more clear she realized she was in a hospital, or a clinic, or something of that nature, but why? And then she remembered her shoes. She had lost her shoes. Maybe that is why she was in the hospital, though that didn't make much sense, who goes to a hospital for shoes? "did you find them? Did you find my shoes?" She asked still feeling very concerned about her bare feet.


[23:13] JαℓIηα 'Jαѕmiηe' Bℓαckrαiη (mumbaibeauty Resident) Lucky for her the doctor believed her lies and she was naive about the world and the way it worked, that she just felt relieved that he was going to let the girl come with her instead of sending her off somewhere. She jotted down her name and cell number to the nurse on her clipboard form and then did a quick search for a cab company. She shifted the small bag of her stuff over her shoulder once more and then called the only cab company it seemed like would drive to this town. Then she smiled as she watched the girl's eyes open. "Luna? We are going to go find your shoes now, it's just that this nice doctor needed to make sure you were alright as well....You're going to come stay the night with me.....at my...home. It'll all be fine, I might even have seen your shoes....at my house, yeah I'm not really sure how but I think they might be there..." She didn't really want to lie to Luna, but it seemed like the only thing that might make this whole process go more smoothly. She reached for the woman's hand to try to assist her in standing. "there is a cab on the way for us right now even....you okay to come with me you think?"


[23:19] Aaron Twine He shook his head and chuckled. "no, we didn't find your shoes" he stepped back and allowed Jalina to approach the exam table to talk to Luna. He made his way back over to the cabinet and pulled out a pair of slipper socks that were wrapped in plastic. he opened them up and handed them to Luna. "these might help for now until you get...home" he looked over at Jalina as if to say, 'i know..' He smirked and gave Luna a gentle pat on her leg. "You're going to be alright." he picked up his prescription pad and scribbled something on it and handed it to Jalina. "Just a couple of things, one for pain and discomfort, and one for nausea if she should experiance it. wake her up at least every two hours for the next twenty four hours. If you are unable to wake her at any time bring her back... or call an ambulance. If you notice any abnormal behaivor, slurring of words, changes in mental status, bring her back. My nurse will have it all written out on the release forms. she is all yours now."


[23:23] Kenna (Dezire Seriman) She looked up at Jalina and smiled. That face, that accent, yes it was all so familiar, but how and why? She had to be friends with this woman, why else would she be taking her home to help her? She didn't pull away when the the woman touched her this time, allowing her hand to fall into Jalina's and assisted to her feet. She held on to those slipper socks as if they were her only possession, because in a sense, they were. She had nothing else, just herself, and these socks. She nodded to Jalina. "We are friends?" she asked fairly certain she had crossed paths with her before. She only hoped it was in the line of friendship and not something bad.


[23:26] JαℓIηα 'Jαѕmiηe' Bℓαckrαiη (mumbaibeauty Resident) Jalina had a bit of a stuttering moment, just that brief second where she realized he knew, and didn't care, which made her both relieved, shameful and also a bit more protective over Luna, because who else might he have let take her home, no she felt as if right then she was going to do whatever she could to help her, even if she found Sundari and Luna still needed her,, she just seemed to be some sort of lost soul, who now didn't even know who she was, how horrible that must feel! She listened carefully to the doctor's instructions and nodded that she understood them. It was going to be a long night, but if she was going to find her sister, it would all be worth it, she convinced herself. She smiled warmly down at :Luna and nodded as she squeezed her hand. "We are friends....and friends take care of friends so....that's what I'm going to do. Look see that is the cab right now to take us....home, ready? Careful now, hold onto me so you don't fall." She carefully guided Luna out of the exam room and to the waiting cab, trying to help her inside, she also tried to whisper the address of the hotel as quietly as she could, so that she could stall for time when Luna realized she wasn't going to an actual house.