Before It's Too Late: Chapter 4

“I have no idea. I mean, I haven’t noticed anything strange going on around town. Have you?” Kyle ran his hand through his hair, listening to what his grandmother had to say. “Great. That’s what I thought,” Kyle sighed. “Can you keep looking for me? Please?”

“Of course. Just keep an eye on Alex. She needs you, you know?”

Kyle leaned up against the desk. “I’m not sure she wants to see me now,” he spoke quietly. “She’s barely said anything to me. I’ve never seen her like this before.”

“Just be patient and give her time. Let her know that you’re there for her.” Knowing her grandson too well, Anna continued. “Kyle, she knows that you love her. She may not be talking to you, but she married you for a reason. You care about her and keep her safe, and she knows that. She’s probably just trying to deal with this first and get used to it before she talks to you.”
“
Yeah, you’re probably right.” Kyle stood up and walked around the desk, looking at the scattered papers. “I don’t suppose you can watch Hana for us? At least until we get this all figured out. I just have a feeling that Alex isn’t going to want Hana to see her like that.”

“I understand. Hana’s more than welcome to stay here. Maybe it’ll make Brad more responsible.”

Kyle smiled a little. “Speaking of Brad, could you not tell him what happened? Just let him know that Alex isn’t feeling well and doesn’t want any visitors.”

“I can try, but you know how your brother is.”

“Yeah,” Kyle sighed, knowing all too well how his brother was. “So you’ll call me as soon as you find anything?”

“Absolutely.” He could hear the smile through her voice. “Everything will be fine, dear. Take care.”

“You too.” Kyle hung up the phone and sat down in the chair, staring at the wooden doors and thinking about what was on the other side. He could hear the movie playing and decided it would be better not to bother them. So instead, Kyle turned around, looking at the bookshelf and grabbed the first one that came to mind and started flipping through the pages, searching for anything to help Alex.

Meanwhile, in the living room, Alex had moved to Dean’s shoulder for a slightly closer and better view of the movie. Dean could feel her resting against the side of his upper neck as she got more and more tired, so he kept as still as possible. Just as Alex was about to drift off to sleep, the front door suddenly opened followed by quick and heavy footsteps, making both Dean and Alex jump. Unfortunately the sudden motion caused Alex to lose her balance and fall off of Dean’s shoulder and tumble down his chest. Thinking on his feet, Dean quickly pulled the popcorn bowl up against his shirt just in time for Alex to land in the salty and buttery snack.

Hearing a small yelp, Sam looked over towards Dean and saw some popcorn fly out of the bowl. Sam slowly closed the door, feeling guilty for scaring his cousin.

Dean looked down at Alex, who was lying in the middle of the bowl, surrounded by popcorn. “Comfy?” he grinned as he pulled a kernel off of her chest and ate the small snack.

Alex looked around at the yellowed food and then up at Dean, who was chewing on his snack. Seeing the muscles in his jaw flexing as they crunched up the popcorn, Alex immediately looked away. “Not really.” Of course not! And if he knew why, he would help you! Alex wanted to tell Dean what was wrong, but she just couldn’t bring herself to say the words. Instead, she decided to work on getting herself out of her current situation. As she maneuvered her legs to stand up, she slipped on a puddle of butter and fell back down, this time getting buried in the popcorn. Alex felt the bowl lightly vibrate from Dean’s laughter. Which is exactly how he’ll react if I do tell him, she argued as she looked around her popcorn prison.

Sam walked over to them, slightly amused at the situation. Knowing his brother, he could tell that Dean was trying not to laugh at their cousin. “Uh, Alex? You ok?” Sam asked as he set a bag down on the coffee table.

They both heard a muffled response followed by a tiny hand poking out from between the kernels of popcorn. Dean plucked kernels away until he could finally see Alex’s face.

“Need help?” Dean asked, seeing the defeated look on Alex’s face.

After spitting grains of salt out of her mouth Alex said, “Yes.”

Carefully, Dean wrapped his fingers around Alex and pulled her out, setting her down on the coffee table. As he looked at her hair and clothes he made a face. “Yikes.”

“What?” Alex looked herself over. There were grains of salt sticking to her jeans and black shirt, which were covered in a glossy butter. The dirt on her jeans and the cut on her left arm just added to the mess. Alex groaned realizing how messy she was. “And these are the only clothes that will fit me.”

“I think I can help with that.” Sam began digging through the plastic bag and ripped open a box. “Here, I got you something to wear for the night.” Sam set a pair of a flannel doll pajamas down next to her side.”I figured you would want to get out of those clothes for a while, so I got you these.”

Alex smiled, looking at the clothes. “Thanks, Sam.”

“You might want to take a bath before you touch those,” Dean warned her as he popped another kernel in his mouth.

