Page 124 of The Last Time I Lied

“I didn’t—”

I lift the flashlight higher. Theo flinches.

“Hey, let’s talk about this,” he says. “Without the flashlight.”

“I think you had the hots for Vivian,” I tell him. “You wanted her, and she rejected you. You got mad. You made her disappear. Natalie and Allison, too.”

“You’re wrong, Emma. About everything.”

Theo takes a step toward me. I stay put, trying not to show my fear. Yet my hand trembles, the flashlight’s beam quivering skyward.

“Since you got away with it once, I guess you thought you could do it again. Only this time you tried to make me look guilty. My bracelet in the canoe was insurance.”

“You’re troubled, Emma,” he says, carefully choosing his words, making sure not to offend me. “You need help. So how about you drop the flashlight and come with me. I won’t hurt you. I promise.”

Theo risks another step closer. This time, I take a step back.

“I’m done being lied to by you,” I say.

“It’s not a lie. I want to help you.”

We repeat our steps. Forward for him, backward for me.

“You could have helped me fifteen years ago by admitting what you did.”

If Theo had turned himself in, then maybe I wouldn’t have felt so guilty about what happened.

Maybe I wouldn’t have hallucinated the girls.

Maybe I would have been normal.

“Instead, I spent fifteen years blaming myself for what happened to them,” I say. “And I blamed myself for causing you pain.”

Another step for Theo.

“I don’t blame you, Emma,” he says. “This isn’t your fault. You’re sick.”

Another step for me.

“Stop saying that!”

“But it’s true, Em. You know it is.”

Instead of one step forward, Theo takes two. I move backward, first shuffling then turning around and running. Theo chases after me, catching up within seconds. He grabs my arm and jerks me toward him. I cry out, the sound streaking through the dark woods. I hear its echo as I raise the flashlight and swing it against Theo’s skull.

It’s a weak blow. Just enough to shock him into letting me go.

I give him a shove, knocking him off-balance. Then I run again, this time in the opposite direction. Back the way I came. Toward the lake.

“Emma!” Theo shouts at my back. “Don’t!”

I keep running. Heart pounding. Pulse loud in my ears. Trees and rocks seem to lurch at me from all sides. I dodge some, slam into others. But I don’t stop. I can’t.

Because Theo’s also up and running. His footfalls echo through the woods behind me, outpacing my own. He’ll catch up sooner rather than later. Outrunning him isn’t an option.

I need to hide.

Something suddenly looms before me in the darkness.

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