He wants to say something more. His tells are all there. The flex of his jaw, the lines in his forehead, brain churning. But he stays silent. How could I know him this well if we didn’t spend the last month together? I couldn’t, further proving that something is going on. But I don't get the chance to ask.  The door swings open and Salve saunters in.

“Sorry to break up the visit but I really do have to ask Aubry some questions now.”

Mike basically leaps out of his chair and flees the room with barely the cursory ‘see you later’ on his way out.  My muscles ache, my eyes are tired and my brain is a tornado of conflicting thoughts.

“How’re you feeling, kiddo?” Salve asks.

I tap my temple and pretend to think. “Let me see, I'm fan-fucking-tastic. How's that? Is that what everybody wants to hear? I am so goddamn grateful that I woke up in a Tucson hospital with my mother by my side.”

Detective Salve hold his hands up in the air. “Whoa, I’m not the bad guy.”

I roll my shoulders and stretch my neck. “I’m sorry.”

He nods and takes a seat where Mike just was and anxiety spikes in my chest. Mike’s gone—again. His behavior is making me feel manic.

“I know you’re feeling like you've been through this before but we need to file the official police report here. Tell me what you remember starting the morning you were taken.”

I sigh, feeling especially put out. “I was down at the docks for work. I needed to take some photos for my site. While I was shooting, a muffled scream caught my attention. I looked over and I saw some burly guys escorting a girl who was barely wearing anything into a shipping container. I literally turned and started running. The last thing I remember is being tackled to the ground, struggling and then waking up in a cell or some sort of room. I don't know. I don't know where it was, I just know I was locked in a room.”

“Do you remember what the men looked like?”

‎“No, they were pretty far away. But right before they tackled me I remember hearing them speak in another language.”

“Do you know what language?” he asks.

“It sounded like Russian and then the first time one of them came to my room, I heard Russian again. I could identify the man who visited. But Salve, there were other girls. I could hear them. They're doing something. Selling them or sex trafficking or human trafficking. I don't know but there are other girls you have to find them.” I press my fists into my temples remembering the broken sounds those other girls made.

Salve scribbles on his little pad before looking up. His suit coat isn’t ironed and there’s a small stain near one of the buttons of his button up shirt. He looks like a stereotypical bad-TV-show-detective-whose-life-is-on-some-personal-downward-spiral and if he thinks I’m going to be the case that fixes his shit, he’s wrong.

“If I show you some pictures, you think you could I.D. someone who might be involved?”

“I know I could.” I nod.

“Good. That’s good, Aub. I’m going to the station to log this and look at the report from the day you were found. I’ll come back tomorrow with some photos okay?”

“Yeah. But Salve, am I safe here?” He shoots me a curious look.

“There’s an officer outside in the hallway. Yes. You’re safe. Rest up.”

“Yeah. Okay,” I snort.

Salve stands and pats my head before turning to leave. “Don’t let the door hit ya on the way out,” I mutter. He tosses me a smirk over his shoulder.

Mike doesn’t come back. Coward. I lie in this damn uncomfortable bed, weak and bored, thinking. The book Lotte was reading. That jungle cover. The bird on his chest. That thing Mike said about breaking through the dark. Coming back to him. Dr. Richardson’s words, “Your time in the jungle was nearly the same as the length of your coma.” Paranoia creeps into my bloodstream. Have I lost my mind? Are there really other girls lives at stake? Did I fabricate this whole ordeal? No. No. They said I was missing for months. Some of this is truth. I just need to figure out which some.

“I’m Mim, your physical therapist.” The short, squat, blonde sticks out her hand to me. It’s just after four and although I’ve been fed, the food left me less than satisfied and cranky.

“I’m a lunatic, nice to meet you.” I take her hand and shake it as she laughs.

“Well, Luna, are you ready to get your body back?” I snort at her quick wit.

“Why am I so weak?” I ask.

