Strange Occurrence

“It was the summer of ‘69!”

Bryan Adams’ song blasts through the speakers as Natalie and I make our way down Highway One. This song has been the theme of our trip. We take any opportunity to turn the volume up and sing at the top of our lungs. We’re not talented singers, but when you’re with your best friend on a trip of a lifetime; no one cares.

Natalie turns the volume down when the song ends and faces me. She has a radiant smile on her face. She’s riding a high that not much can damper at this moment. I know because I’m feeling the exuberance of the night with her.

“Claire! That was amazing! Probably the highlight of our trip so far!” She laughs boisterously. Not a care in the world.

I don’t respond, there’s no need to. We’re both feeling the effects of the night. We know what it has meant to us. The car remains quiet, only the background noise of the music playing from Natalie’s phone. We’re content with just being in each other’s company. One would think that we would be desperate for some separation from each other by now. I suppose we’re the exception to that. Being best friends for most of our lives has built us up to a level of co-dependency. 

There are many things that we have in common. One is that we share the same birthday month. Hence the trip we’ve been exploring. It’s the year of our 21st birthdays, it’s summer, and what could be better than taking a road trip down Highway One? Starting in Seattle, where we attend university, we have been making our way down the coast. Stopping where we feel like, exploring unknown towns and experiencing anything that meets our fancy. This brings us to tonight. With some dumb luck, we won tickets to go see our favourite band. Natalie was right about saying that it was the best event that has happened. 

Sighing in content, Natalie relaxes into the passenger seat while I bring my focus back onto the road. It’s pitch black outside, the results of it being nearly two in the morning, and I take the road that is supposed to lead us back to the hotel. The road has more twists and turns than I remember. Surely it wasn’t this difficult earlier?.

With the bare road stretched before me, I settle into a kind of meditative state while controlling the wheel. Suddenly, a bright flash emerges. A figure appears to be at a standstill on the deserted path. I jerk to attention, drawing Natalie’s curiosity to me.

“What’s that?” She says, eyeing the shape much like the way I do.

“I don’t know, it just appeared.”

“Claire, it’s not moving.”

“I see that Nats.” I slow the car down as we approach the lonesome figure, but the car hits something. Startled, I think we must’ve hit the shape but peering towards it, I see it hasn’t moved. Confused, I try to gain control of the wheel again. During the struggle, the tyres slip on some loose dirt causing it to spin out.

Natalie becomes frantic, willing the car to stop. Focusing on the wheel and not my best friend praying, I grapple with all my might, but it seems fruitless. The car spins wildly out of control, and all I hear are the horrific screams from my best friend as we hurtle towards the unknown.

***

Knock, knock, knock

Groaning when the bothersome noise worms its way into my unconscious state, I grab the blankets I kicked off during the night and burrow into them. Here’s to hoping I go back to the blissful land of sleep.

Knock, knock, knock

I sigh in defeat and kick myself out of my cocoon. Who in their right mind knocks on a hotel door this early in the morning? I swing my legs off the side of my bed and try to get my limbs working again. My head is fuzzy, it feels like I’ve hit it consistently with bricks and my body feels as if a truck has run it over.

It’s not the normal ache that your body gets in the morning. I don’t feel the uneasiness of the muscles slowly awakening. My brain can’t seem to will my body to move any faster, so when the knocking begins again and Natalie shouts that she’ll get it, I send a little thank you prayer up to the angels.

“Hey Claire,” Natalie begins as she walks to my door, “The police are here. They want to ask us a few questions.”

The confusion on her face seems like a replica of mine. She shrugs, answering the unspoken question in the air, and turns back out of my room. I finally get the willpower to stand and make my way to the two officers standing in the hotel living room. 

“Morning Officers.”

Natalie hands me a mug of strong coffee as the officers nod their heads in acknowledgement of my presence. Taking a sip of the magic elixir I can’t function without, I gesture for them to take a seat on one couch, with Natalie joining me on the other.

