The first detective who had been by Shelby’s side started feeling a bit piqued with the way her stepfather kept bugging her and into their conversations, but he and his partner understood that James was the decision-maker in their family and respected his wishes even though his behaviour was starting to become suspicious.
Just as his hand reached for the doorknob of the private room, Shelby’s voice rang out behind them; he stopped, and a soft smile lit up his face and that of his partner.
"Yes, Miss?" He said, a little bit too eagerly.
He felt as if he wanted to grab the whole world for the girl in front of him if she had asked, which was absurd!
"I-t’s o-kay... w-e can talk."
She turned to her mother, who had been glued to her side the whole time, then to Rocky and then finally to James, her expression staying the same.
"Yes, I am." Then she looked right at James, her heart thundering in her chest. Thankfully, there were many people in the room, and the vital monitors had been detached from her, no thanks to James. No one realized how nervous and afraid she was then. Rocky rounded the other side of the bed, sat down and clasped her hand in his. Shelby placed her other hand on it as well, appreciating the consoling gesture.
"It’s okay, dad...." The word ’dad’ felt so disgusting to her, but Shelby knew what she had to say at that moment. She had no idea why she had let James have such a strong hold on her in the face of the law enforcers, but her gut instincts told her that she was doing the right thing.
"They only want to help," she added, throwing a feeble uplifting of the corners of her mouth to him. It really did not pass as a smile one bit!
Shelby turned to the detectives when she had decided what she wanted to do. A lot of things went through her mind. Most of which she could not make sense of.
"Can you tell us what happened at the park?" The detective asked softly.
"I’m sorry, detective Sir, but what park?"
"The T-Vino newly opened park where you met your unfortunate assailant..."
Shelby looked really confused and asked the question really genuinely.
The detective frowned just as James’ hope blossomed. James had dug his nails so hard in his palms that he had drawn blood. Standing in the room, his eyes had also been shooting daggers at Shelby as if to say,
’You better watch your mouth!’ But James knew that if Shelby had chosen to say anything then and there, he would not have been able to do anything and that made him wonder why she did not.
"I met Ava last night for dinner, and that is all I remember. "
"Ava? Hasn’t she been travelling for the past month?" Rocky chipped in thoughtfully.
"How could you have met her a few days ago?"
"Huh?" Shelby looked confused, as did the detectives.
As the detective tried to talk to her again, his partner stopped in and signalled one of the nurses to call the doctor. He could sense that something was wrong.
After a series of examinations and another round of questions from the doctor, she was asked,
And her answer shocked them! Shelby seemingly had no recollection of a whole month preceding the accident.
The doctor did some follow-up scans and found nothing wrong with her. They diagnosed it as Selective Amnesia.
"There is no explanation for this. All the tests show that she is okay, but psychological traumas are a bit hard to quantify and diagnose sometimes. We think her mind is trying to take care of itself but shielding her from whatever she went through." ... was the reason the doctor gave.
"Another dead end!" The detectives discussed among themselves when they left the room. They had to re-strategize as there had been no CCTV at the part of the park where the attack had occurred. They had, therefore, banked all of their hope on the recount of the attack from the victim.
The day that had brought hope to the family was quashed again with the amnesia. Clara was so distressed that Rocky sent her back to her room, leaving only Shelby with the man she now detested! She hated James to the bone, but she knew she had to conserve her life, and the only way she could do that was to prove to James that she was of no harm to him.
It was still beyond her comprehension of what had happened in the park. Apart from everything, if she gave out James, she had to tell everything else that happened. And she knew that would get her into a mental institution, especially since the palm slice the man had done was nowhere to be found! Nothing on her palm ever suggested that it had been cut in any way!
Finally, the door closed behind the last of them.
James stood staring at the closed door. The ’warm father-like mask’ he had had for the past few days dropped off like a veil.
"Now! Drop the act!" He growled coldly, and he turned to face Shelby. His eye twitched, and he sniffled. His eyes were a little unfocused, and Shelby trembled.
"... pretending will not save you at this moment. At least you had the right mind not to blabber your way to the cops!"
"D-dad? W-hat is going on?" Shelby asked, shrinking back into the bed and keeping up her act.
"What games are you planning?!"
"What is it, Dad? You are scaring me!"
Even as she said these, she prayed with all her might that Rocky would return... and soon too.
James’ patience snapped, and he reached over the bed to grab her, but then he flinched back, an instinctive recoil!
He surveyed the bed, looking for any ’live wire’ that may have touched him, but he couldn’t find any.
"Dad, why are you being !" Shelby whisper-shouted just as fury clouded James again, and he lunged for her angrily.
No one was sure of what James thought he was doing then, but this time, as soon as his hand touched Shelby, he felt an invisible pushback. It was slight but definitely there.
He took a step back and then another, holding onto his hand.
"What is it, dad?" Rocky’s voice sounded from the doorway bringing hope to Shelby.
James mustered a shaky smile and asked, "Rockwell, how long have you been there?"
"I just got here now. Mum is finally asleep.... But what’s with you, Dad? Why are you behaving strangely nowadays? Are you that affected by Shelby’s accident? She is better now, so do not worry...."
Little did Rocky know that he had hit the nail on the head.
"Sis! How are you? Do you really not remember much from the accident?"
Shelby clasped her hands tightly under the sheets and nodded.
"I don’t know what’s going on Rocky..."
"It’s okay. The detectives know what they are doing. I am sure that they will find out what happened to you."
Shelby lowered her head, and Rocky walked around his father and to Shelby. He reached under the blankets to bring out her hand, clasping it. Shelby looked on in amazement, wondering what that was about James.
She had only seen him behaving funny. He had reached for her and stepped back as if he was being stopped by something or someone. He also behaved as if he had been pinched or even electrocuted.
’There is no end to his madness!’ She thought as Rocky clasped her hand tightly.
James also thought the same thing. How could she let Rocky comfortably touch her, and she dared play tricks on him?
"What happened to me, Rocky?"
She thought she had to ask all the right questions to make her act believable. Since she had woken up earlier, she had thoroughly reviewed the incident at the park, especially the man who had saved her. She had no idea what he had done and could not even explain anything.
Her face registered the appropriate shock as Rocky recounted the events from the few days.
"Who is the man who saved me?"
"We were hoping that you could tell us, but now, it seems like that is even out of the window."
Rocky studied her and quickly added, thinking that she was distressed that she couldn’t remember, "It’s okay, sis."
That was when their eyes were drawn to the tattoo on Shelby’s ring finger.
"What is this? When did you get yourself such a cute ring-like tattoo? It’s so pretty!"
"What are you talking about?" Shelby asked as she examined her ring finger, only to stop short.
’Could this have something to do with the man?’
Shelby was genuinely curious and puzzled about the ring. Her act was enough to be bought by James, but he never once let down his guard about Shelby.
"How is my miracle girl doing?" The doctor asked and went about his routine checks.
"It is really interesting! This should go into the medical journal as one of the most miraculous healing and recovery ever encountered."
"Thank you for the help, doctor."
"Don’t mention, my dear. Just take care of yourself, and don’t return here in that state again."
She giggled and thanked the older man profusely. James stayed out of her hair for the next few days while the detectives pondered what they would do to solve the case until the unexpected happened! Quite a ridiculous occurrence, I must say...
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