Will stared at me, and it soon became clear that he had absolutely no idea what I was talking about.

“You really don’t remember?” I asked. “You don’t remember that Rosie disappeared, and everyone forgot her?”

Will frowned. “No, I don’t. Are you … are you joking?”

I shuddered. “I don’t think it’s possible to joke 333about Bird Rock. Look, forget it. It doesn’t matter any more. We got away, didn’t we?”

“Yeah,” Will replied, but he looked distracted, and I could tell he wasn’t paying attention to me properly.

“Hey,” I finally said, waving my hand in front of his face. “Earth to Will! Are you listening?”

He looked at me. “Sorry. I zoned out for a moment.”

“Don’t worry. It’s been a lot. But I thought maybe, after everything we’ve been through, we could go and get a milkshake or something on the mainland? Once I’m better. If you want to, I mean.”

“Sounds good,” Will replied.

“Are you sure you’re OK?” I asked. “It seems like there’s something on your mind.”

“I’m just… I’ve been thinking about what you said before. About Rosie. If that’s true, then it means we can’t trust our memories about what happened on the island.” His eyes met mine. “We can’t be sure that we didn’t leave someone else behind.”

I paused. I hadn’t thought of that, and it was unsettling. “I don’t think we did,” I finally said.

“No,” Will said firmly. “I’m sure you’re right.” 334He glanced at the horizon. “Soon we’ll be on the mainland and we can put all this behind us and go for those milkshakes. It looks like we’re almost there. I’m just going to head on deck and see if they need a hand.”

The rest of the voyage passed uneventfully. I was too tired to talk to anyone and simply enjoyed being wrapped up in my blanket, finally able to relax in the knowledge that we’d escaped. We had all managed to get off Bird Rock in one piece. We had fought, and we had won. As the boat docked on the mainland, I felt more and more free. Relieved that I would never have to set foot on Bird Rock again.

Except … that’s not what actually happened.

335

Postscript

The voyage as I’ve described it is honestly how I remember it happening. However, I know it wasn’t quite like that because of the letter I later found in my pocket, hurriedly written in my own handwriting. I’m adding it to the record now, and it reads as follows: