A heart attack.  That is how Rebecca described the situation of someone coming up to her in that place.  Only a simple question was asked, but without expecting it, Rebecca had a heart attack.  Jumping, screaming, shaking, goosebumps.  You know how it goes when you think you’re alone and someone sneaks up behind you.  That was her in that moment, making that two people that had been frightened in that hall. 

Once Rebecca had caught her breath, she saw the original of that voice.  Her eyes went up and down a woman who was short and had a medium build about her.  She was dressed in a very professional looking suit and had an intimidating look on her face, just beneath her blonde hair.  She had been standing there for some time, hand on her hip, expecting an explanation from her and waited for Rebecca to calm herself down. 

“I….I’m sorry!  You…scared me!”

Still a little out of breath, she finally spoke to the blonde woman in front of her.  It certainly wasn’t easy, but she got words out, despite the intimidating look she was being given.  That’s one way Rebecca and I balanced each other out.  She was able to keep talking, even in stressful and intimidating situations.  I, on the other hand, naturally clammed up and didn’t know what to say at all.  Even in front of the most intimidating-looking receptionist on the planet, Rebecca handled things much better than I. 

The two of them eventually sat down in a couple chairs in the hall and began discussing why Rebecca was there.  She had mentioned me, but not everything about it.  She talked about me coming to work where they were and that I had been missing for many days.  As she went on with her story, she talked about wanting to come there first to see if any of my co-workers knew anything about where I was or what I had been doing.  Both Rebecca and I knew it wasn’t like me to just not show up.  If I were in pain and writhing on the side of the road, I’d still muster the strength to get my phone out and call or text her to let her know.  It was very important to me to be in constant contact with her if something was wrong. 

“I know of him.  But he most certainly is not here.”

The receptionist’s words always seemed to be very short and to the point.  Certainly “I know him but he’s not here” wasn’t the best she could have told someone who was very worried about a loved one.  Then again, maybe that’s just how she was.  Blunt, logical, to the point.  Probably the closest real life example of a Vulcan in real life.  No room for emotional support for someone in need of support. 

Rebecca looked down to her lap, letting out a sigh.  She had come all that way for nothing.  Only one person that she could find and absolutely no progress in her search. 

“What about co-workers?  Isn’t there someone that might know where he is?!”

Rebecca didn’t get any answers, but she didn’t want to give up.  Surely there was more than a single person in the entire building that she could talk to.  She stared at this blunt, intimidating woman, expecting answers, although she knew that she had none.  It just wasn’t enough.  That place was the only tie into my recent actions.  But that didn’t get her any answers either.  At the end of the day, the receptionist just didn’t know where I was.  With good reason, too.  The last few days I’d been at work, she was nowhere to be found.  Where she was hiding during those days, I still do not know to this day. 

“I should have been more careful.  Ever since I thought he was getting shorter, I just…I should have been more careful.  What if something happened to him?”

Rebecca had begun to think out loud, at that point.  She didn’t originally want to tell this stranger about her belief that I had been getting shorter.  It was crazy and insane, and any normal person would take it with a grain of salt.  Had I not experienced it first-hand, I would never have believed it possible to get shorter.  Not at the rate I had been, anyways.  But that was before I got dragged into the kidnapping of my life. 

“Shorter?”

The receptionist seemed interested in what Rebecca had been mumbling about.  Rebecca looked up at her and explained her situation.  With the first word out, it was easier to explain the rest.  Explaining that she thought I was getting shorter since working there and had been worried about me.  Thank goodness no one else was in the room or they’d probably have called the local Psychiatric Hospital.  But the receptionist just gave her a skeptical look and listened. 

Before long,  their conversation ended with the receptionist showing her the door.  She brought her to it and opened the door. 

“You won’t find your answers here.  I will call you if I see him.” 

It wasn’t the answer Rebecca was looking for, but she was shown the door and it was clear she wouldn’t be getting any answers.  Just a long sit in the car, having a heart attack in the lobby and pouring her guts out to this receptionist.  So, she just walked back to her car and prepared to go home, trying to think of the next step in this search. 

Meanwhile, the receptionist closed the door and stared out the window for some time, thinking about what Rebecca had told her.  All the while, I was having a day of my own at the time with the ever-insecure Doctor Hiroshi.