Page 47 of The Encounter
“Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?” a groggy voice said.
Maddie snapped her eyes back to the right. On the other side of the monitor, Kayla was set up in a bed with another set of machines.
“Kayla?”
“The one and only,” she said.
“What happened?” Maddie tried her hardest to push herself up but was too worried about bumping the IV, so settled back down instead.
“I don’t know. The last thing I remember is cleaning off in Jace’s bathroom.”
“That’s all I remember too.”
A nurse whisked her way into the room. “Oh! You’re both awake. Welcome back! I’m Susan. I’ll be checking your vitals before the doctor comes to see you.”
She held a tablet in front of her and clicked around on what Maddie suspected was her chart. “How are you feeling?”
Maddie shrugged. “Exhausted. Confused. How did we get here?”
Susan checked Maddie’s vitals and typed information into the tablet before stepping over to Kayla and doing the same thing. “Let me get Kayla’s information down and then we’ll talk.”
They sat in silence while Susan worked. When she finished, she folded her arms around the tablet and sat on a small black rolling chair between their beds.
“What’s the last thing you remember?” Susan asked.
“We were both cleaning up in a restroom after we had drinks spilled on us,” Maddie said.
“Give it to us straight,” Kayla said. “Tell us what happened.”
Susan smiled as if she was trying to soothe them. “You were both brought in unconscious after being at a nightclub.”
“Yes, The Revolver,” Maddie said.
“Correct. The information we were given was that the men who found you suspect you were slipped Rohypnol.”
“Oh fuck. We were roofied?” Kayla exclaimed. “It was those bastards from the dance floor, I bet.”
Susan immediately jumped in. “Don’t worry, though. We don’t suspect that either of you were assaulted. The security officer at the club said that you were in an area where no one else had access.”
Maddie brushed the comment aside. She never suspected she was sexually assaulted. She somehow felt like she would know. Plus, the last thing she remembered was being in Jace’s office with Kayla, and she knew no one had access to get back there, aside from the employees.
“Do you know who found us?” Maddie asked. Her mind immediately flashed to Jace. They were in his office, and both he and Robert knew they were back there.
“I don’t have that information.”
Maddie and Kayla stayed silent for a minute, so Susan took that as her cue to leave. “I’m going to let the doctor know that you’re awake. If either of you need to use the restroom, please buzz the nurse’s station. You can do that by pressing the red button on the remote for your bed. Those also control your bed if you’d like to sit up or lay down, and it controls the television if you’d like to watch something. We would like to get a urine sample to test for the drug to confirm it was Rohypnol, plus you may be a little lightheaded, and we don’t want you to fall down on the way to the restroom.”
They both nodded in understanding, each immediately grabbing their remotes and raising up the backrest to sit more upright.
“Wait, Susan,” Maddie called when Susan had reached the door.
She turned around. “Yes, dear?”
“Did our belongings make it here with us? Like my phone?”
“Oh, yes!” She walked over to cubbies across the room and pulled out two large plastic sacks. She handed one to Maddie and one to Kayla. “This is everything that was on you.”
“Thank you,” they both responded.
