Twilight Express, Chapter 17: The Secret

Shinichi woke up on the sofa before dawn. At first he wondered where Melina was, hoping she wasn’t nearly as hung over as he was. Then he remembered: she was gone. He half-walked, half-ran outside and was violently ill. Eventually he made it to the shower, avoiding his reflection in the mirror.

As he stood under the hot water, he suddenly realized there was still one place he hadn’t yet searched. He turned on his laptop and began searching for Melina’s company. He looked at his watch, counted forward on his fingers. It was about 8:30pm in Boston - not too late to call.

After locating two people who only knew Melina slightly, he was given the number of another researcher. Cathie was described as “one of Mel’s best buds”. With shaking fingers he dialed her number. An answering machine finally switched on.

Not sure what to say, he finally left a stammered message saying that he was a friend of Melina’s and could she please call him back collect as soon as possible. He returned to the sofa to wait, staring at the television’s blank screen.

After about two hours, the telephone rang. “Are you Mr., uh, Shinichi? This is Mel’s friend Cathie.”

She spoke with what Melina would have described as a Baahston accent.

“Yes it is. Thank you so very much for calling. You should have called collect.”

Cathie assured him that she could afford the call. She also admitted that Melina had e-mailed her and mentioned him.

Shinichi began to describe the week’s events slowly, nervous but thankful he wasn’t starting from scratch. When he explained that Melina had suddenly disappeared, Cathie interrupted.

“What? When? I have no idea why she’d do such a thing. She’s crazy about you.”

This last statement was followed by an embarrassed silence. “Oops. She’d kill me if she knew I said that.”

“Please. Do you have any idea why she left, or where she is?”

“After what you’ve told me, and what Mel told me in her e-mail, I’m afraid I don’t really know why. It’s not like her. My only guess - and it’s just a guess - is that it might have been that thing with the truck. It was a lot like what happened to her parents.”

“What do you mean, her parents?”

“Mel never told you about them?”

“Nothing at all.”

Cathie was silent. “So she never told you how they died.”

He leaned against the wall. “I didn’t know they were dead.”

Melina had been visiting her parents one winter weekend, during her second year of college. She was packed and ready to catch the Sunday afternoon train back to school, but her parents eventually decided to drive her back. She had been suffering from migraine all day and the train’s bright lights would make it worse.

Shortly after they began their journey, it began to snow. As the flurries turned into a blizzard, Melina’s headache became worse. She lay down in the back seat of the old car. Her mother covered her with a blanket.

Less than a minute later, a truck skidded and ended up sideways across the freeway just ahead of them. Their car crashed into the truck’s heavy freight container. More vehicles crashed into them, pushing the car under the truck’s container and killing both of her parents.

Melina’s decision to lie down on the back saved her, as she ended up on the floorboard still wrapped in the blanket. But she was trapped in the coffin-like space for over an hour before firemen were able to free her. When she was moved to an ambulance, the paramedics had first thought she was seriously injured, only to realize that she was covered with her parents’ blood, not her own. She escaped with a broken arm and a concussion. She was 19 years old.

“I’m so sorry to have had to tell you all this. But I hope you can understand why Melina didn’t tell you.”

Silence.

“Mr. Sakakura? Are you still there?”

“I’m here.” For once, he was glad he was alone. “I’m sorry, but I have to ask you this. How did she cope with losing her parents?”

“She was like she’s been all her life. Stoic. She never let anyone see her cry, not even me. The college offered her a semester off, but she decided to stay in school. She said her parents would have wanted it that way. I think it kept her from going crazy.”

Cathie excused herself for minute, then returned.

“But I still can’t tell you why she’s disappeared like she has. Maybe it’s something to do with survivor’s guilt, or her being Catholic. I think she still wonders why she lived and her parents didn’t.”

She promised to call Shinichi if she heard from Melina.

“Otherwise we may just have to sit it out until next week. I can’t see her walking away from her job. Until she met you, it was pretty much all she had.”

Shinichi suddenly remembered something. “Did you try calling her cell phone? I don’t have the number, but she has mine.”

“I tried calling her before I called you. She’s either switched it off, or the battery’s dead.”