“I don’t remember much from that day. Some parts of it are vivid, but others are just black holes. I do remember the fear. I’ve been afraid for the last fifteen years, Dr. Brown, and I’m so tired of it.”
“Michael, please. I understand, though I have to warn you. While we dig into all this, it will likely get worse before it gets better. Do you have a support system at home? Someone you live with, perhaps, like a partner or family member?”
I shake my head. “I moved out of my father’s house a while ago. It was becoming too easy to rely on him to keep me safe, when what I really want is to learn how to keep myself safe.”
“So you live alone?”
“I have my daughter, but yes, I live alone. It was time.”
“I’m not judging you, Miss Dillion. In fact, I commend your bravery. Living alone as a woman can be scary enough at the best of times without having your history to contend with.”
“Yeah, tell me about it. It’s the whole reason why I’m here.”
“I’m more thinking along the lines of if you have someone to touch base with, support you after a trying session here. You don’t have to tell them what we spoke about?—”
“No, I understand what you mean. I have family around me, and friends. I can call any of them, and they’ll come to me if I ask them to.”
“Family, as in your sister? I read she is your twin, correct?”
“Nevaeh, yes. She’s my twin.”
“It must be wonderful to have her back in your life after all this time. For both of you.”
“Yes, of course.”
“Tell me about her.”
Okay, this is easy. “Neveah is older than me by eight minutes. She was always the curious one, the one to test my parents’ patience. She was forever getting us both into trouble,” I tell him with a grin on my face before I look up at him and clear my throat. “She lives in Raven’s Fall now. We both do. I mean, I came back here to be closer to her.” And a certain someone else, but I keep that to myself for now,
“And what does your sister do?”
“You didn’t find that out in your research?”
“I was only looking for information that was directly linked to your name. A twin sister was mentioned—her name was Neveah—but I didn’t dig deeper into her. Should I have?”
I shake my head, letting my hair drift around my face. “No, sorry, it’s become a bit of a habit. People sometimes try to be friendly to either get the gruesome details of my story or to try to get closer to my sister. She’s an author, you see—a popular one, too. She writes under a pen name, so that’s probably why you didn’t make the connection.”
“Ah, yes, most likely. How is your relationship with Neveah now that you’re back in her life?”
“It’s good. Strong. She loves me, and I love her. No amount of time or distance could change that. She’s my literal other half.”
He taps his chin with his finger in thought. “There is no resentment?”
I frown. “No, why would I resent her?”
“Because you were taken and she wasn’t. She got to go on and have a normal—no scratch that—a successful life, and you were trapped in a living hell the whole time.”
I swallow hard and look away, not liking how he seems able to look right through me. “She was supposed to be outside with me, but she got in trouble. Got herself sent to her room. I can’t even remember what she did now, but it meant I was out there alone.”
“Which made you an easier target.”
“Maybe. But I’m not mad at her for that. If she had been outside, he’d have taken us both. He commented enough over the years about wanting the full set. Sometimes he even punished me because he couldn’t have her. There were times I was mad that she was so well protected he couldn’t get to her because it made me think Mom and Dad must have loved her more to keep her safer. But as I got older, I figured out theiractions were a reaction to my abduction. Even on the days when I prayed to switch places with someone, it was never Neveah. I wouldn’t have wished her to take my place instead.”
“That’s very… noble of you.”
I snort. “There is nothing noble about it. I love my sister, and I don’t ever want her to experience what I did. Part of me feels like my being taken saved her somehow. That he backed off from her so he wouldn’t risk losing me made me feel a little more like the hero than the victim.”
“And that was important to you? To feel like a hero?”
