"Why do you even have a phone?" Izzy ambushes me the moment I step through the apartment door. The look she's offering is a tad addling. I can't be sure whether she's concerned or furious… Or perhaps even both?
"Funny you should ask… I don't," I mumble as I drag my feet past her, making a mental reminder to get a new phone.
She's definitely ticked off and it doesn't seem like she's letting this go without an argument, "Are you seriously not going to say anything?" she follows me towards my room.
While I do have a clear idea as to why she's so indignant, as it is, I barely even have the necessary energy to think straight. I am thankful enough my legs haven't given up on carrying me to my bed just yet. So, no, I can't muster the will to pretend that I care about anything right now, "I know… I know. I thought you'd be out for the night and I… Just don't know what you want me to say,"
It seems I also don't have the strength to pick better words, since the ones I chose sparked a fire under her ass, "Oh! I had plans for tonight! But hey! You could have been dead for all I knew. So, maybe you could share what the fuck happened to you yesterday, and then maybe you could explain why you snuck into the hospital labs this morning only to completely fall off the face of earth for the entire fucking day, ten minutes later! Can you do that?"
She's not yelling by any means, but it doesn't help make her questioning less like hounding. Speaking of hounding, I still for the life of me cannot figure out why the voices in one's head have to be so polarizing. I mean one voice is screaming at me to just plop down on the floor and spit everything I've seen and learned since yesterday to Izzy, while the other is literally begging for someone… Anyone to be kind to me one last time and effectively end my miserable life.
"Look," I start, "I promised you I will tell you everything and I plan on keeping that promise… But just not now, please," I finish my sentence as I turn the knob of my bedroom door.
Oddly enough, and to my surprise, she gives up without pressing me any further. Izzy turns and starts walking away, but her last words to me instantly pull me out of my "no fucks given" state of mind, "Whatever! I'll tell you what I found when I get back or tomorrow…,"
"What do you mean?" I freeze in my spot.
"I told you; I had plans for the night. It won't be too late if I head out now. I…,"
I cut her off in order to clarify what I meant, "No. What do you mean you'll tell me about what you found out?"
"You asked me for Adeline Whitemane's information, so I got everything I could find on her, but I guess it can wait," she turns away to leave again.
"No, wait! Please, give it to me now," I beg.
"Oh! So, now you can talk?"
"Please…," more shameless begging on my end.
Izzy relents and we both settle on my bed. She pulls her phone out and navigates towards her gallery, before handing it to me. Immediately, I can tell that the first picture she's showing me is that of a medical file. Upon reading the first lines on it, my theory is confirmed. It's none other than Adeline Whitemane's medical file.
"You're not worried this could have repercussions for you. You breached patient confidentiality and broke hospital policy," my eyes travel across her phone screen in order to take in as much as they can.
"You didn't care about that this morning, when you asked. Anyways, it's too late to think about it now," same as mine, her gaze lingers on her phone.
"I didn't feel like myself this morning. I shouldn't have asked in the first place. I should've gotten these myself," as I utter these words, however, I do manage to cast a look her way.
"Please, get your head out of your ass," she declares confidently, "I didn't do it just because you asked, at least only partially. I told you; I thought her case was fishy, and I wasn't wrong so, I think it was worth the risk," the smile she had at the beginning of her sentence dims down towards the end.
I take a prolonged look at the pictures of Adeline's file. I note, somewhat stunned and even fairly disappointed, that everything on it seems normal, "Everything seems normal though. She had a mild traumatic brain injury, based on her brain MRI and head CT scan, which resulted in frequent headaches, memory and concentration issues. I don't get it. Her entire file contains nothing out of the ordinary here. so, what do you mean it was worth it?" I ask, a bit concerned by how eager she seems. I am not sure what I expected to find in a file that can be accessed by the majority of hospital staff.
"This here!" she takes her phone back from my hand, then proceeds to zoom in on the bottom corner of one of the MRI results.
Izzy swipes onto the head CT scan and does the same thing. She wants me to focus on the timestamps on all of them, "Adeline was at the hospital for five days. During this time, she was submitted to two MRIs and CT scans. The first ones when she was admitted and the seconds, the day before she was discharged. So, four results in total," I remain silent and wait patiently for her to explain, "I was there on both occasions and the times on which she was taken for the tests don't coincide with the timestamps printed on the results here," Izzy does make a fair point. If Adeline had her MRI and CT scans done at eight in the morning for example, there's no reason for the image to say two o'clock in the afternoon like it does. Even if at first, it might just seem like…, "Of course, this can seem like a simple mix up at first, but on both tests? and showing different times on each? So, I went ahead and cross referenced all of the head CT scans and brain MRIs from our digital database and… Surprise, surprise! I found out that these results belonged to someone else. They just changed patient information and presented them as Adeline's. Whoever did it must've been in a hurry though, because they forgot to change timestamps on all of them," it seems she already came to the same conclusion I was walking towards a few seconds ago.
