Him - ON HOLD

Chapter 3

The police come to interview me later on in the day. They disturbed me from sleeping. Neema was nice and was trying to get them out to leave me to sleep in peace. I’m so glad she didn’t say rest in peace. But then I woke up. They were shouting how they have a right to talk to me. And I’m sure they do, they are police. But then the nice one came along, the one that picked me up and put me in the car. He broke it up, then he came and sat next to me.

“Hey Ally, how do you feel?” he asked me.

“Um, well other than being woken up from a really relaxing sleep and hurting and having no memory of anything, I'm good,” I smile at him. “I'm sorry, but I don’t know what your name is.”

He laughs. “Right, yes, of course you don’t. My name is Noah Montgomery. But you can call me Noah.” He grins at me, but then the grin falters. “Ally, do you remember anything at all? Because, we need to know, even if it doesn’t seem important to you.”

I decide to tell Noah about him.

I sigh, “I do remember something, sort of,” I say to Noah.

One of the police pulls out a recording device thing.

“Go on, Ally, we need to hear this.” Noah says.

“Ok, so I don’t remember a lot, but there’s this guy. I don’t know what he looks like, but I remember what he smells like, but only faintly, or sometimes his face shows up when I turn my head quickly, it’s just there on the walls but it’s gone before I can actually tell what his features are, does that make any sense?”

“Yes, it does. A face of this guy you talk about flashes quickly in your mind but is gone before you can take in anything. Is that right?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what it's like,” I say, but then sigh, “but it’s annoying. I want to know who this guy is, but I can’t. And his face is right there, but is gone before I can grasp it.”

“Do you remember anything else?”

“Yes, I get flashes of bright red in between trees. It’s a memory, I think. But it’s scary, because the trees are like black and white, and then there’s a red dress or something. And the forest is creepy. I don’t like the forest. It’s only a quick glance, it comes to me for like 2 seconds and then I’m back in reality. It’s like a hallucination. And I don’t know if it’s a memory or something that my mind has just produced.”

“Okay, Ally. Thank you for telling us this. I have one more question. Do you remember anything about your friends?” He asks me.

“No, no one’s told me anything,” I say to Noah.

“Well, does the name Ashley sound familiar? Ashley Hildebrand?”

The police man is still recording.

I shake my head. “No, I don’t remember,” I cry, “that name doesn’t even sound familiar!”

Noah nods his head at one of the police men surrounding the room, and one of them comes over with a picture.

“Here you go, Ally” Noah says, handing me the picture.

There’s a girl in a stunning red dress with beautiful straight blonde hair standing next to a girl in a loose black shirt, jeans and leather boots with long brown hair. In the background there are more people. Everyone one is smiling. But something about the two girls at the front of the picture is off. The smiles look fake. Like there’s tension between the two.

“Why are you showing me this, Noah?”

He sighs, then catches me off guard at what he says next, “The girl in the jeans is you, Ally.” He doesn’t stop, even while I’m gaping at the picture. “The girl next to you in the red dress is your best friend, Ashley. And she went missing with you. Ally, she still hasn't been found."