Page 102 of That's Not My Name

I walk up the ramp, but I can’t look her in the eye. We haven’t talked in months. She found my Instagram a few weeks after we were discharged from the hospital and sent me a couple messages, checking in, asking how I was holding up. Thanking me. Eventually I stopped responding.

Because I’m a fucking asshole.

I ghosted the girl who saved my life because she looked a little too much like the girl I threw to the wolves.

This is the last place I expected to see her.

“Um…what are you doing here?” I ask.

I sneak a glance at her, but thankfully she’s not looking at me. Her eerily familiar green eyes are trained on the river, so I turn to look at it too. “Just saying hi. It’s been a minute.”

“You look different.”

Her cheeks redden, and she runs a hand through her hair. “I hadto change something. Every time I looked in the mirror, all I could see was Mary, you know? Her face is all over the news. I needed to get away from his gross list of attributes.”

“Chin-length brown hair, green eyes, freckles,” I recite under my breath.

“Exactly. I had to look like someone new. Get some distance.”

“Your hair looks nice.”

She smiles. “Thanks. You look like hell.”

Her response makes me laugh. “Thanks for noticing. Now what are you really doing here? I don’t think you came all this way to talk about your hair.”

She turns back to the water. “I wanted to check on you. One of the articles mentioned her birthday. I asked my mom to drive me over. I…didn’t know how else to get ahold of you.”

That makes me wince. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t set out to ghost you, it was just…”

“Too much.”

“Yeah.”

“You don’t have to be sorry for taking care of yourself. Besides, if I had anything really important to pass along, I had Autumn tell you.”

The slew of investigation updates from Autumn over the last few months take on a whole new meaning. I assumed it was gossip from the Washington City PD, but I guess that doesn’t make sense, considering she hasn’t spoken to her dad since Christmas. He moved out to consult on the show. Her grandma moved in with her until graduation.

All that must have been Madison.

I can feel the surprise on my face, so I change the subject. “You realize how absurd that is, right? You checking on me? You’re the one who got kidnapped. You’re the one who lost your memory and had tolive with… I simply showed up and—”

“And saved my life.”

“I didn’t save anyone. I found a pair of clippers and fell down some stairs.”

She turns to face me, folding her arms in front of her. “That’s bullshit, Drew. And you know it. If you hadn’t come looking for Lola, I wouldn’t be here right now. I’m only alive because of you and Lola.”

Now I know she’s full of shit. Wayne never looked for new victims when he still had one in his house. He’d find his “daughter” bring her home, and when she didn’t work out, he’d kill her and go searching again. Lola couldn’t have had a hand in Madison’s survival because she was dead before Wayne ever found Madison’s social media. “Empty sentiments aren’t going to help me or anyone else.”

Madison tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and takes a deep breath. “It’s not an empty sentiment. It’s the truth. I lived because you loved Lola enough to chase her down. Without Lola, nobody was showing up in that basement. Without you, I’d have died down there. You’ll never convince me otherwise.”

I turn away from her. Fists clenching at my sides.

“You’re angry.”

I nod. “But not at you.”

“At Lola?”

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