“Great. Fucking great.”

“I’m sorry, but that’s just the way it was. There was a lot of lying going on…but you know that already.”

“One last question before…”

I felt a sudden jolt of fear shake my fragile heart, “What is it?”

“Maybe two. Maybe I have two questions.”

“Two it is.”

“Why did you call me that day? The day they took her…why did you call?”

I shook my head, tears falling to the hardwood floor, “There was a part of me that needed you to know. I’m not saying it was noble, but it was the best part of me at that moment and I just had to let you know at least a little bit of what was going on. I didn’t want you to go crazy with worry.”

“How sweet.”

“Like I said, I’m not saying it was noble.”

“Yeah, well…”

Her eyes looked around the room again, stopping at the picture of Ashley and Maggie just like before. But this time, her face was soft. I imagine it was hard not to reminisce about a time that never happened, when that was going to be her family. Dysfunctional and strange, just like any other family. But taken and foreign just like the cruelest dream of an unsuspecting party. I wanted to cry for her. And selfishly, I wanted to cry for myself one last time.

“Second question?” I asked between sobs.

My ending was near. My book written. How could I fight it?

She walked over to the front door, locking it with the simple chain. This move would certainly slow me down if I decided to run.

“Your sister—the fucking inhuman bitch that she is—did she ever…did she ever say that maybe she…was any of it real? Between us. Was any of it real or…”

“Did she love you, you mean?”

“Not even love necessarily, but any moment, any second of it, did she mean it at all?”

“Believe me when I say this, Spencer,” I say, wiping my eyes and preparing myself for whatever was coming, “but I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t.”

“I’m sorry too, Kyla,” she replies with a nod, smiling as though she suddenly pitied me, “I’m sorry too.”