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FLASHBACKS AND FLEETING MEMORIES

Lizzie

MAY 2, 2000

“G ET AWAY FROM ME !”

“You’re not leaving!”

“No, because you’re the one leaving. Get out of my house!”

“This is one huge misunderstanding, Caoimhe, I swear.”

“Mark, I saw you with my own fucking eyes!” my sister was screaming. “How could you do that to a child!”

I froze in the doorway. The hairs on the back of my neck began to prickle. My entire body broke into a cold sweat. It almost felt like my stomach had bottomed out .

Gripping the duvet, I felt a little lightheaded, almost like I was about to faint .

“Elizabeth! Come here right now.” She sounded like she wanted to kill me, so I did the only thing I could in this moment. I bolted. “I need to talk to you!”

Holding my breath, I climbed into my wardrobe and quietly closed the door behind me. Covering my mouth with my hand, I froze and waited .

“Gibsie knows what you are!” Caoimhe was threatening him. “And so do I!”

What did they know?

What was happening?

“Don’t fucking threaten me, Caoimhe!”

And why was my skin crawling?

Why did I want to peel my ears off to stop myself from hearing his voice?

“Oh my God!” Caoimhe continued to scream. “I brought a pervert around those kids. I brought you around my sister—”

“What did she say?” he demanded. “What did that little bitch tell you? Because you know she lies, Caoimhe. You can’t believe a word that lunatic says.”

“What do mean what did she tell me?”

“Nothing, forget I said that.”

“What did you mean, Mark?” Caoimhe demanded. “What did you do to my sister?”

“Can you stop screaming for one fucking second!” he roared back at her. “I’m trying to think.”

“No, no, no, no!” Caoimhe released an earth-shattering scream. “Tell me you didn’t! Not Lizzie!”

“Caoimhe, stop screaming and let me explain…”

I tried to tell them.

To make them all understand.

About the monster in my nightmares, the scary lady watching me in the shadows, and my sister’s dead eyes.

My thoughts were muddled, and I tried so hard to make it all make sense, but all my efforts of explaining came out as a jumbled mess of frantic pleas and frenzied accusations that nobody seemed to take seriously.