Mim perches on the edge of my bed. “Your muscles haven’t been used for weeks. You’ll need to build them up again. Shouldn’t be too bad. You’re young and strong.”

I arch a brow at her as her lips stretch ear to ear. I have a feeling she’s going to torture me.

Mim and I spend an hour strengthening my muscles, the goal is to be able to walk on my own again, shower alone, be able to hold my arms up without getting winded again. When her hour with me is up, I have to sit down in the shower. The hot water pelts my skin. It reminds me of the rain in the jungle. Irritation gushes through me. Was there even a jungle?  I let the water course over the knots in my shoulders and down my back. I can’t trust my own thoughts. It makes my blood boil. I use up the last of my effort attempting to wash my hair. I turn the water off and realize I can’t reach a towel. I can’t even stand up without my legs feeling like they’re going to crumble under me.

“Hey! Hey. I’m done in here. Little help?” I call out. I try to hoist myself to my feet but my legs are jelly. “Hello?” I shout. “Invalid in need here.” I snort at myself while simultaneously feeling a surge of anger. I’m naked, wet and growing chilly.

Finally, the door cracks open.

“Aub?”

I squeal at Nora’s voice. “I’m naked!”

I hear a muffled laugh and then a towel enters the bathroom clutched in a hand from behind the door. I snatch it from her and maneuver it around me best I can.

“Ok. Safe.”

She pokes her head in and smiles.

“How are you?”

My eyes widen at her. “How am I? I fuckin’ ate my innocence for dinner, my sanity for breakfast and my faith for lunch. If I had a heart, I’d have it for dessert at this point.”

She stares at me, silent, her smile vanishing.  “Welcome to my iniquity. I’m so sorry, Aub. I wish darkness never touched your vibrancy.” It hits me then that Nora may be the only person who can understand where I’m at right now.

A shiver jumps up my spine and Nora says, “Lemme grab you clothes.” But being half naked isn’t what chilled me. Nora endured so much worse for so much longer than I did. She appears again with sweatpants and a hoodie and I think, if she could, I can. It’s the reminder I needed. Nora always had a way of doing that, being my cheerleader at the right time.

She helps me dress before running a brush through my hair and all I can think about is how there is no way I made up memories. As she helps me back to my bed, and let’s be honest, by help, she nearly bears my full weight, I say, “Mike’s hiding something.”

Nora straightens my blankets over me and grins. “That is just the amalgamation of your subconscious. He was a figment of your broken psyche, because you’ve been secretly in love with him since you met him.”

“A, I don’t even know what amalgamation means and B, even in my subconscious I’d never admit to being in love with him.” I catch her hand and hold it. She sinks into the bed near my hip.

“A, the action of combining or uniting. B, yes, you would. Because … love trumps sanity,” she spouts off.

“I’m really struggling to make sense of this, Nora.”

She pushes at my hip and I scoot as best I can to one side of the bed. She crawls in next to me and we both stare at the ceiling. Her hand claims mine between our bodies. “I know. It’s okay.” We stay just like that for a long time.

We’ve never needed to discuss things in depth. Although Nora loves her words, her silence and mine, I suppose, speak volumes too.  In high school when we delved into osmosis, I’d joked that, that was how Nora and I communicated. That simply by being near each other, we gradually soaked in each other’s feelings and assimilated each other’s thoughts.

My stomach growls—loudly. Nora jackknifes up. “I forgot! I’m so distrait.”

My face wrinkles up. I hate it when she uses her big, Nora words. “Huh?”

“I brought a pizza, and popcorn and peanut M&Ms for dessert.” She walks to the door and grabs the handle. “Don’t give me that look Aub, it’s loaded baked potato pizza. I left it at the nurse’s station, let me grab it.” Absurd joy sweeps through me and for the moment everything is perfect. “Find us a good movie. Hospitals get the Lifetime channel, right?”

I groan, I don’t want a Lifetime movie right now, I’m living one, but I can’t say no to Nora.