Read Mythofilia :: Snow and Ice (Part 2)

Someone had cleared the snow and ice from the steps. Aileen went into the hall. She didn’t know anyone who lived here. She slammed her hand on the doorbell board not caring who’d respond. “Hello?”, a male voice sounded through the intercom.

“There’s a woman unconscious out in the polder I couldn’t reach anyone you need to call an ambulance!” “Wait, what? Hang on, I’ll come down” “No!” But it was no use. He had already hung up.

Nervous, Aileen turned to the stairs. After a long five minutes a tall, lean fellow came bounding down. His arms were full with a bundle of sorts. “You said there’s someone out in the polder? Don’t worry, my flat mate is calling 112. I thought we might take some blankets to cover them up or something.”

A crackle came over the intercom. “Rutger you still there?” “Yeah I’m here” “Where in the polder is this woman?” Rutger turned to Aileen with a questioning look. “She’s at the other end of the Waif road. A little beyond the bend after crossing the Schie canal.” “Did you hear that?” “Waif road at the Schie canal side. I’ll tell them.”

Rutger stuffed the blankets under the straps of Aileen’s carrier. His own bike didn’t have one anymore. Together they toiled out to the place where Aileen had left the unconscious woman. Her wandering eyes found the dark smear on the road while they were looking for the bulk of the blue jacket.

“There, that’s her blood!”, she pointed it out to Rutger. “Did she fall on the ice?”, he said. “What? No, I…”, but as Aileen looked at the bank she realized the woman was gone. She got off her bike so quickly she nearly fell.

“She was here, I swear she was here, how…?”, Aileen was trembling. “I believe you, look her bike is still down there with her stuff on it. Maybe she got up and started walking the other way. You stay here and wait for the ambulance while I go search ok? Hey did you hear me?” Aileen tore her eyes away from the empty spot on the bank and nodded at Rutger.

The icy wind wrapped itself around her while she stood there waiting. Her feet had already gone numb when the cold bit into her cheeks. She couldn’t stop staring at the spot where the woman should have been. The smear on the road ended near a dark ring of bare earth on the bank. Beyond that the grass was flattened all the way down to where the bicycle lay with a black purse still secured on the carrier.

I didn’t call work. I should have tried when I was at the flat. It was a silly thing to be thinking about. But standing here waiting for the police she was once again beyond the reach of a signal. Rutger came back looking worried. “I didn’t see anyone on the path. Maybe she walked to the road and got someone to give her a lift.”

“That would be dangerous, there’s no sidewalk or bicycle lane and the cars go pretty fast.” “Yeah well I’m just guessing.” Rutger shrugged. Aileen didn’t know how long she’d been there when the ambulance arrived. Rutger took charge explaining the situation while Aileen tried to keep from trembling.

The paramedics radioed for the police. They told Aileen and Rutger to wait in the back of the ambulance while they conducted their own search.

Two police units showed up. One car took Rutger and Aileen to the student flat for questioning. Being out of the wind and the cold, Aileen slowly began to thaw. When the policemen left she finally made a call to work. She was surprised to hear the adjunct director say: “Well I’m glad you called in so soon. I’ll ask central if they can send someone else. You sound pretty shook up so I think you should go home and get some rest. Maybe the police will call to tell you they found her.”

Aileen thanked the woman and called central herself to verify that she could go home. It felt like she had spent the whole morning trying to get to work. But it was 9:30 when she hung up the phone after talking to central. Her shift should’ve started at 9.

“So they’re giving you the day off huh? If you want to hang around for another 15 to 20 minutes, I have classes in town at eleven. You won’t need to go down that path alone.” Aileen gratefully accepted the offer. She had been dreading the way back. The flat had a nice communal room. The windows overlooked a large section of the polder. Ice glistened on the fields beneath the sharp winter sun.

The clear blue sky seemed out of place against her dark mood. A woman had been in an accident and then vanished. Yet the world moved on as if nothing had happened. On their way back they saw the police driving off. The ambulance was no longer there. At home Aileen sat down on her couch feeling a little lost. She must have fallen asleep because her phone woke her up around midday.

The police had found and identity card in the woman’s purse. Judith Smid had been on her way to a temp job when Aileen found her. Nobody had heard from her since she left home early that morning. They had called the hospitals in the surrounding area and had come up blank. Judith Smid would now be entered in the missing persons’ database. Aileen crumpled back on her couch. After a long while, she called a friend. It felt good to hear a familiar voice.