Page 35 of Good and Gone

He sighs, and then puts his hands on my face, pulling my eyes up to meet his. “Have you remembered anything else? Besides the color of the car?”

“No. Nothing.”

Another long sigh. “Maybe that's for the best. Maybe those cops ought to do their jobs.”

“I haven’t really helped them though, have I?”

He pats my arm. “You’re doing your best.”

“Why doesn’t it feel that way?”

“I think it would help if you got out of this bed.”

“I will,” I tell him with a heavy sigh.

“You need to go home, honey. You know how much your mother and I love having you here. But Tyler and those kids—they need you.”

“I know. But I need to remember. Maybe then people would start believing me. Maybe then I could save those girls.”

“You’re still scared, I know that. It’s perfectly understandable that you would be. But Tyler has put things in place to keep you and the kids safe.”

“They’re safer without me.”

“That’s not true.”

“And if it is?”

“You have to have faith, honey. Everything will be okay. You have to have one hundred percent faith in God and then He will give you peace.”

“I know.”

I don't tell him I don't have one hundred percent faith in God. Or that I don't know if there is a God. Or that I've lost my faith. I don't tell him that I don't trust anyone, really. Not even myself. Just like Tyler, my dad doesn't want to hear any of this. He just wants the old me back, so I bite my tongue. How can I disappoint him any more than I already have?

24

Hailey

My mother packs up my things, and I go home the next day. Not much changes except my location. The televisions and newspapers are still plastered with the photos of me, and my face stares back at me from every corner of the world. As I step out of the car and walk up to my porch, a cameraman runs up and blocks my path. "Do you have any comments for the people who think you're faking your abduction?"

The question hangs in the air for a moment.

“I'm not faking anything,” I reply. “Now, get off my property.”

But even as the words leave my mouth, I know that I have to do more to prove myself. I have to do more to break free from the spotlight. I have to find the car, the house, those men. I have to get the answers I need. But where do I begin?

Afterward, I'm lying in bed. My mind is completely blank. I have no idea how to start. I shift in bed, trying to ease the pressure building in my head. I recall telling that reporter to get off my property, and it reminds me of the man whose porch I hid under. Maybe he knows something. Maybe he recognizes the guy. Maybe the boss went back looking for his “dog.” What if I could find his house? What if he could prove I’m not lying? Just like I did in the hospital. I use Google Earth to pull up the park where I was found and then I backtrack, finding a property I think is the one. “I need to call Barry Coburn,” I say to Tyler. “I just thought of something.”

“You know I love you, right?” Tyler says from the other side of the bed.

“Yeah,” I say, staring up at the ceiling.

“I just want the best for you.”

“I know.”

“Is this about the property? About where you hid after you escaped?”

My eyes narrow. I wonder how he knew. “Sort of.”

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