Tears blurred my vision as I whispered to her everything that I never got to say. I told her about Emily and Jack, and how I wished they knew her.

And then, finally, I said what I had come to tell her.

“June, I forgive you. I saw what you wrote in your notebook. I forgive you—I’ve always forgiven you. I need you to forgive me, too,” I whispered. “And I need to forgive myself.”

I ran my finger along her name again and brushed the debris off her stone, before I turned and left. A sense of catharsis came over me as I drove home, fully prepared to face Liz and her demons, now that I had faced my own.

It was time to see what I was truly made of.

CHAPTER
39

The moon was nearly full, casting a strange glow on the neighborhood streets as I walked to the corner to meet Jess and Melissa to try to save our friend. They were both already at the street sign on the corner of Maple Leaf and Seneca Drives, standing silently. The air was humid, and time felt like it was on pause. A mosquito buzzed in my ear as I approached them, and I felt a pinch on the back of my neck as it bit me. I slapped at it and pulled my hand away, a smear of blood on my palm.

I was still shaken from my conversation with Emily before I left. She had asked me where I was going when she saw me heading toward the front door with a bag. I told her I was going to Miss Liz’s house with my friends to hang out.

Her eyes widened, and she shook her head, stepping back slightly. “No, Mommy. Don’t do that.”

My pulse quickened. “It will be fine. We just haven’t seen her very much lately.”

She took another step back, her head swiveling back and forth. “No. It’s not safe.”

I knelt down on one knee, placing the black bag of supplies next to my leg. “Why not?” I didn’t know if I wanted the answer.

“I had a bad dream that bad things happened to you at her house,” she said. She bit her lip and twisted her hands in front of her body.

My voice was a whisper. “What kind of things?”

“Monsters came and took you away. They pulled you into the basement, and you never came back out. And Miss Liz was laughing,” she said.

I held out my arms, and she took a step toward me. I pulled her against my chest. “That was just a dream. Everything will be fine. It was just a nightmare,” I whispered into her hair, closing my eyes.

“Don’t go,” she said into my shoulder. “Amelia said scary things would happen. That she doesn’t want you to go, and that she doesn’t want us to get hurt.”