struggle.”
My stomach turns at the sympathetic look on her face. It’s the first time she’s looked human and not like some doctor robot hell-bent on keeping me here. “There was nothing there at all. You may not remember, but the police, or your doctor, explained this to you. There wasn’t even a hole in the ground that was dug up. Just a shovel that must’ve flown out of the back of your trunk when the car rolled.”
My bottom lip trembles at the unfairness. How could they have cleaned everything up so fast? What’s even more worrisome is now, now I’m starting to question everything about that night. Did I…did I imagine it all? I’d been so sleep-deprived after the whole Baz situation. Could I have imagined it? What if it all was some sick dream?
I quickly put a cap on those thoughts. There’s no way. I know I was there. I dug that fucking hole. I held that shirt. I felt Madison pull me out of the car that night. There’s no other explanation.
“No. That’s not right. That can’t be. I was there that night. I dug a goddamn hole in the earth. Check under my nails for dirt!” I thrust my hands out toward her. She looks down, then back up, then back down to her notepad.
“I’m going to be honest with you, Mackenzie. Things don’t look good for you right now. To enforcement officials, it looks like you followed Mr. Hawthorne and drove your rental car off a cliff. His statement says you tried to kill him. He mentioned his close friend recently broke up with you, and that you had become angry and jealous. You thought it was his fault, so you wanted to take matters into your own hands.”
I blink, stupefied by how easy it was for him to flip the script. He probably didn’t think I’d actually survive after leaving me there, so he figured I wouldn’t be able to stand up for myself. One by one, tears of disbelief stream down my face as she goes on.
I can’t believe this is happening.
I can’t believe he has everyone fooled.
I can’t believe he’s turning everything around on me. It’s happening all over again, just like it did nine years ago.
Sniffing back the tears, I feel my chin quivering as I try to steady my voice. “That wasn’t what happened. I didn’t set out to hurt Vincent. He followed me. He admitted to killing my sister, then he stabbed me. He stabbed me and left me for dead in that car.”
“In his own words, he said he did it?”
My eyes slam shut as I replay what he said. More tears fall as I think about the huge part Baz held in everything that happened that summer. It’s on the tip of my tongue to say it. To say he did it, too. They killed her together, but I don’t.
“Yes. He told me he killed her just before he stabbed me and fled. I don’t…I don’t remember much of what happened after that. If it wasn’t for—”
I stop, cutting myself off. Talking about Madison and how she saved me is what led me in here in the first place, so talking about it again isn’t such a good idea.
“If it wasn’t for who?” she asks with too much interest in her voice. She leans forward on her chair as if she’s trying to get closer to me, a closer look at my mind. “Your sister?” she prompts at my fearful silence.
I scrape a frustrated hand down my face, trying to hold back the impending sob of desperation. “I know it sounds crazy, but she got me out of there. The car was literally going to roll down the cliff if she hadn’t helped me.” I implore her with my eyes to understand.
The doctor finally sets her notebook down on the clipboard, seemingly done with her notes. For now, at least.
“Okay.” She sighs. “I’m going to tell you what I think happened. Then we’ll talk about your injuries, why you’re here, and what we do now. I personally think there was bad blood between you and Mr. Hawthorne. I think you went into the woods that night with ill intentions. Whether you followed him, he followed you, whatever you were there for, you were going to make him pay in some way, were you not?”
I don’t say a word because even though her theory is wrong, she has one thing right. Once I had what I needed, I was