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“What are you saying, Gary?” Mom groans.
“Haley was the one who tied us up this morning before sunrise.”
I clutch my free hand around my forehead, feeling a headache grow. “Why would I do that then come back to untie you? You probably did it to yourselves again. That’s how deranged they are, Willa. This is who you were taking directions from—a couple who tie themselves up and cry victim.”
“I don’t understand what’s going on,” Willa utters. “Please, Hales, put the gun down. Whatever is going on, we can figure it out.”
A fly buzzes in my ear and I swat at it. “God, the bugs in here are out of control.”
“What bugs?” Mom asks.
“The flies, Mom. They’re everywhere. Is there trash that needs to be taken out or something?”
“I—I don’t think so. Gary, is the trash full?” Mom asks, twisting her head to look at him.
He shakes his head. “No, no, it shouldn’t be.”
“I’ll take the trash out. To think you’ve convinced yourself that you’ve been taking care of me when clearly you two are the ones who need help…it’s just unbelievable.”
“We have taken care of you, sweetheart,” Mom says, staring at me with a look of endearment that I’m supposed to buy into.
“By taking care of me, do you mean making sure no one ever finds out who you really are or what you’ve done? Did you think keeping me secluded with the exception of going to and from school would erase your past? Then, as if you couldn’t do much worse, you let me think I had finally found a good true friend, one who has been a part of my life for seven years, only to find out you found her first and have been paying her to be your puppet.”
“Haley, that’s not?—”
“What, did you just put a classified ad up, looking for a fellow college student to babysit me? What could you have told Willa to convince her I needed supervision? Did you even know anything about Willa before you hired her? Or did you just take her word for it that she would keep an eye on me, like a stalker, while you waved money in her face?”
“We told her you were sick and needed guidance sometimes. She was in the psychology program too, and it worked out?—”
“It worked out?” I repeat.
“Okay, we were wrong to do that behind your back,” Mom says. They’re just words. She doesn’t mean it—she doesn’t think she was wrong.
“Did Willa tell you I was attacked on the street while under her ‘supervision,’ or is that why you didn’t pay for the entire month of June?”
“You weren’t attacked,” Dad says.
I laugh and point at the faint remaining bruise marks on my neck. “Oh, no? What do you call this?”
A growl forms in Dad’s throat. “I tried to warn you. I tried to make you stop what you were doing, for getting deeper into the setup you were coerced into. None of my text messages made you stop and think? I had to get a phone with a number you didn’t know just to get through to you.”
“Those messages were from you?” I lower the pistol by my side. “You bought a burner phone and registered it under Willa’s name?” That’s why it was registered under her damn name.
“Why would you put it under my name?” Willa asks Dad. “She thought?—”
“I thought you might listen to the warnings if you traced the number and thought it was her.”
“That makes no sense,” Willa says to Dad. “I would be honest with her. I was honest?—”
“Honest?” I question with a laugh.
“I’m sorry, Willa. I didn’t think things would end up—” Dad says.
“We can’t do this anymore, Haley. We thought we were helping you by keeping an eye on you, but we were very wrong,” Mom says. “You’re beyond help.”
“She’s right,” Dad says. “We’ve been trying to help you with your disorder, but it’s growing bigger than what we can handle. We just wanted you to have a typical life.” Dad pauses and a tear falls out of the corner of his eye. “You weren’t attacked on the street. I grabbed you and pulled you away so I could talk to you. You did the rest to yourself,” Dad says with a sob. “Do you know how awful it was watching you thrash your head against a brick wall and try to use my hands around your neck for the sake of bruises that would be larger than your hands. You are sick, sweetheart, and every time we watch you go through another episode like this, it destroys us inside.”
My lungs fall flat, air is lodged in my windpipe and I’m trying to gasp but can’t. I can’t even look Dad in the eyes. He’s stillthe same stranger he’s always been to me, a man with too many personalities to keep up with. A liar, a manipulator, a criminal.
