Free Finding Fiona by Emily Ann Ward

it.
    Hannah crossed her arms. “Why didn’t Fiona end
up in the hospital if she actually crashed the car?” She paused,
biting her lip. “Now that I think of it, you did have a lot of
little scratches… but not enough that the nurses thought you were
in a car wreck…”
    “ I escaped somehow. Maybe Daniel’s
brother followed me… stabbed me twice…” But all of a sudden, she’d
been in the car with the girl. What had happened? Why couldn’t she
make the connection between the two memories?
    “ But that girl… she saved your
life,” Keith said.
    “ Or she dumped me on the beach to
die.”
    “ No, I don’t think so… why were you
suddenly with her and not Greg Alaria? Why’d she take you to the
harbor where there were people?” Keith bit his nails, staring at
the laptop screen as James continued to move windows
around.
    “ Then why didn’t she take me to the
hospital herself?” Fiona asked. Of course they didn’t know. Neither
did she. She could just add it to the list of unknowns in her
past.
    They spoke awhile about the Alarias. James
found a newspaper article about Greg Alaria’s fertility clinic
winning awards. She studied the picture of Greg: he had a long nose
and dark, thinning hair. His face was familiar to her, just like
James and Keith’s. They found a picture of Daniel for Fiona, too:
he was a bit younger with thicker hair, but they had the same
features. They looked so normal.
    They tried to put the pieces together, working
out a possible timeline for the day of the fire, going over Fiona’s
memories of the day, theorizing, arguing. As the conversation
stilled an hour later, Fiona suddenly felt exhausted. She didn’t
want to talk about the fire anymore or the day Hannah had found
her.
    She leaned forward, setting her elbows on her
knees. “Now what?”
    James and Keith exchanged glances. “I think
you should stay here,” James said.
    “ Even though you’re afraid of the
Alarias seeing her?” Hannah asked, narrowing her eyes.
    “ After the article, they’re going
to be searching for her in Boston, which is four hours
away.”
    “ If they’ve seen the article,”
Keith added.
    Hannah motioned toward the window. “And if
they haven’t, then they’re right here in New York.”
    “ It’s a big city,” Keith said. “If
we’re careful, they’re not going to see us walking on the street.”
He paused, meeting Fiona’s eyes. “Unless, of course, you want to go
back to Boston”
    Fiona slowly shook her head and looked at
Hannah. “I want to stay here.”
    Hannah let out a sigh. “Okay, let’s stay for
tonight.”
     
    * * *
     
    Keith left the house to buy them food and an
air mattress to sleep on. James led Fiona and Hannah to Elizabeth’s
old room, which had the items that hadn’t been lost to the
fire.
    “ So, that uncle… he paid for the
rebuilding of the house?” Fiona asked as James rummaged through the
boxes.
    “ It was mostly insurance,” James
said. “Nearly everything went to Walter, and he took the insurance
policy and did what he could to help it.”
    Walter. Uncle Walter. Why wasn’t he here? She
was about to ask about him when James cut in.
    “ Ah, here it is.”
    They sat on the floor around James, who had
moved a box from near the window. Fiona ran her fingers over the
gray carpet, again feeling déjà vu. She moved closer to James,
looking inside the box once he opened it. A faint odor of smoke
rose from the photo albums, picture frames, and other
memorabilia.
    James handed her a black shoebox. “This is
mostly baby stuff.”
    Fiona gingerly lifted the lid off. She and
Hannah sorted through the items, all of which were slightly
discolored from smoke. She found a baby announcement, complete with
hand and footprints shorter than her pointer finger.
    “ Proof you existed,” James
said.
    “ Too bad Elizabeth Normans is
officially dead,” Fiona said, handing Hannah the announcement.
Fiona’s heart pounded as she looked through photos of her as a