“Come in,” he called from inside.

I pushed through. He glanced up from behind his desk, surprised to see me.

“Kate? I thought we were meeting later today?”

I would never need to make an appointment with him again. I could see him every day if I wanted to. A wide grin spread across my face. “I did it,” I said, still out of breath. “I just left. What do I do now?”

FIFTEEN

MEREDITH

NOW

The exit counselor, Brian O’Donnell, arrived the next day and spent all afternoon with Kate. He asked to speak with me, Abbi, and Scott after he finished his session with her. We filed into the dining room, which was quickly becoming the spot for all meetings. He was unassuming and short, only slightly taller than me, which wasn’t saying a lot. He was in his early forties, on the heavier side, and wore a cardigan tied over his shoulders, despite the heat in the room. He’d gone around the table and shaken hands with everyone before taking a seat in the middle. I’d offered him the head, but he’d quickly declined.

Brian’s eyes moved around the room while he talked, making eye contact with each of us while he spoke. “Short of when Kate vanished, I’m sure this has been one of the most emotionally intense weeks of your lives. I want to take a moment and recognize everything you’ve been through.”

I glanced at Scott out of the corner of my eye. Normally he hated anything hinting at mindfulness, but he was hanging on Brian’s every word.

“In recognizing everything that you’ve been through, we also need to recognize everything that Kate has been through too. The world moves so much faster than what she’s used to. It’s almost like she’s gone forward in time, so you can imagine how incredibly disorienting that would be for a person. Now take into consideration that she’s spent the last decade immersed in a cult with an extremely charismatic leader whom she had very strong feelings for, punished whenever she thought for herself or did anything considered wrong, and isolated from any other viewpoints or thoughts that might tell her differently.”

“She told you that?” I asked, shocked. I couldn’t believe he’d gotten her to tell him all that in a few hours, and nobody had been able to get anything out of her for a week. He must have been fantastic at his job.

“Not in so many words, but in enough pieces to hint at similar truths. Besides, all cults are basically the same,” Brian said. “Once she starts opening up, I’m certain her case will follow a similar progression as most cult survivors, and there are a few things that I want to talk about with you before we move any further.” We nodded our heads in unison. “It’s important that we don’t ever approach Kate with any level of hostility toward them or their ideas. If we do, it will reinforce what Ray and the other members have drilled into her head for years—that you can’t trust outsiders because they don’t understand your beliefs or situation. If we come at her like we are the enemy, then all we’ve done is reinforce everything they taught her. It will make her second-guess leaving if that happens. Believe me—we learned this the hard way.” The seriousness in his expression let me know he was telling the truth. “Victims tell their story in their own time and at their own pace. Eventually, it comes out, but sometimes it comes out very slowly. It usually takes about two years to deprogram a person who’s been indoctrinated into a cult, and, from what I’ve seen and heard today, I expect her case will follow a similar timeline.”