oe'

m door open and step

s alrea

stood a few

owards me at

ed me up and dow

thought you could

a slow step closer.

in trouble? You think escaping

ked. "

d. "We're taking you back to your h

mach d

sb

hus

ting to see the girl from the bathr

g to me?" I asked. M

m exhaled,

oming wit

hed for

when it

n looking for her - and

gh me so hard my

e the wrong perso

tumbled ou

minutes ago. My name is Chloe.

d a quick, di

r arm. Another took the othe

op. Let

l free. They d

men kept walking, steering me toward the exit li

loor. I twisted, trying to reach for it, but th

k of a black car and shut t

ar pulled away from the curb. The mall disappeared behind us. Buildings and traffic slid past the windows as the

how this looks. I look like Ruby and I understand why yo

at my clothes - plain jeans, blue top,

get these from?" He gestured at my outfit. "S

y vision blurred. Tears spille

about," I said, voice shaking. "

't l

ords tore out of me. "You

owly, like he was looking at

" he told th

aking me to Ru

we got wherever we were going, he would look at me properly. He woul

*

ndows, and hedges cut too perfectly. A driveway that cur

ushed my arm until I stopped fighting. I forced myself to look: heavy front door, narrow wind

go of

e staircase. I fought. My sneakers slid on the marble. My arm twisted behind m

d in front of a heavy door. One of them unloc

ered to lock yo

dication she takes every single night before bed. Without it she could have another stroke. She could slip into a co

en exchan

ne crazy or

them

so tight my fingers went white. Tears

going to happen to my mother if I don't get home. She must take the pill before b

d at me in

an exhaled hard a

" he muttered. "Come

the doorway hard enough that I stumbled and hit the f

ainst the wood, fists clumsy, knuc

!" I screamed.

k furniture, windows set too high. It sme

n's

yway. Locked. I tried t

s gone. I h

slid down, my back against the door, my legs giving

er is a

looked when I was leaving. She had said

room. "Mom... something bad really did ha

had pa

ifted from afternoon gold to something thinner. My voice was gon

I hea

ding into

legs, eyes fixed on the do

walk