Page 143 of Their Little Ghost

I check my call log and frown. There’s no trace of any call taking place. What the hell? Maybe I’m imagining it.

A shiver runs down my spine as I vividly recall her saying, “You don’t know what he’s capable of…”

“He used me,” I whimper as Aiden cradles me. “He…”

“We’ve been trying to help you remember,” Aiden says. “You know the truth.”

My bottom lip trembles. “Erin’s dead.”

“I know,” Aiden says. His heart thuds against my cheek, confirming that he’s not a figment of my imagination. “But now you’ve come back to us.”

“It was my fault,” I say. “I made her switch places. I saw her body…”

Although Erin and I were never best friends, she was still my sister. My twin. I always hoped we’d get closer again if she plucked up the courage to go against Dad. Now, he robbed us of the chance.

“He thought he was killing you,” Aiden says. “Never forget that.”

I pull away from him violently and wipe my eyes. The thudding in my head dulls, making way for a torrent of fury. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“We didn’t know what consequences breaking the delusion would have, and neither did Doctor Warner,” he says. “We wanted you to reconnect with your true self. It was the best way to help you remember.”

“Maybe not knowing would have been better,” I say bitterly. “At least then I had a chance of living a normal life as Erin.” I shake my head. “I don’t know what’s real and what’s not anymore.”

My thoughts are a scrambled jumble, whirring and blurring together, making it hard to wade through. Although my old memories are coming back, I see snatches of Erin’s memories, and her thoughts mix with my own. Whatever Dad did changed me forever. He tore down the very foundations of who I am, and Erin? She’s dead, but I can still hear her…

“We’ll help you. We’ll?—”

“How long have you known?” I snap.

Time didn’t stop when ‘Sarah’ died. Aiden, Lex, and Eli creeped into Erin’s—my—life and terrorized us.

“Lex saw your tattoo first. He thought he was imagining things until I saw it for myself the night we showed you the videos in the asylum. You had no idea who you were, so we had to put the pieces together,” he explains. “It didn’t take much persuasion for Doctor Warner to fill in the gaps. Before then, we all thought you were dead. Lex saw your body in the morgue. If we knew, we’d?—”

Putting together timelines in my head is difficult. They learned the truth after Dad locked ‘Erin’ in the asylum. After they escaped. After they…

“Before you found out I was alive, you were still fucking my sister!” I explode. “You stalked her around town, crashed her ball, and left her creepy gifts. What’s wrong with you?!”

I spring to my feet and turn on him. Aiden steps forward, but I shove him hard in the chest.

“I admit, we handled it badly. At the beginning, we only ever wanted to use her to take your father down. Seducing her was part of the plan to win her trust,” Aiden tries to justify himself. “Then, she started to act more like you, and maybe it felt like you were still with us in some strange, fucked-up way…” He sighs. “We fucked up, okay? But we really thought you were dead. How could we not after Eli…”

“After Eli, what?” I ask sharply as his voice trails off.

“He didn’t mean to hurt her,” Aiden says. “Look, your dad drugged him, he?—”

“Eli did it?” I want to vomit. “Hekilled Erin?”

“Acacia killed her!” Aiden growls. “Eli was under his control. He couldn’t fight it.”

“Now it makes sense,” I say. “All his ranting and raving over the last few months. He’s fucking crazy! You all are!”

Aiden reaches out, but I slap his hand away. “Sarah…”

“Don’t fucking touch me,” I snarl, crossing my arms. “Did my dad drug you? Is that why you seduced her, or is that all on you?”

“Acacia brought her—you—to the asylum. He gave us an opportunity, and we wanted to get close to her,” he says. “As soon as we found out the truth, we started working with Doctor Warner to bring you back, so we can finally be together again. You don’t understand?—”

“You’re twisted!” I spit. “Shit, Lex even made me—Erin—believe he was taking my virginity. How was that helping get my memories back, huh?”