I didn't do anything, and I wouldn't have done anything downstairs because if someone shoots me, they kill my baby. And if I stay...
No. We have to all get out of here. Somehow. Me. Lyndall. Gretchen.
Lyndall stands over me. "Is this what we will be doing here together? Puking?"
I start laughing, not that anything is funny.
Then the laughter dies. "Lyndall. We need to be nice to Gretchen, okay?"
"She's like a robot."
"For good reason. I saw what they did."
She sits on the floor next to me. "What did they do?"
Lyndall's owed the truth, just like she's owed a nightmare-free childhood. Or what remains of it.
I know she's three years away from being an adult. But at the same time, she's young and innocent and should hang on to that.
And suddenly, I understand Enzo a little more.
Lies are sometimes the only answer. So, do I do that? I lie. "They were mean, they hurt her. Hit her. We need to get out of here, but we have to take her if we can."
"I'm into that. We'll be girl heroes, rescuing trapped women everywhere."
Despite the nausea, I laugh.
She looks at my tummy as I sit up.
I frown. "What?"
"Can... can I touch?"
"There's nothing to feel."
Lyndall shrugs. "So? I wanna. Please? Girl power."
"Okay."
She puts her hand on my tummy. "We're getting out of here, little girl. And then we'll be a family."
And something in me cracks open. A sob escapes.
I try to swallow it. "Sorry. I'm just...I've wanted a sibling for so long. It got lonely growing up."
"You'll never be lonely with me, Lola." And she smiles.
I hug her. "I'm so lucky. Squish is lucky."
She huffs. "We have to give her a better name than that."
"But that's what Enzo named it."
She rolls her eyes. "He's an idiot." Then her voice drops. "And I wish he was here."
"Me, too," I whisper.
"You know the best thing about finding out you have a half-sister and you already know her?"
