Today was not a normal day for me. I know what Charlotte has been hiding from me and I am outraged. I know who she was blackmailing, why, and I am somewhat terrified from the conclusion I have produced.
Last night I couldn’t hear another word of Charlotte and this mystery caller’s conversation. So I brushed my teeth and hair. I changed in to my pajamas and went to bed.
Today when I woke up I didn’t hear a single word. Not even from my alarm clock which should have gone off an hour ago. I got up and put my slippers on. I walked down the hall to see what Charlotte had been doing for the last hour. She was still sleeping. I went in to the kitchen to fix me up a bowl of cereal.
I decided to eat in the living room so that I may watch the news. The news wasn’t so pleasant. They were just talking about the temperature for this week which I didn’t need to know since I wasn’t doing anything this week. They were also talking about a girl I used to know. They said this local girl was planning to open up a new thrift store in town. I didn’t know why because we have thousands of those in town already, but I guess you do what you have to do to earn money right?
I stood up and turned the television off. I went into the kitchen and cleaned my bowl. I put the bowl back in the cabinet after I dried it. I walked out of the kitchen. I have never noticed how there was a hallway next to the one with the guest room.
I decided to see what was down this mysterious hall way. I walked down the hall which was incredibly long, and I still haven’t seen a door.
I kept walking down the hall, not seeing a single door. I must have been walking slowly because when I looked behind me I wasn’t as far down the hall as I thought I was.
I was about turn back down the hallway when I saw a door. I started to walk a little faster towards this mysterious door. I reached for the door knob and slowly turned it. I looked in to the room and saw a desk, a few scattered papers, some newspapers, and a few dusty lamps.
There were so many pictures on the walls. The people in the pictures all looked so familiar to me. Where would I have seen them? How would I have known them? I walked in to the room farther.
I looked at the newspapers. One was stating a missing person. One was stating the same thing. The other one was, too. All of three of the newspapers were stating the same thing! I found three others saying that the missing people were found in different states altogether. What was going on?!
I was freaking out; then I remembered someone on the newspaper. I dug through the newspapers. I found another one I remembered. I read the headline. “Dr. Queen local doctor gone missing.” I dug to find the other newspaper.
The other newspaper read, “Dr. Queen found 200 miles away from home.” I was so confused. The date on the newspaper was dated yesterday. What was going on? Why is this all in Charlotte’s secret room?
I heard someone walking down the hall. It had to have been Charlotte. She was coming in to the room. I stood there ready for a fight. She would be furious or embarrassed or both.
She walked in to the room and stopped dead in her tracks. She was looking me dead in the eye. I was holding the newspapers that were about Dr. Queen. I lifted them up to Charlotte’s face. Her eyes widened. “Who is that?” She was trying to act like she didn’t know anything. I was giving her a look that said ‘are you serious?’ She was trying to pull it off that she didn’t know what was happening.
She gave me a serious look. I turned around and grabbed one of the papers on the desk and a pen. I wrote on it “I know who she is, explain to me what is going on.” I passed her the note. I watched her eyes move across the paper and then her eyes turn to me. Tears started swelling up in her eyes. I was confused. Why was she crying?
“You weren’t supposed to find out this way.”
I motioned toward one of the chairs and I sat down with her.
“Well, it all started when we were little. You weren’t only diagnosed with lung cancer. You were diagnosed with long term memory lost. This means you lose most of your important memories.”
I was in complete shock. That’s what my dreams have been telling me. They haven’t even been dreams. They have been memories! I began to tear along with Charlotte.
“Dr. Queen found some research about it and was going to tell you. I had to do something. So I had to make sure she wouldn’t tell you. I didn’t want you to know that you had long term memory lost. I didn’t want you to have another burden on your shoulders. You have been through so much in your life that I feel like you don’t need anything else this bad. So I decided to not let you find out.”
She stood up and reached for the newspapers. She grabbed them then sat back down.
“This girl was your first private doctor. She found the papers, and I had to make sure you wouldn’t find out. So I told her that if she told you that I would make her leave town somehow or another. I did one way or another. They said she went missing, but really she had just left town. They found her in a nearby city saying that she had left town for a vacation. This isn’t what happened, as you now know. So, then you got a new private doctor. I did the same for him, so on and so forth. Then Dr. Queen came.”
I was in complete shock all the way. My eyes were getting wider and wider. Charlotte had seen my questioning look. I took a piece of paper and wrote “Have you been blackmailing Dr. Trent?”
I passed her the note and she began to read it. She looked up at me. She was thinking of what to tell, I could tell by the look in her eyes. “Yes. I have been blackmailing Dr. Trent. He found out about the Long term memory lost and I didn’t want you to know about it. So I did some… research on this Dr. Trent and found a detail that would ruin his life if anyone found.”
I gave her a questioning look. I wanted to know what she was blackmailing him for. If this would be bad enough to ruin his life I wanted to know. As much as she hated Dr. Trent, she was struggling to tell me.
“Dr. Trent is cheating on his wife.”
I couldn’t see myself in that moment of time, but I’m sure that my jaws dropped a mile down.
She went on into further detail on how she said she found him one night at Julia’s. After dinner she asked the girl he was on a date with what her name was. The woman said her name was Jennifer Roberson, and then she said that Dr. Trent was her boyfriend. Charlotte asked if she meant wife, and she replied no. The next day when she saw Dr. Trent she asked him if he was married. He replied yes. Charlotte asked who his wife was. He said Hermione Trent.
I looked at my watch. It was 9:48. We had been in the secret office for ever an hour telling this awful story. Charlotte went to get a bowl of cereal, and then came back to continue her awful story.
“So, the day before the apartment blew down I told him ‘I know about your wife, Hermione Trent.’ Well he said he didn’t care and that he told me about her. Then I said, ‘I know about your girlfriend, Jennifer Roberson, too.’ Then he gave me a look that showed he was confused. He asked me how I found out. I told him, ‘I asked you about your wife and I met your lovely girlfriend.’”
“He begged me not to tell his girlfriend or his wife. So I told him, I’d make him a deal. I said to him, ‘If you tell Rose about her memory issue, I’ll tell your girlfriend about your dating issue. I might even include that you have a wife. I’ll also tell your wife about your girlfriend, and that you and your girlfriend are perfect together.’”
I never knew what a dirty mind Charlotte had. She was still that protective bully she was 60, 70 years ago.
There was a knock at the door. Charlotte stood up and I followed. We walked down the long hall way. I took Charlotte’s bowl to the kitchen she that she may answer the door.
It was Dr. Trent.
