THE STARKS ALLEY

33

Two detectives, Detective Kala and Detective Jones, worked on Kristie's kidnapping and it was hard without Monic herself.

At first they were convinced that Ty had something to do with it because he was the one that let her go and even Izzy almost got dragged into it but they realized that there was no connection between Ty and Monic and Izzy did in fact save Kristie. That's how it was all swept under the carpet. Detective Kala remembered all this as she threw away pictures of Ty from their display board.

They weren't the best detectives in town and they new that. They were both new on the force and they still had a lot to learn so it was a surprise that when Detective Jones was called in to be in charge of the case with his partner, they both weren't happy about it. They had in fact failed to find Kristie and the whole world thought she was dead so her reappearance just proved their lack of experience in the department.

"The people probably have no confidence in us now," Detective Kala began, "When the dead return after you've convinced the living that they will never come back, then you too will be dead to the living."

"The blood in her apartment was hers and there is no way anyone would lose that much blood and survive," Detective Jones counteracted her, "Look who's back here." They both looked at the door and Kristie's dad was right outside knocking. They had been working with him by tolerating his presence throughout the weeks which turned into months and they were honestly tired of him. He was always there with endless questions that no one had answers to and he was clearly of no help. He was the first to come at them after his daughter, Kristie was found and they saw it coming.

"I got here as early as I could," Kristie's dad said. Not that he was needed there but he made it clear that he was not going to quit as a self recruited member to the force any time soon.

"Great," Detective Kala said sarcastically.

"Except, I can't stay long today."

"That's quite unfortunate," Detective Jones said, clearly with no care in the world.

"The hospital just called me and Kristie finally woke up. We need to head there straight away," Kristie's dad concluded and this news was particularly essential to the detectives and they went with Kristie's dad to the hospital where they found journalists and it was hard to maneuver through all of them. Word really goes round fast.

They went to Kriste's room and got in quickly. Her mom was already there and Kristie was indeed awake and smiling. Detective Kala pulled out her note book and pen and was ready to ask her questions.

"My baby girl is finally awake," her dad said, hugging her tightly. He had been waiting for this moment and the fact that he had believed that she was once dead made it more fulfilling for him. He had his daughter back and that is what mattered the most.

His daughter looked back at him, full of life in her eyes.

"How are you feeling, Kristie?"

"Um... Herbert..." Kristie's mom interrupted but her dad brushed her off quickly. He only wanted to hear from Kristie and no body else. The two detectives were also eagerly waiting to ask their questions.

Kristie managed to reach for a sheet of paper on the surface nearby leaving another paper and showed him the words "I'm fine" on it with a smiley face. Herbert had a hard time comprehending everything when the doctor came in.

"The room is quite full today," he acknowledged everyone's presence as he walked in. He saw the paper in Kristie's hand and said, "I see she's making great progress."

"Progress?" Kristie's dad asked.

"When she woke up," the doctor began, "She was having trouble with her speech and we figured out that she has dysarthria." The look on everyone in the room prompted the doctor to keep talking since they were obviously confused.

"It's a condition characterized by slow speech and it is caused by brain damage which then caused the paralysis of her tongue." Everybody gasped in the room, "Her condition is however mild because in extreme cases, facial paralysis can be experienced. She is also able to understand anyone speaking to her whereas in other cases, that might be a problem."

"How did this happen?" Kristie's dad held on to her forgetting she could not speak so he turned to the doctor.

"We found a foreign substance in her system and we thought it only caused the coma she was in. This has to be the other effect," the doctor said, "Now you must all go. We need to run more tests on her." Kristie took the other paper and pointed at it. It read, "Not fine" with a sad face and that meant she did not want them to leave. The doctor made all of them leave and Kristie was as sad as the sad face on her paper.

"So the girl is awake, but now she can't speak," Detective Kala complained as she and her partner got in their car, "That's just great for us."

"Sure is," Detective Jones said, buckling his seat belt, "I need some coffee. This case is draining." He said as they drove off. Behind them was Herbert's car and he was driving back to his apartment.

"I didn't expect Kristie's condition to get worse," Leila said after a long time. There was no response from Herbert. They got to his apartment and the mood was the same as before.

"Everything will be alright," she tried to reassure Herbert.

"I blame you, Leila," She almost choked on her glass of water, "It's all your fault."

"How?"

"Our family split because of you!"

"You're the one who sent me away!"

"I couldn't take the pain you caused me!!"

"Look," Leila said, putting her glass down before she threw it against the wall, "I know I messed up. Big time. And I live everyday regretting the mistake I made."

"Mistakes, Leila."

"I can't do anything about that now except move on and I wouldn't be here if I still didn't love you," she came up behind him slowly, "And I know you still love me. Otherwise why else would I still be here? Spending every day with you?" She was now holding his shoulders and then she whispered, "And every night," into his ears.

He didn't push her away because he knew she was right. He couldn't explain why but he always wanted her and nobody else despite what she did. He couldn't tell if it was love or lust at this point but be didn't care. He took her into his arms and he could feel the comfort she always gave him. They found their way into his room and made love all night like they did every other night.