“That’s a good idea, but… how?” She looked up at them, waiting for an answer.

Sam looked at Dean, who stared back at him with the same lost look. Finally, Sam turned to Alex with an idea. “The bathroom sink?”

“Like as a bath?” Sam nodded his head and Alex shrugged in response. “I guess that could work. But, um… No offense or anything, but I would prefer it if Kyle could take me. You know… Less awkward.”

“Yeah, of course,” Sam nodded and Alex pointed to the library. Sam stood up to his full height, walked over to the wooden doors and knocked three times.

When Kyle opened the doors, Sam explained to him what had happened, putting a smile on Kyle’s face. When Sam was done explaining the situation, Kyle walked over to Alex and bent down, holding his hand out flat. The other hand picked up the flannel pajamas and pocketed them.

“Come on. I’ll give you a lift.” Alex didn’t say anything again, she just sat down on his hand and he held her close as he walked to the bathroom, lightly wrapping his other hand partially around her back to keep her safe.

Dean turned to Sam and stared at him. “What?” Sam asked, knowing his brother was up to something.

“You bought Barbie doll clothes?” Dean asked, holding back a grin.

“I bought clothes for our cousin,” Sam clarified, but knew it wouldn’t make a difference to Dean.

“Yes, but to buy her the right size you had go down the pink toy isle and pick out-“

“Yes, Dean. I bought doll clothes. But you know what? You’re the one who bought doll furniture, remember?”

Dean’s face fell as he went silent for a minute, but as quickly as it fell; it curled up into a grin. “True. But I just grabbed the first set I saw, when it looks like you actually had to go through the different kinds and pick them out. You think I didn’t notice that they were flannel? Or the other clothes that you bought?”

“They were on sale,” Sam muttered.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Once they were in the bathroom, Kyle set Alex down on the sink and closed the door. He adjusted the water, making sure it was warm, but not too hot before plugging up the sink drain. “How’s your arm?” he asked as he watched her take her shoes off.

Alex looked at her left arm, observing the cut two inch long (to her) cut. She looked back up at Kyle who looked worried. “It’s ok. I’ve been through worse.”

“Are you sure?” he asked as he sat down on the closed toilet to be closer to her level.

Nodding her head, Alex reassured him, “Yes, I’ll be fine.”

Kyle hesitated for a minute as he watched Alex take off her other shoe and both of her socks. “Do you remember how it happened? The cut I mean.”

Alex paused as she set one of her socks down next to her shoes. She stared at the water in the sink and nodded her head slowly.

“Alex?” Now more worried by the distant look on Alex’s face, Kyle leaned in closer, setting his hand on the edge of the countertop. “What happened?”

“After I crawled out of my coat I wanted to try and find my way back here. On the way I realized how hungry and thirsty I was, so I decided to go to the river bank,” Alex explained, remembering the bitter cold air that threatened to push her in the freezing water. “I had to climb over a few rocks to get there, and on my way I slipped on a leaf that had landed in the water. My arm hit this sharp edge on one of the rocks as I went down. I caught myself before anymore damage could have been done.” Alex placed her feet in the warm water as she sat on the edge of the sink.

“Was that right before we found you?” Kyle wanted to learn more about what happened, hoping he would find just one helpful clue. He couldn’t stand not knowing why his wife was so small.

“No,” Alex shook her head. “But I was trying to get another drink when I heard Dean call my name. He was actually pretty close to me when he walked up to the river bank.” Alex swirled her foot around in a circle in the water, thinking about how scared she was that Dean was going to step on her. His worn in boot had landed just on the other side of the rock she was leaning on as she took a break from walking. “Can you turn the faucet off? Please?” she asked, breaking her own train of thought.

“Sure.” Kyle reached across the counter and accommodated her request.

“So who were you on the phone with earlier?”

“My grandmother. I was just filling her in on what happened. She’s going to watch Hana until we can figure this whole thing out.” He leaned closer again, folding his arms on the sink and resting his head on them as he looked at Alex.

Alex nodded her head in understanding. It was easier for both of them not to worry about forgetting Hana during something like this. Alex knew Hana was in safe hands. “Does Brad know?”

“No. As far as he’s concerned you’re just sick.” Kyle smiled.

“Good.” Alex’s gaze wandered around the room before settling on Kyle again. “Kyle?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you… Do you think I’ll remember what happened?” Once she said the words, she wondered how he would take the question.

Kyle looked down at the countertop. “I hope so,” he said, making eye contact again, not wanting to let her down. “You are our biggest clue.”

“What if… I never remember? Do you think you will still be able to figure out what happened?” Alex hesitated, not sure if she really wanted to know the answer.

Seeing the look on her face, Kyle sighed. He stayed silent, waiting for the solution to the problem to pop into his head, but nothing came to mind. “I don’t know,” he finally whispered.