“What can we help you with?”

Out of the two of us, I have always been more direct in these situations. I feel Nats’ relief at me taking control when she lets out a small breath. It’s not like she’s afraid of being upfront, she just likes to know where she stands before going for it.

“We’re sorry to disturb your morning, ladies.” The younger of the pairing starts. They’re both males and have both seen younger years, though the one seems more lively than the other.

“I’m Officer Marks and my partner here is Officer Jones.” The quieter one, Officer Jones, gives a single nod as a sign that he is attentive. 

Officer Marks continues, “We’re going around to all the hotels in the area hoping to find some information.”

“Information regarding what exactly?” I question, sitting my now finished cup down and straightening my spine. I don’t know what these cops want, but I am sure we have done nothing wrong. Well, I hope. Last night is blurry for me.

The officer, seeing my discomfort, gives a small smile to put us at ease.

“We’re not here for you two. We are hoping you could help us in identifying some people.”

“Why? What happened?” Natalie questions the officers. She grabs onto my hand and I take a hold of it tightly.

Officer Jones pulls something out of a folder and hands it to us. Upon inspection of the piece of paper, we find pictures of two girls. Detaching my eyes from these girls, I peer up to Officer Marks with a multitude of question running through my brain.

“They brought these girls into the hospital last night.” Officer Marks begins. I look back at the picture while he continues.

“They both have serious injuries, we’re not sure what happened to them. There was no way to identify them, as their IDs had been burnt. The only thing left on the cards were their pictures, which you’re looking at now. We have been going around trying to see if anyone recognised them. So far, we have been unlucky.”

Natalie and I study the pictures closely. The one was blonde, the other brunette, and they both seem like cheerful people based on their picture. I wish my ID photo looked this good. I continue to analyse the paper. There is something that pulls me to these girls. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I honestly don’t recognise them.

I nudge Natalie, wondering if she is having the same thoughts as me. She looks into my eyes, and I know she feels what I do. We don’t know these girls, but they enchant us.

“Sorry, Officers, I don’t recognise them,” Natalie says.

“Me neither, sorry.” I hand the piece of paper back over to the men.

“Thank you for your time, we’re sorry again for bothering you so early.” They make their way to leave. Natalie and I lead the way for them.

After saying our farewells and hoping they get some information soon, I close the door and immediately turn to Nats.

“Nats, I’m sure I haven’t seen those girls before this morning, but I got this feeling when looking at those pictures.”

“I know, I felt it too. It felt like I knew them. As if there was a part of my subconscious calling out to them. But like you said, I’ve never seen them until now.”

Baffled, I claim the seat that the officers have abandoned. Natalie occupies the same seat as before, pulls her legs up and tucks them under each other.

“I don’t know, Nats. I don’t know what to feel. And to think of those poor girls, all beat up and no one knows who they are.” 

“I wonder what happened to them last night?” Natalie speaks what is on my mind. We do that often, it has become scary.

“Mmm, me too. Speaking of last night, what did we do? I felt like a wreck this morning.” 

“You don’t remember? I was hoping you would because I don’t. I also felt like crap. It felt as though I had died and came back to life”

I turn to her, more confused than I was earlier. How can we both not remember last night?

“Are you sure you don’t remember?”

“As sure as you are Claire.” She appears to be just as puzzled as me.

I lean into my seat, trying to figure out what’s happening. The harder I try to figure it all out, the more difficult it becomes for my brain to work. Things just keep getting weirder and weirder. 

“I have this desire to go see those girls at the hospital. I have this feeling that we have to go to them.” Natalie breaks the silence that had enveloped us.

Agreeing with her, we head into our respective rooms to dress for our visit to the hospital. It doesn’t take us long, both of us adorning jeans, sneakers and a sweatshirt. We grab what we need and head out the hotel door.