But… Who is this woman? And what did she do to Izzy? The Izzy I know wouldn't have gone through all that trouble just to get some answers like this, "Wow! Look who's playing detective now!"
"We may not be biologically related, you and I, but I rubbed shoulders with you long enough for your habits and ways to stick to me," I suppose my lunacy affects her just as much as her shenanigans affect me.
"Were there other Whitemane files in the archives?"
"No, not in the archives, but in dr. Dale's office, yes," she announces casually.
If I thought she was crazy before… Now, I am simply floored by her words, "You broke into his office? What the fuck were you thinking?"
"That I wanted answers?" she doesn't seem, or sound remotely bothered.
So much so, that I am left wondering about what truly motivated her actions. Again, the Izzy I know can take risks but not in this manner. She can be pushy when she wants something but not when it involves breaking into somebody's house or office. These are… My methods… Not that I am proud them it but sometimes the end justifies the means.
Speaking of rubbing shoulders, we've been friends since our childhood and yet she never acts this out of character unless… She feels really guilty about something.
Is that really it? She feels responsible? But for what exactly? I haven't told a thing from what happened yesterday and today even less… ,"Okay, now, I am officially worried,"
"Spare me that bullshit for a second and look at this. It states that the reason for her stay at the hospital is a "voluntarily induced partial amnesia". What the hell is that supposed to mean? Her medical background is completely different from her file in the archives. I mean, why lie about vaccines? And what is all of this?" her words put a stop to my racing thoughts. At first glance, it all seems like a bunch of nonsense, written by someone that cannot be a doctor. At least not one as good at his job as Doctor Dale is. But then again, and if I think about it for more than a second. The expression "Voluntarily induced partial amnesia" isn't that foreign of a concept to me, not after what I witnessed today. This could mean that her memory was modified by a witch, just like I saw Avery do to Kevin, but that's just a theory.
"I shouldn't have done what I did. I am really sorry," she pulls me out of my own mind again.
"Don't apologize to me, I don't work there anymore, you'd have had way more to lose than I have if you'd gotten caught…,"
"No, that's not it," she stops me, "I mean, I shouldn't have set you up on a date without asking. It was extremely unfair… I don't even know what to say at this point," she says in a hushed tone. All of her eagerness and excitement is gone, I can't find a single hint of it in her voice. She sounds so beaten…
Like I had guessed it before, she is full of remorse. She realizes her mistake and that alone, gives me back years of my life that were previously stolen, "It's… fine. It's…," I want to reassure her that everything is fine but… I can't bring myself to lie. Sometimes she puts me in very difficult positions, and I allow it to happen, just because it's her, but deep down… It does eat me from the inside out.
"Rosy, you've always been a great liar, but please don't use your talent on me. Don't lie to me, and especially not now," she states out loud what I am thinking on the down low.
This is one thing I love about her. She does fuck up sometimes when she means well, but she usually settles the bill afterwards. I am not sure I agree with the method she chose to do so here but… I am grateful nonetheless, "Yeah, alright. You fucked up monumentally, but is that why you did all of this?"
"I thought I owed it to you. I don't know what happened on that date, but something in you changed. I don't need to spend more than a minute with you to notice it. I won't press you for answers tonight, you can come to me about it whenever you feel like it. I just… I don't know what took over me when I set you up with him. For some reason, I genuinely believed that I was doing you a favor," she pauses and looks at me. Her lips slightly pull to display a smile, only then do I realize that I am smiling like an idiot as well. I can't help it though. The way she said she thought she was doing me a favor sends me out of my orbit. I just find that hilarious as an excuse, "I… am not helping my case. I am… Really sorry. That's all," she pauses again before adding, "Do you want me to stay in tonight?" she suggests with a more radiant smile.
"I thought you had plans," I half ask, half state. I can't lie, even though I will probably be deep into my own contemplations for the rest of the night, just knowing that she'll be here with me brings me great comfort and security. A sense of normalcy and familiarity after a long day of… Abnormality? I am not even sure which word to use for it.
"None as important as my best friend. I can cancel," she waits for my answers, but when I don't say anything, she understands the meaning of my silence, "Say no more,"