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My whole body stiffens at the voice I thought I’d never hear again. I twist in my seat to confirm my mind isn’t playing tricks on me.
Lily walks into Warren’s room, of her own free will, in comfy-looking black yoga pants and a baby pink cashmere sweater. Her hair, which was dyed auburn, has grown out, revealing black roots, but it doesn’t look unkempt. It hangs naturally straight, framing her face, which seems to have filled out a bit since the last time I saw her. In fact, she looksgood, with no black under-eye bags and a slight, healthy flush to her cheeks. For some reason, I notice her toenails are painted a sparkly pink.
She hands Warren another frozen vegetable bag before facing me.
I sit there, tied to this stupid fucking chair, processing what I’m seeing in front of me.
Lily isalive. Not only alive but clearly doing extremely well.
Lily sheepishly tucks a lock of hair behind her ear.
“Hey, Siena.”
The two of them stare at me with bated breath.
Warren looks so guilty he could keel over and puke any moment, and Lily looks like a kid who got caught with her hand in the cookie jar.
After a few beats of trying and failing to wrap my head around this new development, I exclaim, “Can someone please tell mewhat the fuck is going on?”
Lily grimaces. “I know this is probably a lot for you to process, I get it. We just . . . oh, damn. It was never supposed to go this far.”
“Never supposed to . . .” I repeat, stunned. “Lily, do you even know how worried people are about you? People think you’redead! What the hell are you doing here?”
Lily wraps her arms around herself. “I’m fine, obviously, and I never wanted anyone to worry about me. This all just got out of hand—spiraled—and now we’re in too deep.”
Warren nods along with Lily, echoing her statement.
“We were trying to bide our time and figure out how to tell everyone she’s right here, but the more time we waited, the worse it seemed to come out with it . . .”
They’re explaining what’s going on, but it’s so absurd it’s hard for me to make sense of it.
“So let me get this straight. There was nothing wrong with Lily? You were just hiding here the whole time? And Warren, you knew everyone was worried about Lily and never said, ‘Hey, it’s okay, guys, she’s just sleeping in my guest room’?!”
“Actually, it was the guest hou—”
“And why am I still tied to this fucking chair?!”
They jump into action, each taking a wrist and untying the rope, which ends up being a jump rope Warren apparently uses for cardio.
Warren gets the last knot out. “I really didn’t mean to scare you or tackle you or tie you up. I feel awful about that. But you were going to run before I could explain anything and tell everyone about Lily.”
I stand and rub my wrists now that they’re free. The rope wasn’t so tight that it caused any pain, but the action makes the guilt on Warren’s face deepen, so I do it anyway.
“You’re damn right I would’ve told everyone about Lily!
Everyone thinks I had something to do with it! Officer Liu harasses me and Jason every time we step out of the house, and youknewthat, Warren.”
I storm off to the closet, picking up my phone from the floor and sending Jason a quick text.
Hey, can you come get me ASAP if you can? Come inside too, you need to see this.
Jason’s going to be pissed too. Of all the scenarios I imagined, this wasneverone of them.
On my way, everything ok?
His text comes in as I march back to Warren’s room.
They’re still standing where I left them, both looking down at the floor.
