Chapter 6 A Secret To Ignore

Julienne was out in the top floor of the building hanging the bed laundries that she just finished washing.

It was Saturday. She'd been alone in the apartment since Rana left for work very early. She woke up past nine am earlier and just lazed around the entire morning. She watched at least two films, romantic and action movie.

By the time she finished watching the two films, it was already lunch. So, she closed the TV for a while and went to the kitchen to make shrimp pasta for lunch. Then, made lemonade for her drink.

She loves weekends. Especially, Saturdays like this. She can laze all day round and just do whatever she wants. Saturday is her solo day as she likes to call it herself as Rana is out in her store all day while Sundays are for her and Rana. They decide whatever they want to do together on Sundays. The first day of the week. Before work resumes the next day.

She straightened the white cotton cloth blanket on the pole metal and bent over to get the yellow bed sheet.

Julienne works in American Museum of Natural History at Central Park and she knows that Rana is not from their world. It's a secret she loved to feign ignorance with.

Because the day she found her it was nothing but an ordinary day. Nothing so special except an ordinary regular family day with her mom and dad out in Central Park having their picnic in the early morning while watching the calm still waters of The Lake or forever admire the Belvedere Castle from a distance.

You watch the waters with someone riding the boat along the way or the birds flying in the sky unless something out of ordinary catches your attention like a dead human found with their head jutting by the banks or a dead fish maybe that has floated by. A dead man's body was still yet to be found for no man in their right mind would likely throw a dead body to be seen one day floating on The Lake to open a case to catch a culprit.

Julienne was openly admiring the Belvedere Castle again from the distance while munching on her sandwiches. They missed visiting the park last Saturday because both her mom and dad were busy with their work. She was on vacation from school so she just hanged around with some of her friends last Saturday.

She was half-listening to her mom and dad chatting about his dad's busy schedule in the hospital. He's a cardiologist at Mount Sinai.

"Don't you think you need a vacation, James? I barely feel your presence at home these days. We only see each other's back every day this week."

"At least we see each other's backs saying goodbye and good night."

"We hardly held a full conversation this week except see your back as you leave. You're like a shadow in the house. Gone in the morning. Back by nightfall."

"They still say 'I love you, honey.', 'I miss you, honey.' and 'I'm back.'"

Julienne hid her smile but she felt her mom threw dagger looks at her dad. She continued eating her sandwich.

"When's your schedule going to change?"

"Next month."

"Can't you ask to change them this week? You appear too tired when you got home last night."

"I can try, Juliet. But I don't hold the schedule at work.

They shifted their conversation and her dad opened about his latest case of a patient he needed to operate.

Julienne was sipping her juice looking at the banks again when she noticed something glistened brightly against the banks. They shone like caramel. A bundle of caramel hair. Maybe they're just a bundle of caramel straws that fell by the lake. Accidents of things falling in the water and getting washed off to the banks are quite common.

What if it's a dead horse out there that drowned? Thinking the question ridiculous still Julienne rose from her seat.

A dead horse drowning in the waters? That would be the day. She thought.

"Julienne, where are you going?"

"Just by the bank, mom."

She said not looking back.

Julienne has always been a curious person. But then she must have inherited it from her own mom Juliet who lives with her curiosity by working inside the museum which is full of more than curious things but wonders.

She walked close to the bank and peered down.

It wasn't a drowned horse whose tail has jutted out from the waters. It was an unconscious woman she found lying by the banks. She appeared to be sleeping very peacefully.

Fear gripped her. Is she dead?

"Mom! Dad! There's someone in here! Quick!"

Julienne shouted loudly and she saw them rising from their spot and running towards her.

"What happened? She's a girl." Her dad said studying the unconscious woman." Julienne, let's pull her out of the water."

"I hope she's not yet dead." Her mom said as they pulled her out of the water and brought her away from the banks. She was dressed in an ancient Indian tribe suit which was wet, crumpled and muddied. At closer look, it appeared to be a warrior's suit covered with a soft gray cloak that is now spread with mud.

She must be an actress who was strolling out in the park enjoying a view of the lake last night, thought Julienne when she had an attack. It must have happened last night. She surmised. She seemed to be of the same age as her as she made a thorough inspection of her face. She had an ivory skin and slender body and her legs were long covered in moleskin boots. Her face was small and oval shaped. Her lashes were long and her thin lips were blanched from the cold. Her wet long caramel hair covered almost half her face and Julienne moved to tuck it on her ears.

