The tracks beneath the snow

Chapter One: The rescue

"Amelia, I know you have been through so much and no one has any right to ask you for more, but I'm asking. Can you please just try?" Agent Dexter Jonas means well, but I can't help but feel like I'm being violated all over again. Why do they need me so badly, can't they find him without me? "Can you just talk to one of the other girls, I'm so tired and I just want to call my dad." The look on Agent Jonas' face betrays his lips before they can even speak those vial words. "Everyone else is dead Amelia, you are the only one who can help us."

It feels like every ounce of air has left my body and I am unable to speak or scream or cry. "But, that can't be true Agent Jonas", "Dex, call me Dex." He interrupts. "That can't be true Dex, it can't. There were so many voices in that house, so many screams. How can I be the only one?" My trembling voice gives everything away as I feel the bile rising in my throat. How can this be true? How can none of those women still be alive?

Dex interrupts my spiral pulling me back to the here and now. "Amelia, I don't know why this happened to you, or to those women. What I do know is that, whether you are ready or not, you are the only person alive who can help us right now and bring those women the justice they deserve." "That is a heavy burden to carry." I admit outloud. "It is." Dex agrees.

"Okay, how does this work? Do I just start with today?" "Actually, I want to start with the day you were taken. Do you remember that day?" Dex's face and voice are softer now and I feel a bit more at ease. I mean, you can hardly blame me for being all over the place seeing as this interview is happening in the back of an ambulance in the middle of the night. All I really want to do is call my dad and tell him I'm ok and that I am with the police and will be with him soon. He has to be worried sick by now.

I should be so thankful to be alive right now and able to give an interview instead of wallowing in my self pity. I try to fight it but my mind betrays me, taking me back to just an hour ago when Dex carried me through the house and out the front door toward the ambulance. In what feels like forever, I haven't felt the sunlight on my face or felt the wind on my skin. Even in the chaos and bitter cold of the night air, I welcomed the sting of freedom across my exposed face. Only then could I see and fully understand the gravity of my situation. The white sheets covering at least three bodies all being dug up from the front of the property under a large willow tree. I remember thinking that it seemed out of place amongst the pine trees. With my arms around his neck, a gust of wind slapped against my skin. I hid my face in his chest to escape the sting and the visual reminder that I almost didn't make it out of here. I felt him pull me closer and cover my exposed cheek with his hand before gently laying me on a gurney in the ambulance. If it hadn't been for the circumstances, the gesture would have been almost sweet.

"Close your eyes and think back to the day you were taken, what does the air feel like on your skin? What do you smell?" I am startled by his questions. "Is this really going to help?" I can practically feel my eyes rolling in my head. "Amelia", Dex insists, "This only works if you give it your best effort." I let out a small sigh. "You are right, I'm sorry I'm just so tired and I really, really want to go home and to see my dad and sister." I close my eyes as I sit on the gurney inside the ambulance while Dex is seated on the bench directly across from me. My thoughts drift to that day.

"It was so cold, I remember thinking to myself that I should have worn my scarf mom knitted for me last Christmas." I'm taken aback when I can actually feel the cold air on my face and my eyes spring open as I start to breathe more rapidly. "It's okay Amelia, I know this is impossibly hard but try to stick with it. Tell me everything you remember about that day." Dex has a job to do but the concern on his face reads as genuine. I close my eyes allowing my thoughts to shift back to that day once more