- Then she told me I had to pay alimony. I said, 'Woman, you don't know me, you don't know what I'm capable of.' But you know, Jack, that I wouldn't actually do anything. But the problem is, she knows that too. So, there goes my respect.
The voice sounded very distant, but I could hear it clearly. My head hurt, and I tried to remember what had happened. I opened my eyes slowly and found myself in a small warehouse. The two guys, Jack and the alimony guy, were conversing in the distance. I tried to get up, but my body collapsed to the ground again, making a loud noise in the empty warehouse.
They turned and began walking towards me. One was tall and muscular, while the other was short and fat, a perfect contrast. I struggled to stay lucid; my eyes felt heavy.
"Look who woke up," said the muscular guy, and I noticed by his voice that he was the alimony guy, so the short one was probably Jack.
"Looks like we'll have to tie her up; the knockout drops didn't work so well," Jack commented, crouching down to face me.
The other one let out a low whistle and widened his eyes like a child who had just done something very wrong. Jack noticed, perhaps they had been partners in crime for a long time, making it easy for him to read his friend's face. In fact, even in my drugged state, I could see something was wrong.
"What is it this time, Cláudio?" Jack glared at him, waiting for an answer.
Cláudio looked away, avoiding his friend's gaze.
"I looked up the side effects of the drug you told me to give her. Did you know it can cause vomiting and headaches afterward, and even lead to infertility?" He stared at his friend. "I thought about giving her a milder drug, you know? Just to knock her out for the trip. Poor girl, imagine if she couldn't have kids in the future."
"What?" Jack shouted. "You... Seriously, Cláudio? Are you an idiot or what?"
Cláudio looked genuinely ashamed and raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.
"Okay, I messed up. But Bigbig was very clear that we weren't to harm the girl; it was just to give her a scare and then release her. Our business was with the blonde. I think preventing her from having kids in the future counts as harm."
Jack clenched his fists and took a slow, deep breath to calm himself.
"You idiot," he said through gritted teeth. "You just gave everything away."
Cláudio widened his eyes, realizing what he had done.
"Go back to sleep, dear," he muttered, pulling a syringe from God knows where. Jack held me down while Cláudio administered the drug into my vein. For the second time, I saw nothing more.
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"She's awake," I heard my mother's familiar shrill voice shout.
There was movement in the room. People walking around, various voices speaking simultaneously. I thought I was dreaming.
"Alright, everyone, out," an authoritative voice shouted over the others. "Who let you all in here? Olivia, get everyone out."
"Everyone?" Dream Marina retorted. "I'm staying with her."
"The police need to speak with her first," a female voice said.
"And who's going to explain everything to her? Look, no one bosses me around."
There was even more noise as everyone left, followed by silence. I slowly opened my eyes, hoping to be in my room. I was completely frustrated to find myself in a hospital room.
"Hello, Elizabeth," a doctor stood beside the bed. His light brown eyes and slightly disheveled hair gave him a certain charm. "I'm Dr. Henrique. Do you feel anything?"
I looked at him, confused, and then noticed Marina standing on the other side. Her eyes were slightly tired, and her usually happy face looked worn. Her hair was more tangled than tied up, something I had never seen before, and she wore no makeup, which made it clear she must have run out of the house. Suddenly, something dawned on me. Just left the house? But how? A while ago, she was wearing completely different clothes, with at least some makeup on, and she had gone to get her car. How much time had passed?
"Elizabeth?" Dr. Henrique repeated. "Do you know your name?"
I frowned at the doctor and gave a weak smile.
"If this is some kind of mind game, you shouldn't have told me my name," I tried to say, but the sentence came out almost as a whisper, and I coughed with a dry throat.
Henrique grabbed a glass of juice from the bedside table and handed it to me. He told me to drink and started making some notes.
"You were dehydrated when we found you. I gave you some medications, and soon you'll be fine. No need to worry about that. Did you hit your head by any chance? Could you repeat your full name?"
"Elizabeth Oliveira Prado."
"Age?"
"20."
"What day is it today?"
Now he had caught me; I really never knew what day it was. Sometimes I almost missed my own birthday. What kind of questions were these? Soon he would ask me the name of my fifth-grade teacher.
"Tuesday?"
"Hmm..." He jotted down a few more details, and I was afraid my diagnosis would be based on that answer. I wanted to tell him I wasn't sick, just slow.
"Liz, do you know how long you've been missing?" Marina asked, holding my hand.
"Missing?" I sat up slowly, trying to ignore my spinning head.
Dr. Henrique finished making some notes and left.
I began to understand. The car with those men, the alimony guy, the outraged short one... So, I had been missing?
"Yes, you disappeared for three days," she said cautiously.
"And Cassandra?" I remembered, now more awake than ever. "Where is she? Three days? Oh my God!"
"Calm down, calm down," Marina soothed me and sighed. "You're going to have a fit. The police found you in a warehouse in Cariacica, through an anonymous tip. They brought you here in the morning, and you only woke up now. Everyone's outside worried about you. Almost all your neighbors came. Even Dona Joana, that lady you don't like from 502."
I took a deep breath, trying to process all the information. It seemed surreal that three whole days had passed since that morning.
"And... Cassandra?" I asked, completely hesitant. Cláudio's words came to my mind clearly before I could even realize it. Bigbig was very clear that we weren't to harm the girl; it was just to give her a scare and then release her. Our business was with the blonde.
Marina hesitated even more before answering.
"Cassandra hasn't been found yet," she quickly added, "but you gave us a lot of hope by showing up. Maybe if you remembered something..."
I closed my eyes, desperate and disappointed with myself. I had nothing that could help. People were hopeful, but I had no way to assist. I lay down, keeping my eyes closed, waiting for some answer to come. I don't know how long I stayed like that. When I opened my eyes again, Marina was sitting in a chair on the other side of the room with an open magazine in her hand.
"Did you notice how handsome that doctor was?" Mari said out of nowhere.
I smiled, longing for something normal in my day. What could be more normal than this?
"I think I want to stay hospitalized a bit longer," I joked.
Marina closed the magazine and fanned herself with it.
"Please."
We laughed softly, and soon after, Dr. Henrique entered without warning, accompanied by a blonde, sharp-nosed woman. We immediately stopped laughing, and I closed my eyes while Marina pretended to read the magazine.
"Olivia," he indicated to her. "Measure her vital signs, please."
I don't know what happened next because I fell asleep before I even noticed.