It doesn’t take us long to reach our car but we realise we don’t know where the hospital is located. Natalie looks it up on her phone and within seconds, the GPS dictates in which direction we should head in first.

I get in on the driver’s side and a strange feeling encompasses me. This entire morning has been strange. So, shaking that feeling off, I start the car and turn in the hospital's direction.

The atmosphere within the car is sombre. Neither of us has anything to say, the events of this morning rushing through our minds. That strange feeling comes back, but this time, I can’t seem to shake it off.

There is a feeling of something nagging at me. I almost turn to push it away, its presence so potent within my being. My subconscious is trying to convey something to me, the tips of my fingers igniting with electricity from the steering wheel. I try my damndest to figure out what message is trying to be communicated to me, but there seems to be a mental block in place.

The hospital is not that far from where we are staying, probably a fifteen-minute drive.

I navigate my way through the parking structure and eventually nab an empty spot. It seems to be very busy today and on top of the occurrences earlier, it’s very unsettling to me.

Natalie and I make our way through the busy parkade and find the visitors’ entrance. Big, ominous doors greet us. If I didn’t have a spine of steel, the intimidation of these doors alone would have had me running. I reach out to my soft best friend and decide for both of us to venture forward.

Going through the entrance seemed like a bigger feat than it was. Though the bereft environment of this area is not that much better. I can feel Natalie visibly shaking as we make our way to the nurses’ station and ask to see the girls. We are told to wait for a moment and that is all it takes for me to catch sight of my best friend. Natalie’s face is pale, ghostly white, and I physically feel the pain that she is in. 

“Natalie? What’s wrong?” I frantically grab at her, demanding to know what’s happening.

A nurse notices the altercation and immediately calls for a doctor. Someone rips Natalie from my grasp and pulls me to the side.

“No! Natalie!” I thrash in the hold of this stranger and feel more people restrain me.

My best friend falls to the ground like a pile of limp branches. She’s not moving, not a single breath escaping from her parted mouth.

Searing pain rips through me, my heart falling to a million pieces. Too much, there’s too much feeling. The pain overtakes my ligaments, rendering me boneless. The agony intrudes my veins, a lifelessness encompassing me.

“Natalie!” Screaming for her, the anguish gets the better of me, and everything goes black.

***

Blinking past the harsh light poking through my eyelids, I find myself back in the hospital. Though everything seems serene.

Looking around at my surroundings, I try to figure out what happened and where Natalie disappeared to. I go to ask someone about her but they ignore me, as though they hadn’t heard me. With a sigh of frustration, I get agitated with every second that goes by. I want to see my best friend; I need to know that she is okay.

In the middle of my tantrum, something catches my eye. I look down at my clothes, thinking that these aren’t the ones I put on this morning. A realisation hits me that these are the clothes I wore the night of the concert.

Confusion swirls through me. I’m lost in the world. I go try another nurse, but the doors burst open and stop my tracks.

“We need a doctor! This girl is dying!”

I move out of the way with the scene playing out in front of me. Doctors and nurses come rushing, there’s a franticness within the air.

“What happened?!” someone shouts, the voices all seem so distant. I focus my gaze on the girl currently dying in the hospital waiting room.

“There was a car accident. Two girls went off the side of the road and into some boulders.”

“Where’s the other girl?” Numbness takes over as my eyes witness what my brain doesn’t believe.

“The blonde, we tried everything but we couldn’t save her.” One paramedic responds as the doctors work on jumping the poor girl’s heart.

Through the numbness, I feel a jolt of electricity course through me. Where I think of blonde and I think of Natalie. I wonder where she got to? I don’t feel her with me and that thought sings with an ache.

I feel as if I’m slowly drifting away into the unknown, but I still see them and I still see the girl. They turn past me and on instinct I look down. I look at the girl and I peer into her eyes.

I stare into my own eyes, slipping away with the unknown and into the echoing sound.

Beep.

Beep.

Beeeeeep...