Page 91 of Stay Away from Him

“I’m not.”

“You are,” Thomas said. “You’re not thinking straight. But I am. I’m protecting this family. From you.”

I cowered under his glare. Turned away as tears came hot and stinging to my eyes.

“When they question you, you’re going to say what I tell you to say,” he said. “Then, when we get home, I’m pulling you out of therapy. I can’t risk you telling someone else this insane delusion about our daughter. Thishas to stop. We can’t be victims of your mental problems anymore.”

***

I tried, Thomas. I really did. I tried doing things your way. I tried getting “better.” I tried denying the truth about Kendall. I tried pretending that the only problem with our family was me.

It drove me deeper into depression. It drove me to drink. It drove me to a personal hell deeper than any I’ve ever known.

But I can’t deny the truth anymore. Kendall’s attack against me makes it clear. There’s no denying our way through this mess. She’s killed before. And I believe she’ll do it again.

I know I won’t get support from you. So I’ll have to do it myself.

I’m confronting her today. Telling her she has a problem. Asking her to get help with me. Asking her to confront the truth together.

I’ve never been so afraid.

Chapter 21

“I can’t believe it,” Melissa said as she came to the end of the diary entry. Rose’s last written words—before she died. Killed, by her own daughter. “Kendall’s always been so sweet.”

“It’s all an act,” Rhiannon said bitterly.

“No,” Amelia said. “Not an act. That part of Kendall is real enough, in its way. The part she created to protect her from the reality of who she really is.”

“But how could she have actually killed Rose?” Melissa asked. “She was, what, twelve when Rose was killed?”

“Maybe she surprised Rose,” Amelia said. “Stabbed her a couple times before she even knew what was happening. After that, with the blood lost, she could have been too weak to fight back. To call for help.”

Melissa glanced at Rhiannon, whose face was so white it looked like she’d lost some blood herself.

“Did you see it happen?” Melissa asked.

She shook her head. “No. I found them after it was over.” She drew in a shuddering breath, then broke down again. Melissa could tell it was something she’d been holding in for a long time. “There was so much blood. And Kendall was—she was digging at Mom’seyes. Saying something about how she wanted Mom to stop looking at her.” Rhiannon let out an animal wail, the sound seeming to possess her body. Her hands came up to the sides of her head, her fingers hooked, her nails clawing into her skin.

Digging at Mom’s eyes.Melissa’s stomach lurched, burning, to the back of her throat. She clapped a hand over her mouth.

Amelia rushed to Rhiannon, sank to her knees in front of the couch, grabbed at Rhiannon’s hands. She pulled them away and held them against Rhiannon’s lap, where she couldn’t hurt herself with them. Then Amelia leaned forward until her forehead was resting against Rhiannon’s.

“It’s okay,” Amelia said softly. “You’re safe now. And it’s not your fault. Okay?”

“Dad told me I could never tell,” Rhiannon said. “He told me I had to keep it a secret.”

Amelia put a hand behind the girl’s neck, angled her head until they were looking eye to eye. “He shouldn’t have done that. People aren’t supposed to live with things like this without telling anyone.”

Rhiannon looked at Amelia for a long moment, then closed her eyes, folded her lips together, and gave a little nod. Melissa let them be. It was their moment. It had nothing to do with her.

“You didn’t know?” Melissa asked softly after a few seconds passed.

Amelia turned to her, shook her head. “No. Thomas came to me that day and asked me to take the girls. He said Rose was missing, he needed to go up north to look for her at their cabin. Kendall was calm, but Rhiannon…” She looked back to Rhiannon, squeezed her hand. “Rhiannon had obviously been crying. I thought she was scared for her mom, but now I know she was in shock. Honey, I’m so sorry.”

Rhiannon only shook her head, her face contorting with a blend of emotions Melissa could only guess at. There was sadnessthere. Perhaps forgiveness, for Amelia. And maybe a touch of relief.

Amelia turned back to Melissa. “But I had a sense that something was badly wrong, long before that day. It started when they came back from that trip and Thomas pulled Rose out of therapy, even though she clearly needed it. And then after she went missing, when he insisted on coming to me for therapy. He can be very persuasive.”

---