Page 12 of Broken Skulls

Chapter Eight

Lizzie

“Do you want out?”

“I don’t know.”

But I do know.

He should too, because he had a ringside seat to how much I wanted out of this dimension.

“Well, are you ready to face the world again?”

“No.”

“Then there’s your answer.”

I hear him shuffle on the other side of the wall. Is he leaving?

“Wait!” I bite my lip while arguing with myself in my head, but I need to know if this person is someone connected to Dr. Williams. “Who are you?”

“You might not remember me, but …”

My heart stops the minute I hear the slight tremble in his voice. He’s nervous to speak to me. Just like that day in the nursing home when he told me about the girl who gave me the necklace. The day I finally broke.

“JD?”

“Ah, so you do remember.”

I roll to my knees, placing my hand against the wood on his side. “Why have you brought me here?”

“You want the truth?”

“Yes.”

“I’m a collector of broken things that nobody else wants.”

I pull my hand from the wood to my chest as if I’ve been burned. My heart beats loudly in my ears.

He’s crazy.

“You wanted the truth,” he says.

“But …”

“But what?”

“You must not know everything about me.”

“I know what’s on paper.”

He knew, and he still wanted me?

I jump to my feet. A bright spark goes off in my mind. It’s just like the music … I’d forgotten what it was like to live … to feel. To be wanted. I’ve felt nothing for so long, I can’t quite pinpoint what this feeling is, but it’s nice.

I don’t deserve nice.

Because I did do the things everyone accused me of.

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