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“She was a little shit. She’d always been a little shit. She ran off into the woods because she couldn’t stand not being the center of attention for once.”

—William Callow, brother of Lucy Callow (unpublished)

“The girl’s dead. No ghost story changes that she went into the woods and died. If you ask me, her brother did it. That cockamamie story about a disappearing road. He was hiding something. And pissed at her for running off. Always thought so. But without a body, what could we do?”

—Jack Brechin, Mass. State Police (unpublished)

Note from Mark Watts, reporter at theBriar Glen Beacon, to his editor:*

I’ve been working on this too long. I’m starting to dream about her. I’m turning in what I’ve got along with the rest of my notes. If you need more, you can get someone else to finish it.

INTERVIEW

SARA DONOGHUE

May 9, 2017

The door opens slowly. Rebecca Donoghue enters, followed by Andrew Ashford. A bruise mottles Rebecca’s cheek, and her left eye is slightly swollen. Bandages cover her arms at random intervals. Sara sits placidly, staring down at her hands, which are folded on the tabletop. Abigail Ryder is the last to enter, and at Ashford’s nod she takes up a position in the corner, her hand on the syringe in her pocket.

BECCA: Hello, Sara.

Sara mutters something but doesn’t look up.

BECCA: Dr. Ashford said that you might be ready to talk. About what happened.

SARA: What about what happened?

BECCA: He says that you need to remember on your own.

Sara lets out a sound between a whine and a moan, like an animal in pain.

SARA: I don’t want to.

BECCA: Sara, you need help.

SARA: I don’t need help. I’m fine. Except that I’m locked up in here.

BECCA: You aren’t fine. You haven’t been fine since we leftthe road, and you know it. You’re the one who—you told me to call them. You begged me.

SARA: She’s lying.

She looks at Ashford. Her eyes are dark and glinting with intensity.

SARA: Don’t you see? What we pulled off that road wasn’t her. And she’s trying to confuse you. She’s been messing with my memory. Making me remember things that aren’t there.

BECCA: That’s not true.

ASHFORD: This isn’t productive. Sara, all we want is the truth. All we want is to know what happened when you left the road.

SARA: She turned on us.

ASHFORD: Lucy?

SARA: No,her.

She points to Becca and lets out a strangled laugh.

SARA: But you don’t believe me. You think I’m the one who has something wrong with me, but it’s only what she’s done to me. She’s not even Becca, don’t you see that?