“Look, I don’t even know what to say or where to start, to be honest. I know this must suck for you. To have this sister pop up out of nowhere. And I’m really sorry. This has been really hard for me, too. I didn’t even know you guys existed a week ago, and now I’m living here. I just, I want you to know that I’m aware this must be difficult for you.”

She is staring me down and not moving a muscle. I don’t think she’s going to respond, so I start to stand.

“You don’t get it,” she finally says.

“No, I don’t,” I admit. “Not at all.”

“Do you have any idea what my life has been because of you?”

I shake my head. “Please tell me.”

“I couldn’t go outside and play. Mom was so terrified I’d get snatched up. So I had to sit inside while I listened to my friends having a great time outside. When we finally left the old house, I thought maybe she was starting to move on. Maybe I’d get some freedom. But no. We not only live in a gated community, she chose this house because of the back. Did you not notice the ten-foot fence around our entire backyard? Do you think that’s normal?”

Honestly, I thought the fence was there to prevent people from coming into the pool. I didn’t realize it was because Paula didn’t want her daughter going out.

“I’ve been a prisoner. I couldn’t go to sleepovers until I was ten. By then people stopped asking me because I couldn’t go anywhere without one of my parents. The fact that she let me walk fifty feet today in a public space without her was a miracle. I have lived this sheltered, suffocating life because of you. Because you were taken, I had to suffer.”

“I’m so sorry,” I say. “I really am. I had no idea. And—”

“Saying sorry doesn’t change anything.” Her voice cracks. “Now you’re back, and I should be happy because maybe she’ll loosen her grip. Maybe I can go to the movies with friends and not have her sit right behind me.”

“Oh God,” slips out of my mouth but causes the corners of Sarah’s lips to curl ever so slightly. “That sounds like the worst.”

“Right? She drops me off at the front office at school every day, and that’s where I meet her after school. I can’t do any after-school activities if they’re outside. If I want to do something, she has to be able to come.”

Poor Sarah.

“Did you know that Mom is on medication for anxiety?” She notices my shocked expression. “No, of course not.”

Seriously, I could fill an entire library with all the things I don’t know about Paula and her family.