Layla - Colleen Hoover Page 0,85

car. We need to leave right now. Let’s go.”

She’s unmoving. “Why are we leaving? Why am I downstairs?” She spins in a circle, looking up the stairs, and then into the kitchen. “I can’t remember anything. I think something is wrong. Something is wrong with me.”

“Nothing is wrong with you, Layla. It’s this house. We need to get out of it.”

She looks at me, and maybe it’s the seriousness in my expression, but she finally nods in agreement. “Okay,” she says, her voice full of nervousness. I open the door and push Layla out first. Then I pull the suitcases over the threshold.

“Hurry,” I say, needing her to be faster before Willow takes over again.

We get halfway to the car when Layla stops. “Let’s go, Layla.”

She doesn’t move.

I look at her but no longer see Layla standing next to me.

It’s Willow again.

I just let go of the suitcases. I throw my hands up in defeat. The suitcases fall over, and I kick one. I kick it again. I kick it and I kick it and I kick it because she’s not going to let us leave.

“Leeds, stop,” Willow pleads.

I don’t know how to get Layla out of her grasp now.

And even if she does slip out of Layla, is Willow going to follow us? How do I know she won’t be in the car with us when we leave? I can’t call the police. What the hell would I say? The ghost of the girl I killed is stalking me? Again?

How the fuck did I get myself into this mess?

“Listen to me,” Willow says calmly. Her coolness is such a stark contrast to Layla’s hysterics. “If I was Sable in a past life, I am not anymore. I’m Willow. And I could never do what Sable did to you and Layla. If you want to leave, I’m going to let you leave. But . . .”

I shake my head. “I don’t even want to hear what you have to say. I want to leave.”

She holds up a hand. “Please. Just let me say this.” She takes two steps forward, slowly. “If I was Sable, then there’s a reason I’m here. You’ve watched all the movies with me. You know all the theories. Why is Sable stuck here, Leeds? Maybe she needs your forgiveness. Or maybe you need hers? I don’t know, but if you leave, we’ll never figure that out. And you’ll go the rest of your life knowing that ghosts exist, and you might be the reason one of them is stuck here. This is going to follow us forever. Both of us.”

I shift my weight to my other leg. “I’ve been trying to help you figure this out since we started talking! You’re the one who didn’t want to know anything, Willow! Now you want my help? After I find out you’ve been lying to me for weeks?”

“I wasn’t lying. I didn’t know,” she says. “I thought it was all just chaos inside Layla’s head, because I don’t have memories at all when I’m not in her head. I still don’t know for sure. Your theory makes sense, but it doesn’t feel right. There’s something off about it.” She steps closer again. I don’t step back this time because part of me only sees Willow when I look at her, and that part of me still feels bad for her.

But not bad enough to stay.

I point at her. “You’re the reason this happened, whether you remember it or not. You’re the reason Layla almost died. I will not be the reason you ultimately kill her. Get out of her and stay out of her.”

She’s still calm, but now there are silent tears spilling down her cheeks. “I don’t know why I’m here. But I’m here, and wherever this is, I don’t feel like an evil person. I feel good and I feel honest. I am not whoever Sable was in her life. I feel like me. Like Willow. I’m the girl you’ve been watching movies with and eating leftovers with and spending time with. I’m the girl you kissed on that bed last night. Me. Not Sable. Not Layla. Willow.”

I clench my teeth. “Willow doesn’t exist. It’s a name you made up.”

She closes the gap between us and takes my face in her hands, her eyes full of desperation. “I do exist. I’m right here. I’m standing right in front of you.”

I can’t look at her while she’s crying like this. I spin around and rest my hands