Her dad checked the sleeping woman's pulses and found it thready. He immediately called an ambulance from his hospital. After fifteen minutes, the parademics came and put the woman on the stretcher and put her in the ambulance. They rode with the parademics back to the hospital and the young woman was seen immediately in the emergency.

Julienne and her mom waited by the waiting area and her dad emerged out after twenty minutes.

"She needs to be placed in the ICU. She has a thready pulse, a weak heart and is deeply unconscious. Her brain and her heart needs to be scanned."

"I don't think I will be home tonight."

Seemed like her dad's schedule got one more added to his plate.

Julienne started to drop more often in the hospital since they found the young woman by the lake. She felt like it was her responsibility to check on her. And when after a week, they still found no sign of knowing who the young woman might be as there was no ID found on her dress, she kept on visiting her.

She watched the sleeping woman from the glass outside.

Julienne is an ambivert. More like an antisocial extrovert. She liked to hang around people but she's not particularly close to anyone. She's happy being around people even when she doesn't have any particular bestfriend. She has some close friends she loved to be around with.

She wondered how it would be like to have a bestfriend as she looked at the young woman. As usual she's asleep. When would she wake up? Does she have a bestfriend?

Julienne's eyes were fixed on her sleeping figure while different emotions surged inside her. She pitied her. No one visited her in a month. She was curious about her. Why was she wearing an ancient Indian tribe dress the day she found her? She should have been found now. It's already been a month. She wanted to know more about her. Become her friend once she wakes up.

Maybe she should tell her she's her bestfriend to get her initial reaction when she wakes up. That would be fun. She likes to fool around people and they don't necessarily hate her when she makes a joke at them. She's an infrequent prankster at school.

The next day Julienne visited the young woman, she was already awake. And she got her reaction when she jested her claiming her bestfriend only to be bluntly refused by an amnesiac girl.

She decided to call her Rana after thinking for a while when the unnamed girl asked her to call her a name. And since she called her Rana.

What frankly surprised her at meeting and knowing Rana was she was a woman of many surprises. She was so bad at directions it was hair pulling. She could teleport. And she loved meat.

Anyone who can do teleportation wouldn't be from this world, right? She was yet to know of a human capable of it and in her entire life and she hasn't met such kind just so yet.

Except until she met Rana.

Rana who was so bad at directions that instead of being annoyed at her for long she couldn't feel but be amazed at how someone like her could be so helpless than a child when it comes to knowing where to turn right or left. But to compensate for her direction problems she's capable of teleportation.

She found out about Rana's capacity to teleport the day she was about to be discharged. It was actually the day, too, she found out that Rana was bad with directions because she didn't find the nurse's station and she lost herself when she was about to go see Dr. Rosewood in his clinic. She only needed to turn left to go to the nurse's station but she went right instead. And while she was told to go to Dr. Rosewood's clinic she once again lost herself. Julienne just entered Rana's room when she saw her disappeared in the blink of an eye and found her standing at the grounds of the hospital then saw her back at her room. Rana who was oblivious about it asked her for meat instead once she saw Julienne inside the room.

Even her parents found it daunting at first. Julienne's parents raised their brows at knowing that they could be residing with a literal UFO alien at their house but how could her parents even know the answers where Rana came from when she didn't know anything about herself. Whenever Julienne's mom or dad tried to pried questions about Rana, Rana would give them a blank look of her face so they decided to leave it be.

Julienne just finished hanging the last cotton floral white blanket when she felt Rana at her back.

"Did you just teleport here?"

She asked turning around. Rana was standing looking at her.

"Yes."

"You could have walked up here."

She said straightening the blanket along the rod.

"I'd been looking for you since earlier. I texted you, Jules."

"Ooops. Sorry, Ran. I left my phone back at the room."

She said turning her head towards her while flattening the blanket with the palm of her hands.

"I have brought cakes."

Julienne eyes glowed. She hastily finished straightening the blanket.

"Really? Let's go down!"

And she ran and looped her arms around Rana hugging her from behind. Then, an idea came to her. It's cakes waiting in the room.

"Rana? Just teleport us!"