Page 126 of Amnesty

I fought my folding legs, my drooping body. I drew in breaths and blew them out quickly, anything to delay the pain.

“Get away with what?” I asked, losing the battle as my ass hit the floor. The movement caused the knife in my side to jar, and pain made me cry out.

“She told me,Amnesia,” Sadie yelled, emotion I hadn’t seen from her before erupting from her pores. “She told me all about yourplan.”

“My plan?” I panted, my hand hovering over the knife.

“It wasn’t enough to get away, was it?” She stood over me and raged. I glanced around for anything I could use to defend myself. “You had to take my identity. My life!”

“What?” I forgot about the weapon and looked up. My side was throbbing. I wanted to pull out the knife. Having it sticking out of me was torture.

She made an angry sound and stomped forward, bent, and ripped the knife from me in one savage move. I screamed and fell over, sprawling out on the floor.

“She watched you all those months, Lily! She stalked you, and you didn’t even know. Or maybe you just didn’t care. Everyone thought you were me, and you saw a chance to have the life I know you always wanted.”

I pressed my hand against my bleeding side, trying to apply pressure, as slick, warm blood coated my hand.

“You told everyone you were Sadie. You cuddled up to Eddie and used the fact that he lovesmeto get close to him. You fooled everyone, the townspeople, the hospital. EvenmyEddie.”

“No,” I insisted, sitting up. “I didn’t know who I was. I had no idea who you were!”

“Lies!” She raged. “The widow told me. She would come back from watching you and tell me everything. How you planned to take my life and leave me on that island to die. You never planned to come back for me. You didn’t even care!”

Oh my God.We always suspected she was brainwashed… but this? I never in a million years expected them to poison Sadie against me.

“That’s not true,” I implored, struggling to stand. I felt slightly dizzy, but I shoved it away. “We weren’t sure who I was. I couldn’t remember anything. Nothing at all. When we realized I probably wasn’t Sadie, I was the one who pushed it. I’m the one who wanted to find out for sure.”

She stared at me as I cried. I couldn’t tell if she believed me or not.

“Eddie does love you. He—”

“Don’t you talk about Eddie! It makes me sick to see you sleeping in his bed, in his arms! He’s mine! He always was. You took him away from me!”

“No.” I made it to my feet, straightening, still keeping my hand on the wound.

The knife was still in her hand, gripped so tight her fingers were white. I was scared she would try and stab me again, but this time I would be alert, prepared.

“They lied to you, Sadie. Widow West and him. They lied.”

“It’s all his fault, you know.”

“Daniel’s?” I asked, trying to follow the conversation as I inched toward the door handle.

“Robbie’s! If he hadn’t made that stupid dare, I never would have gotten kidnapped. You never would have been brought to that island, and I would be with Eddie.”

“You tried to kill Robbie,” I said.

“I wanted to live here with Eddie. Did you know that? I didn’t want to go with Maggie. Eddie was afraid to let me. He was afraid to hurtyou. I know he wants to be with me. I see it in his eyes. He missed me. He said so himself.”

“Of course he missed you.”

“I came into your room that night. I saw him in your bed. It’s disgusting. It’s everything she said. You’re nothing but a liar. You hate that he found me, don’t you? You wanted me to stay gone.”

I could barely keep up with her crazy ranting. My God, she was completely twisted and confused. They’d been feeding her lies since I escaped that island, slowly turning her against me…

Had this been the plan all along?

All Widow West’s attempts to get me back to the island failed, so instead, they decided to try something else.

---