Her head hurt. Moaning, Cassie tried to move but couldn't seem to make her body respond. A warm hand touched hers. She opened her eyes. The light was too intense, so she closed them again, but she’d seen enough. The bright lights overhead told her where she was. She was in the
Emergency Room again.
What had Paul done? The last time she was here, he'd broken her arm. This time, she had lost consciousness so it must be worse. She moaned again. A cold wet object was placed against her dry, cracked lips. Instinctively, she opened her mouth and the small ice chip slipped onto her tongue. A sigh escaped and the warm hand squeezed hers.
It took weeks to recover. Her left orbital bone had been smashed and her jaw was broken. She also had four broken ribs, her wrist had been twisted to the breaking point. A few surgeries followed by months of rehab and she was on the mend - at least physically.
Paul was charged and convicted. While he was in jail, Cassie divorced him, and then before she could change her mind, she moved across the country leaving everyone she knew behind. She didn’t want to be living in Brampton when he got out. Five year was a long time, but not long enough. His letters to her - full of remorse and begging for forgiveness proved that the time away was not going to ease his desired worried that any new man would prove to be a repetition of Paul kept her isolated. Until Molly.
Molly pushed through all her pretenses and arguments. They became fast friends. Cassie tagged along with Molly and her boyfriend on occasion when they went out on the town. The first night, Tim tried to set Cassie up with a friend, but he learned the hard way that this was not a good idea. He never did that again.
A few months ago, Cassie began getting some calls from an unknown number. When she answered, no one was there - or at least no one responded. Molly assured her that it was probably a telemarketer and not to worry. Cassie wasn’t sure - she felt a niggling of fear burrow into the back of her mind. Her career as an ER nurse predisposed her to accept drama as part of her world and something about these calls, the regularity, the consistency, the fact that there was never anyone there, all raised red flags that she wanted desperately to ignore.
Mid August, Cassie and Molly decided to get away - a girl’s camping trip. Unfortunately, The day before they were set to leave, Tim fell off a ladder at his work site. Molly canceled and Cassie hesitated. She really didn’t want to go on her own, but this was the first time she’d been able to get away all summer and everything was booked - from the vintage blue Boler trailer to the campsite along the Milk River.
Boldly she pulled away from the rental place, embarking on her own adventure. After she had parked the unit and considered the site set up, she followed one of the many trails and walked off her nervous energy. On her way back to the site, she met a few of her neighbours.
Feeling less isolated, she lit a fire and cooked her supper. Afterwards, she sat mesmerized by the flames as they leapt and fell in some exotic dance older than the universe. The sky darkened and the fire brightened but she stayed outside remembering those long ago days when she and Paul went camping - in the early days of their relationship. Finally, knowing she couldn’t turn back time, and that those summer nights belonged to someone she no longer knew she turned in. Paul was gone and so was that young girl - the naïve one who believed that people could change - with enough love.
She cranked open the air vents and tucked herself into bed. The night air flowed in, allowing her to settle deep under her covers. It didn’t take long before she fell into dreamland, swept away by memories and the knowledge that Paul was a long way away and she was safe.
The crunch of gravel woke her a few hours later. Her eyes popped open as her heart began to palpitate in her chest. Laying there, every fiber alert, she strained to hear anything that would tell her who was outside. Was someone walking their dog in the middle of the night? Or was someone with nefarious intentions just outside her small trailer?
The crunching of the gravel stopped and then a crack of a beer can being opened startled her. She jumped, causing the little trailer to rock slightly. Damn, now whoever was out there would know she was probably awake. She lay there, her breath coming in short nervous bursts but nothing happened. There was no knock on the door, there was no other noise at all and she wondered if she had made it all up in her mind.
Eventually, she fell back asleep and when she awoke, the sun was up and the world was brighter and seemingly more secure. She could hear children laughing and she sighed. The night was nothing more than a bizarre set of imagined noises brought on because of an overactive imagination and the fact that she was on her own.
She dressed quickly, and grabbed her bag. The showers were not far away and she needed the washroom. The door swung open and she stepped out into a beautiful summer morning. She took a deep breath of fresh air and closed the door. And that’s when she noticed something.
On the side table of her camp chair sat a can of Labatt’s Blue. The distinctive beer can mocked her by its presence. She saw another one in the cup holder. Alongside the beer can was a package of cigarettes. She shuddered. It looked like a no name brand rather than the sort Paul preferred. Then she remembered a few years ago reading that the government had forced companies to remove their logos and brand names in an effort to make the packaging less appealing to smokers.
Was it Paul? Was he here? Had he found her? How? All these thoughts flooded her mind. Adrenaline began coursing through her veins causing her body to tremble. The sound of her heart beating double time filled her ears, drowning out all thoughts. Fear took over, her muscles tensed, ready to flee.
Hearing a noise behind her, she screamed and ran blindly, not stopping until she ran into the arms of someone she used to know intimately. Her screams echoed across the campsite, drawing men outside and pushing women and children back in.
“I can’t get her on the phone.” Molly complained to Tim. “I’m sorry, but I‘m going to have to go out there and make sure she’s okay.”
Tim nodded his understanding. He wasn’t going anywhere with a broken arm and leg.
A couple of hours later, Molly found the Boler trailer and Cassie’s SUV. Everything looked in place but there was no sign of Cassie. None of the neighbours had seen her since that first day and for some reason no one thought to tell Molly about the scream they had heard.
The next day, Molly filed a missing persons report. Months went by and then years and Cassie became a memory to those she knew. Her case, though cold, is still open.
