The Past Never Sleeps

The Caller of 3am

Sarah didn't know whether to comfort the girl or just give her sympathies, when Vanessa spoke up again "I will get you your order in 10 minutes." Sarah just gave a sad smile. What's up with all the disappearances and deaths lately?

She just sat there with the recent revelation. Mrs.Owens was like a mother to her. She always used to let her study until late in the evening. And during the finals, maybe even till 10:00 pm.

"So I heard you are a teacher now" the familiar voice took her out of her trance. "Oh my God, Alex... Alex Carter" she got up to give her old schoolmate a hug. "WAIT, so you were the mystery 3:00 am caller."

Smirking he pulled away, a sparkle in his honey coloured eyes. Sarah remembered this mischievous gleam in his eyes from their old school years. "Sorry, it's just that I didn't expect you to show up if I told you it was me. You left for college so unexpectedly"

Sarah gave a sad smile to Alex. She never meant to leave so unexpectedly. But her aunt made her. She just wished she could tell him this. "Well, there's no use reliving old memories. Let's catch up on each other's lives." Sarah forced a smile on her face, even if her heart was starting to feel heavier by each second. "I will tell you everything but not here." He leaned in closer and whispered the last part in her ear, "It's not safe here".

He took her hand and signalled to Vanessa to pack her order. In less than 2 minutes Sarah's to-go order was sitting on the counter. Alex took it and dragged her outside. Once we were outside, she asked him the burning question in her mind. "What do you mean 'it's not safe'?" she air-quoted the last part, to add that last layer of taunt.

He rolled his eyes and finally let go of her hand. She felt his piercing gaze on her, which made her stomach turn to knots. "Look, it's about the recent death in Elderwood. It's not just a simple murder. It's a distraction. You are connected to it." Sarah's mind was basically yelling, that all this information is too much for her little brain to handle.

"I will explain everything, can we go to your place?" he asked, rather softly. That's when Sarah noticed the piercing gaze she felt, it wasn't on her. But his gaze was on something behind her. Sarah just nodded, not able to get anything out of her mouth right now.

They got in her car, and the whole ride back was silent. When they reached her house, she unlocked the door for him and waited for him to sit down on the couch to bombard him with questions. But "Explain" was the only thing that she mustered up enough strength to say.

"Well for starters, after you left, I too started looking for colleges. I took up a course in criminology and now I am a Detective Carter." Alex explained, trying to keep calm before the storm by adding humour in his tone . "You always wanted to become one." she whispered.

All the memories of them playing as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson flooded back. And as usual, she was Dr. Watson. She had tried to lock the dam and was successful, but seeing him again, it was like the memory flood became too overwhelming.

"Now for the part for which I met up with you after 7 years." He took a deep breath and then opened his backpack. Sarah was bewildered, she didn't even notice the bag. He pulled out a folder, it looked familiar... almost too familiar. Where had she seen it?

"What's that?" she whispered, her voice trembling. "It's one of the few things which will help us in this case" his voice was softer than usual.

"This can't be a case file, it has my parent's pictures" her eyes taking a sudden interest in her hands. "They have been dead for 20 years."

"That's what you think." he scrunched his eyes and continued "Let me rephrase that, that's what they made you think." he said. "Your parents are not what you think. They have a far more complex history than they made everyone think." Okay. Sarah's brain was screaming that it was too much information to take in. She always thought something was mysterious about her parent's unexpected death, and the way her aunt and uncle never seemed to give her a full answer. But now, it felt like the past was catching up. And it was really fast.