Page 104 of The Lost Girls of Willowbrook

“Oh my God,” Heather said. “Are you okay?”

“We’re so sorry,” Dawn said. “If we’d known you were here, we would have come sooner.”

Ignoring the pull of her stitches, Sage hugged them back, suddenly aware of how starved she was for physical affection, for warm embraces, and people who cared. Her friends smelled of White Rain shampoo and winter air, of lip gloss and mint gum. Heather pulled away and held Sage’s hand in hers. Dawn stepped back too, wiping her eyes.

“We’re so sorry about Rosemary,” Heather said. “And about Alan too.”

“Yeah,” Dawn said, nodding. “It’s awful what happened.”

Sage swallowed hard against the thickness in her throat. “Thanks,” she managed.

“Can you ever forgive us for not getting you out of here?” Heather said. “We thought you were pissed at us. When we finally called, Alan said you were visiting some aunt we’d never heard of. We tried a few times to see if you were back, but no one answered.”

“Noah would have come today too,” Dawn said, “but he just started a new job at the bowling alley.”

Sage scoffed. “I’m sure Yvette would have been pissed if he’d come.”

Heather frowned. “Yvette? Is that what Noah was talking about when he said to tell you he got your note? He said he’ll explain everything and it’s not what you think.”

Sage’s heart lifted a tiny bit, but she pushed the thought of him away. She wasn’t sure she could ever trust him anyway. “That’s not important right now.”

“Okay,” Heather said. “You’re right. We’ll talk about it later.”

“I went to your apartment twice,” Dawn said eagerly. “I wanted to apologize. We thought you were avoiding us because of what we said about . . . you know, about Cropsey.”

Sage tried to smile, her chin trembling. “It’s okay,” she said. “I’ll admit I was upset, but I shouldn’t have let it bother me as much as it did. I shouldn’t have left the bar that night. And I should have told you I was coming here. It’s my own fault no one knew where I went.”

“We would have come with you,” Heather said. “You know that, right? Noah would have too.”

Sage nodded, tears flooding her eyes. If only she hadn’t let her pride get in the way, none of this would have happened. “I know,” she said, nearly choking on her words. “It was stupid and I was being stubborn. It’s all my fault.”

“I disagree,” Detective Nolan said. “I think it was brave of you to come here to look for your sister. And one decision on your part doesn’t account for everything that happened. There were so many things already in place that werenotyour fault. So you shouldn’t blame yourself at all. Not to mention, you stopped Eddie.”

Sage smiled weakly, grateful to him for trying to make her feel better. He was right, of course. If she hadn’t shown up looking for Rosemary, Eddie would still be killing residents at Willowbrook. At the same time, she knew that if she had to spend the rest of her life living in that hell on earth, she would want to die too. She hated to admit it, but it was easy to understand why the residents considered him an “angel of mercy.” And if she was being honest, part of her thought Eddie was doing those poor, tormented souls a favor. But she would never say that out loud. She would keep that opinion to herself. Because unless someone had experienced that brutal life firsthand, they’d never understand. And yes, the way Rosemary had died was horrible, but she’d begged Eddie to end her misery. And Sage’s heart would forever be broken over the loss of her twin. But at the same time she was grateful to Eddie for ending her suffering.

Except he had taken it too far. He had become a vicious killer. And she could never forgive anyone for that.

“You’re a hero,” Dawn said, smiling.

Sage let out a quiet, cynical laugh. She didn’t feel like a hero. She felt like a scared, exhausted little girl who had no idea where she was going or what she was doing next. She looked at Detective Nolan.

“So what happens now?” she said. “Is Diana coming to take me away?”

He shook his head. “I told her there was no need to come back.”

“Good,” Sage said. “Because I never would have gone with her without putting up one hell of a fight.”

Detective Nolan laughed.

Sage turned to Dawn and Heather. “Do you think it would be okay if I stayed with one of you for a while?”

Heather nodded. “My mom said you could stay with us if you need to.”

“Mine too,” Dawn said. Then her face fell. “But not for too long because we don’t have a lot of room.”

“That’s okay,” Sage said. “We’ll figure it out.”

“I’m sorry, girls,” Detective Nolan said, “but that won’t be necessary.”

---