Lost & Found

4

May 2024
[Sleepy Hollow, New York]

The town hadn't changed much in twenty years, but the memories that haunted her had only grown sharper.

Fatima and Xavier touched down in Sleepy Hollow, New York late last night before spending the night at a nearby hotel so they could start fresh in the morning. One thing about her, she was not about to do all that traveling and then get straight to business. She was gonna use the rest of the evening to reset her body. 

The morning came by, they packed up the rental car he got so they could head over to the bank. Since Fatima knew the town better than he did, she took point on driving around since she knew all the backroads and it would also calm her down a little bit. She would be lying if she didn't have an ounce of nervousness running through her body. 

Hers hands rested on the wheel as Xavier scrolled through his phone in the passenger seat before realizing that there was nothing interesting on it. "You good?" He asked, sensing how quiet she had been this morning.

She nodded her head as she switched lanes, "Yeah, just trying to get through this without feeling like I'm 18 again..." She replied, glancing at him with a smile, though her grip on the steering wheel tightened. "I keep telling myself it's just a box. I don't even know what's in it. But this place... it still gets to me and I don't know why." She admitted to him.

He reached over, gently putting his hand on top of hers, that rested on the gear shift. "If you want, we can just grab the stuff and go home. We don't have to stay here if you don't want too. Just a real quick, in and out." He softly suggested to her.

She nodded, appreciating his calm demeanor, something that was always consistent with him. They weren't even five minutes away from the bank when the flash of red and blue lights was illuminating through the rearview mirror. Fatima's heart sank. "I wasn't even speeding." She muttered, slowly pulling over to the side of the road.

Ahhh shit...🤣

"Maybe it's just a routine stop." He replied trying to calm her down, he sat up in the passenger seat and began looking for the registration and insurance in the glove compartment.

She rolled down her window as the officer approached. Two officers got out of the car, both of them were middle aged, white, and wore aviator glasses. Pretty typical. The first officer approached her side while the second stood back, watching Xavier from a distance.

"Good morning, ma'am." The first officer spoke, his tone polite enough. "Do you know why we pulled you over?" She shook her head. "No, I don't."

"You were going a little fast back there, just over the limit." He smiled, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. "License and registration, please."

As much as she wanted to argue because she knew for a fact that she wasn't speeding, she didn't have time to pick arguments and end up on the news dead. Instead, she would just take the ticket and fight it in court. Xavier handed her license and registration as she went through her purse for her ID. After handing the documents to the officer, she watched from her side mirrors as he walked back to his squad car to search the information up. 

The second officer, who had been quiet up until now, suddenly spoke. "Y'all heading somewhere important?" She kept her cool, giving a polite nod. "Just running errands."

The officer's gaze lingered on Xavier for a moment longer than necessary before he walked back to his car as well. They both sat in silence, waiting. The minutes dragged on, and she could feel the tension increasing. Something didn't feel right. A simple speeding ticket shouldn't take this long.