Sandra again. I called out of work today to focus on this and I feel like I have made so much progress. My job is not in danger as my whole team has been made aware of the ongoing Alice issue, though I haven’t shared the new information with them. Even if I was being threatened with firing, I don’t think I care anymore. Saving Alice is my only objective. She has not posted in days, long before me taking control of the account and I am getting more and more worried. Her mother texted again and I am honestly a little surprised that she noticed my absence, though I suppose when you are monitoring your daughter for the better part of the day, you pick up on the little things.
There is very little water left in the original jug and I spent a good portion of the night scouring my drawers, closets, anything to make sure that whatever drugs that are being fed to Alice are not also here. Call me paranoid but I just know that if I came in without all of my bases covered, her mother would try to pin it on me and hopefully not having the offending drugs anywhere in my house would give me even a little credibility.
I have poured out condiment bottles, tossed all of our medications in case the pills have been swapped out. I bagged it all up and took it to the dump and came back to continue my search for anything nefarious.
Part of me is still scared that I am being watched, that her mother sees me doing all of this and is aware that I’m onto her but I can’t let it slow me down. If she really is watching, then I need to be quick before she can do anymore damage than she has already done.
I search texts, hospital logs, all of it, hoping the name of the home care is somewhere. I finally found it on the discharge papers that I was lucky enough to get ahold of. There it is in bold: “Patient released to mother; will be receiving care at [REDACTED ADDRESS]. Patient will be on premises and being seen to by [REDACTED] Home Providers.”
I search them on google and find nothing. I look again and again but nothing comes up and I know with the pandemic, healthcare workers are already overloaded but come on, man. No one thought to check this out? Part of the issue with making people believe the abuse that Alice suffered at the hands of her mother was always that her mother seems so harmless. She’s your perfect, typical American housewife and here it was, again working in her favor. She may not have greased palms in the hospital but she did somewhere and I am determined to find out where.
Part of my evidence is Alice’s posts, her growing fear over the days and her brain’s attempts to fight back. My heart keeps cracking when I read how “the bar” is falling apart and all that I can hope is that it means her brain is starting to try and make sense of things or that the drugs are wearing off.
I know that I need to go back and somehow get pictures of the room and everything. It would be even better if I had thought ahead to take some while I was there and the man was sitting with her but I fear that if I go, I won’t be able to hold my tongue and leave when I am supposed to. As much as I would love to begin pushing back now and demanding more time with Alice, I am afraid that doing so now will tip her mother off. All I can count on is that Brenda thinks lowly enough of me to think that maybe I am just getting bored with Alice, like she always told her I would. It hurts me to think that anyone could think that of me but in this case, it’s exactly what I need.
I’m midway through my third sweep of my house when I hear it. A crunching outside the window, like someone is walking the perimeter. I pause my search and turn off the lights. I’m currently in the study and I crouch under the desk, hoping whoever is out there didn’t catch the lights flicking off. More sounds of crunching, more leaves cracking under the weight of heavy treds. I hazard a peek outside of the window and there is what appears to be a man outside, looking into our lower story window that faces into the living room. I hate being in an empty house and I left the TV on while moving about it. I’m sure the place looks insane, couch cushions strewn about and drawers pulled open and the small thought enters my brain that this might make me look bad should her mother try to turn the tables on me. I resolve to pick up the place as soon as I am no longer in fear of a possible intruder.
He looks up at the top window and I squat down, hoping my reaction time was quick enough. I make my way to the stairs and listen for any other noises and I hear the knob to the back door jiggling. I don’t know if y’all have picked this up so far but I am a wee bit of a paranoid person at the moment and that door is locked down like a fortress. I finally have the thought to pick up my phone and dial the police and I pray they can get here in time.
The operator sounds tired and I always wonder if there is a call log of these things, making me look like a repeat offender. I have, in the past, even before the calls I had to make on Alice’s behalf, called because of things like drunk drivers swerving on the road and other shit like that, so I’m hoping they take me seriously.
We’re in luck, the woman seems to perk up once I mention that there is a man skulking around and assures me that there is someone in the area for me. I hadn’t considered leaving our house prior to this because I needed to be where I could still feel any semblance of Alice but while waiting and watching the knob continuously jiggle, my shaky fingers send texts to anyone I can think of, asking if they have a couch or spare room that I can crash in for the time being.
He’s moved onto windows and one by one, I can hear a thunk of the window beginning to give but hitting the lock. When Alice comes home, I am going to make her help me replace all of these or hell, weld bars onto them. I never want to feel this amount of fear again. The thunking of the window makes me jump and I nearly drop my phone as I stifle a scream that nearly made its way out of my mouth. The man’s ominous form is visible through the window and my heart is beating so fast, I’m scared that I may have a heart attack before the police can even get here to help. I’m clutching my phone so tightly, I can feel the case digging into my hands.
FINALLY I see red and blue flashing lights and I bolt to the front door, throwing it open and running to the police as I see them make their way up, babbling and pointing to the man who is now standing hands raised in my front yard.
It feels like a scooby-doo moment when they remove his mask and it’s the same man from Alice’s room. In his pockets were a lockpick that I can only be thankful did not work and a small bottle of liquid. I tell the cops my suspicions about what is inside and while they look dubious to my claims, they are not entirely unreceptive. I follow them to the station and go for broke, hoping that this can turn up anything useful.
This may have been my big break in saving Alice. I can only hope it wasn’t too late… I can only pray that the man being pulled from the game does not mean that someone worse or more sinister will replace him in her “care”.
I am back at home, where the police told me to be while they investigate further. I begged to be allowed to go with them but they said it wouldn’t be safe for me to go with, should I be correct. I have turned over all of Alice’s posts and shared my fears that something is wrong as I have not seen any posts but mine on our shared account in a hot minute. I will update as soon as I can but please continue sending good vibes for Alice and praying for her safe release. I miss her so much and I know that some of you have been here with her from the beginning. I promise, I will not fail her again.