This time it was Alex’s turn to look away. “Could you get me the shampoo and conditioner? Just set them sideways with the caps open, I can do the rest.”

Kyle did just that and waited for Alex to do something, but she didn’t. He knew what she really wanted. “I’ll be back in ten minutes to check on you,” he said as he stood up and fished the doll clothes out of his pocket, placing them on the counter next to a small towel. Giving her one last long look before leaving, Kyle could see that Alex was upset. He wanted to stay and make her talk to him, but he knew that would never work, so he decided to wait until she was ready to talk.

Just as Kyle was about to close the door, he heard Alex speak up. “Could you make it fifteen?”

Kyle paused in the doorway and turned around to look at her. “Whatever you want.” He gave her small smile and left the room, closing the door behind him. He walked down the hallway and into the living room where Sam and Dean were sitting.

Sam, who had his laptop out and was already doing research, looked up at Kyle when he entered the room. “How is she?”

“Not good. She doesn’t think she’ll remember what happened to her.” Kyle sighed as he sat down on the couch next to Sam, and ran his hands through his hair. “I have no idea what to do,” he sadly admitted. “I’ve never even heard of anything like this. And neither has my grandmother, who I used to think knew everything. I can’t tell Alex that.”

Sam looked over at Dean, who was still sitting on the floor in front of the recliner. “Then we don’t tell her,” Dean said. “Tomorrow Sam and I can go into town, see if anything else has happened. We can check the woods for footprints or something. As long as we keep looking, she will be okay. I mean something did this to her, right?” Kyle shrugged in response. “Then that means she can be normal again, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Okay.” Kyle stood up and walked over to the library. “I’ve got books in here that might help if you guys want to check them out. I’m gonna get some more from my grandmother tomorrow.”

Sam nodded. “Okay.” Once Kyle walked into the library and closed the doors, Sam turned to his brother. “Do you really believe that?”

“Believe what?”

“What you just said. That there’s nothing to worry about? Since when do solutions just fall into our laps?”

Dean sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. It’s never that easy.” Dean turned around, and picked up Alex’s cup of popcorn which was still pretty full. He figured she had maybe two pieces at most and realized how little she could eat.

“I hope she doesn’t mind being this way,” Sam said while looking at the cup of popcorn. “I think it’s going to be a while until we figure this all out.”

“She seemed pretty fine to me. I mean, she has gone through this before.” Sam nodded in agreement. “I think right now the more important question is: who’s going to sleep where? There’s only one bed in the basement.”

“You can take the bed. I’ll just sleep on the couch I guess.”

“Where do you think Alex will sleep?”

“I don’t know. But by the way she was acting I have a feeling she’s not going to want to sleep with Kyle tonight.”

“You noticed that too, huh?” Dean got up and sat down on the recliner.

“I’ve only seen her act that way once. Which was the last time we…” Sam trailed off and looked down at his feet. He still felt guilty about what he did to Alex, and even though Dean knew exactly what he was thinking, he said nothing.

“You think she’s keeping something from him?” Dean questioned, changing the subject for his little brother.

“I don’t know. It’s not really our business if she is, you know?”

Dean nodded. “I think I’m gonna hit the hay.” Dean stood up, walked towards the hallway and stopped to face his brother. “You’ll wake me if anything happens?” he asked, pointing to the bathroom.

“Yeah. See you in the morning.” Twenty minutes later Sam heard footsteps and turned around to see Kyle walking into the living room, carefully carrying Alex the same way he carried her to the bathroom. Kyle looked at Sam for a second before looking back at Alex, making sure she was safe. Very slowly he placed her on the recliner, letting her make herself comfortable. Sam watched as Kyle glanced at him again, looking back to Alex.

“Are you sure about this? I mean,” Kyle sighed not understanding Alex’s decision. “You know I wouldn’t let anything happen to you. I promise I-“

“I know.” Alex looked around the room and shook her head. “But I’m just not ready to sleep in there yet.”

Kyle closed his eyes and gave quick nod. “Right.” He opened his eyes and gave her small smile. “I guess I’ll see you in the morning then.” Alex nodded her head. “Good night. I love you.”

“Love you too.” As Alex watched Kyle stand up and walk away, leaving the room, she exhaled the breath she didn’t know she was holding. Hearing the sound of blankets moving, Alex looked over to the couch where Sam was making his bed for the night. “Are you going to be comfortable there?”

Sam stretched himself out along the couch, his head being on the end closest to the recliner. He looked at Alex as he pulled the blanket up his chest, “are you going to be comfortable?”

Alex stayed silent for a minute. Finally she looked over at the couch and said, “Good night, Sam.” Alex bundled herself up in the light blue blanket that kept her warm and cozy during the chilly November night. The fire place had been put out, leaving the room dark and quiet.