Ciana Pandora

EIGHT

Kade waits for a while in the officer’s office chewing some biscuits and admiring the USA flag. Suddenly, the door swings open. Another police officer enters with someone wearing a familiar outfit behind him.

“Do you know this lady, Mr. Kade?” the cop asks.

“Who?” he turns around to have a glimpse, then he turns back and says no.

“Look closely, Mr. Kade.”

“I don’t know her.” Kade repeats. He then turns back to the lady instinctively and stands up to his feet in astonishment. He almost faints.

“What?” he exclaims.

“Who’s that?”

“This can’t be true. You’ve got to be kidding me.” Kade seethes. The lady in question has long, adorable brunette hair, big brown eyes and yellow clothes on.

“Can you identify her?”

“That’s Nadine. Look, this is not funny. I’m still in grief. This is not a joke.”

“Please sit down, Kade.” The cop says.

“She is dead…..”

“I said sit down, and please Kade.”
Kade sits down frantically and exhales heavily. His face is hot with rage. The cop sends the lady away.

“Now listen, Sir. This is a serious case. No one is playing games with you. We are equally shocked to see this. On Monday, she ran to our station, damp with wet sand and complained that she needed help. She said she didn’t know where she was. I seemed to recognize her, so I sent her to TSA Hospital to confirm my suspicions. The doctors proved with her features that she is the patient who was reported to their hospital for physical abuse on February 8th. She has blood type AB-, eye color brown, hair color brown.” The cop pushes a form towards Kade for him to scan through it.

“Those are exactly Nadine’s details.” Kade says, perplexed.

“They said she was admitted by you and they gave all your details; address, phone number, name, landline. They even mentioned the person with whom you came to the hospital.”

“But Nadine died. She was buried one month ago at St. Charles’ cemetery. She was confirmed dead by the hospital staff due to loss of blood. She can’t be alive.”

“Well, the investigations say it all.”

“God, I can’t believe this.” Kade runs his hand through his hair with distress. “Can I speak to her?”

“Yes, you can.”

Kade stares at his sister incredulously in the private room. He takes her hand trying to be tolerant. “I miss you, Nadine.” He says to her. But she is silent.

“Did you miss me?” he asks. She lifts her head, but still says nothing.
“We won the case.” He adds hopefully. “Sam went to jail for sexual harassment. Halsey has been rusticated from school. Everything is okay now. You don’t have to be scared.” Nadine is still quiet. Kade exhales deeply and leaves her hand. He shoves his hand into his pocket and walks around the room, waiting for her to say something. He waits for more than thirty minutes, and she isn’t says anything. He just walks out of the room anxiously and the cop is waiting for him outside.

“She’s not saying a word. That is unusual, because my sister is a talkative. Tell me something, what’s going on? Is this some kind of joke?”

“For the umpteenth time, this is not a joke.” says the cop. “I think she might be going through something that can be detected medically. After she spoke to me about needing help, she never said a word again. I’ll suggest you take her to the hospital to check if maybe she was violated, injured or if there’s a mental disorder due to some apparent gory experiences from wherever she came from.”

“Okay. I’ll do that. Um, thanks a lot.” Kade shakes his hand.

❇
Kade sits outside the hospital ward for almost three hours trying to pull himself together. He isn’t sure how to feel now. But the most part of him was very elated to have his sister back alive, even though not too well. He tried not to be doubtful of her or too anxious or too flabbergasted or too confused. He has to receive her with a smile and not bombard her with too much questions, Caroline advised when he had called her. He planned to sit her next to the fireplace, whiles having some coffee and playing her favorite song and then he would ask her all that he wanted to ask. The problem was that he was paranoid of her state of mind. He wishes Caroline is with him right now, but she’s busy with work. The doctor, female, walks out of the ward and beckons him to her office after a while. He stands up anxiously and follows her to the office. His face is red hot with anxiety.

He sits down on a gyratory chair and asks; “What’s up? She okay?”

“She’s fine, there’s nothing substantive. However, there’s something to pay attention to. She might not remember some events which happened in the past; maybe she might not remember her name. I asked her what her name was and she said; ‘The strange man outside called me Nadine.’ But she still exudes some characteristics you talked of, like hating the stench of the hospital. She seemed to twitch her nose throughout the examination, indicating that she is a bit normal. She also doesn’t seem to be mentally injured despite her grave experience; she looks fresh from the vine.” The doctor says.

“How? She won’t even talk to me.”

“Maybe it’s because she doesn’t remember anyone at all; she’s like a newly born baby. She’s acting as though she’s is living a new life, do you understand what I’m saying? The only problem here is with her memory. She has no injuries but her memory situation might fluctuate. Consequently, you must nurture her like a new born baby. Let her know her name, make her know you, act as though her clothes are newly bought. Don’t put pressure on her. I’ll advise that you change her school, so that her friends don’t pressure her as well to remember them. Let anyone close to her know about her condition so as to know how to treat her.”

“Okay.”

“Kade, this might be a bit unprofessional, but I must say you are very lucky. You are about to nurture a teenager again and give her necessary discipline. Teenagers are often aggressive and make parenting difficult. But in this case, Nadine is a humble as a child. But don’t worry, she’s not so childish. She has her maturity with her.”

“I really don’t think I’m lucky in that sense, but yes I’m lucky. So can I take her now? We really need to talk.” Kade asks impatiently.

“Yes, you can.”

“I hope her condition is not permanent.”

“Not exactly.”

“Thanks, doc.”