Her mommy died because she got lost in the woods. And yet, somehow I know she didn’t.

“Does your mommy ever take you shopping?” Suzannah asks Hannah. “Have you ever been to the mall? It’s so awesome! They have every kind of store you can imagine. Like the one in that TV show we watched—remember? And they have a whole floor that’s just food. All kinds of food! Have you ever had Chinese food? We used to go all the time, but now my father won’t let us. I think that’s why my mommy is so mad at him.”

What does Alice know of the real world? Did her first mommy tell her things about it? How many times has she left the house, wearing her mask?

I want answers to these questions so I can understand my captor. But I also want my little blond prison guard to wonder about the life that Mick keeps from her. I want her to taste it. And to feel angry about it. Angry at him.

I am the one who can give that to her. I am the one who can save her.

Alice grows cold. She slowly drops Hannah to the floor, thinking carefully about what to say to me.

“I know what you’re trying to do,” she says.

I answer as Suzannah. “What?”

But she reaches through the bars and grabs the doll from my hands. She throws her against the wall behind us, then picks her up to make sure she hasn’t been damaged.

I make a note—Mick will not be pleased if she has broken a toy.

“I can’t do any of those things because of my allergies and you’re using the dolls to make me feel bad!”

I don’t let her anger touch me, though it is so hot it radiates from her skin.

“That was not my intention. I was just trying to make Suzannah be a normal girl,” I say. And you are not normal, Alice. Why do you think that is?

She folds her arms and scowls like a two-year-old. Eyes pinched together. Lips pursed tight. It makes me want to laugh the way I would when my own children would do this. The memory comes and goes, but leaves behind a residue. It’s sticky and sweet and I don’t know what to make of it. I don’t know if I like or dislike it. Still, it lingers.

Nicole was my biggest scowler. There was a drama to it that was so extreme it felt like a parody, like a skit on a television show that was supposed to provoke laughter.