Page 105 of Little Liar

“Come on, son. Come back to us. You need to wake up now. Please.”

Is that my dad? Why is he here, begging me to wake up?

Wait.

Hold the fuck on.

I’m not in my bed at home.

I’m not lying with Olivia in my arms. She’s gone. She’s not here. She… No.

They took her. They have her. They fucking stole her from me.

Fuck, everything hurts. What the fuck happened?

“You should go for something to eat, sir. He’s not fully awake,” I hear someone say. “Give him a little time.”

“A little time? My son has been in a coma for three weeks after being shot in the goddamn chest! This is the first sign of life he’s had and you’re telling us to leave the room?”

Eight years ago, he was the one in a hospital bed. I wasn’t with him; I was behind bars for putting him there. I hurt him, and he shouldn’t be here with me now, trying to make me wake up.

Yet here he is, his hand still on my face, refusing to leave my side.

Did I wake up in a different body? Does he know I’m Malachi?

My entire body screams at me as I try to sit up, but I can’t.

“Let’s go, Dad.”

I try to move again at the sound of Molly’s voice.

None of this is happening. I’m in a fucking nightmare, and Olivia is waiting for me. She’s not gone. They don’t have her. I refuse to believe it.

Where is she? Why isn’t she here? Did they not manage to save her?

Fuck. Where is my fucking sister?

I manage to crack one eye open and instantly wince at the sensitivity overload, a bright light blinding me, burning into the back of my eye socket.

I might be dead already. It would make sense. I always knew I was going to hell, so they shoved me in a room with my father, and he’s about to start getting revenge on my unmoving body.

“I’m not leaving my son,” I hear him snap. “I haven’t left his side for three fucking weeks, and I don’t plan to leave him when he’s about to wake up. You’ll need to drag me out.”

“You’ve barely slept, Mr. Vize.”

“I’ll sleep when my son is awake and well and my daughter is back with us.”

Back with us.

Olivia really isn’t here.

My eyes burn behind my lids—I’m so fucking useless because my girl is gone and I can’t even open my goddamn eyes, never mind try to save her.

But then everything goes silent, the world stops turning, my heart starts beating, my lungs no longer controlled by a machine as I hear her echoing scream; see the horror in my eyes as she’s dragged away from me while a force knocks me on my back, a burning sensation spreading across my chest.

All I can see is how scared she was when I was numb, dead, unblinking with a stab wound in my side and a bullet in my chest.

I shouldn’t be here.