Page 47 of Consume Me

I was going to fight.

Chapter 18

ALEXANDER

We’d been over everything a dozen times and Sarah’s story hadn’t changed. That wouldn’t stop me from forcing her to tell it again despite the caustic looks Georgia was shooting me behind her back.

“Again,” I demanded.

Sarah hiccoughed before she began recounting her story. She’d been crying the entire time. “I woke up from the accident and I was told I would need physical therapy.”

I nodded. That’s how her story always started. I couldn’t decide if that meant that she knew it cold or she was telling the truth. Norris would know. He’d also been better at interrogations.

“After a few days I asked to see my family. They told me you were gone to war and Dad was away on a goodwill tour. I believed that for a while. But then there were no calls and more time passed. They wouldn’t let me go outside. They wouldn’t let me call my friends. They wouldn’t tell me how long I’d been out.”

Either my sister had been incredibly stupid or incredibly scared—the two states were often interchangeable in my experience. I wanted to dissect all of this. Someday. Right now I was interested in the bare facts.

“Where did they keep you?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” she said wearily. “There were no windows. No phones. Sometimes I was taken to a hospital wing.”

“And there were no windows there either?” Smith asked.

“No,” she said firmly. He was testing her. He asked this question every other time she recounted the story. “Then things got weird.”

“How?” Georgia hung off every word despite having listened to Sarah’s story every time. She was as eager to find clues as I was. This was the first real lead we’d had.

“Describe the room you were kept in,” I said.

Sarah sighed heavily and began the description again. “There was a bed, walls, a few books, a dresser with clothes—the same clothes.”

“Was there anyone else there?” I asked.

“I never saw anyone. One time I thought I saw a girl but I think I was just going crazy,” she admitted in a low voice.

“And you were awake the whole time?” Brex said. This seemed to be the point he was hung up on. I could understand being frustrated by the revelation, but I didn’t know why he kept bringing it up.

“Yes. Mostly. I think,” she added. “It was years.”

Years. She’d been awake for years and none of us had known. It didn’t add up. I knew the others were doing the same calculations.

“Can you remember anything at all? Something you saw? Something someone said?” Georgia asked.

Sarah shook her head, her lower lip beginning to tremble. “I keep trying. I should have told you. I was so scared. They said they would take me back there if I told you.”

I couldn’t look at her. Part of me bore this responsibility. Would they have been able to pull this off if I’d visited her regularly? I might have noticed her bed at Windsmoor was empty. But I couldn’t forgive her for walking back into my home and not telling me the truth. No matter what her reasons were.

Georgia was more sympathetic. “No one will take you back. You should have told us. We can protect you.”

“Like you protected her?” It was an innocent question but it hit its mark.

“Our guard was down,” I said tersely. “That won’t happen again.”

Once Clara was back behind these walls, I was never letting her out of my sight. I suspected she wouldn’t argue this time.

“If there’s nothing else, you should get some rest,” Georgia said doing a shocking imitation of someone with a beating heart. Even Brex stared at her.

“If you need me,” Sarah said. I could feel her eyes searching me, but I couldn’t bear to acknowledge her. She’d told us more than we’d known for days but it wasn’t enough. “I’m sorry, Alex. I didn’t know they were going to take her.”