Chapter 14
Many years later, I still remember that night.
That night, I was in total despair. On the way back, I got into a car accident and was injured. I couldn’t get myself out, so I just gave up struggling.
But Mackenzie came. The car was on fire–I still can’t figure out where she got that kind of strength.
She bent the bumper with her bare hands and crawled through the trunk to drag me out.]
She held me, and I could feel her whole body shaking.
In that moment, I just broke down crying: “Mackenzie!“[]
“Don’t be scared, don’t be scared. It’s okay, it’s okay. I’m here, I’m here! We’re going to the hospital. We’re going to be fine.“]
J
She carried me away from the crowd, and behind us the car exploded. Maybe if she’d been one minute later, I would have died in that fire.
When I woke up later, I had amnesia, but looking at Mackenzie, I knew–she was my second life.[]
I went to see Lily and tried to explain to the police.
“Will her sentence be harsh? Since she turned herself in, can’t she get a lighter sentence?”
Lily disagreed: “I really did kidnap her. It was intentional, premeditated. I even tricked Zoe into coming with me… I’m completely evil… I should get the maximum punishment…“[]
The cop looked at us both with a complicated expression: “First time I’ve seen a victim defend their attacker, while the attacker refuses the defense.”
The police told me to go home and think it over, then come back when I’d decided whether to sign a settlement agreement.[]
Lily ended up getting five years. I went to visit her later.
She smiled: “Willa, thank you. I’m doing pretty well now. I’ve wanted to get away from crowds for a long time anyway. People move in packs, talking about money, talking about power, talking about the future. Every word they say affects me–I get anxious, I second–guess myself, I panic, I’m scared.]
ཝ་ཇའ་6རྗཎྞཱ་མཆོནྟཱི་ཕོ་ཇ
“Back then I was terrified of not fitting in, constantly on edge. But my original dream was to go to outer space, to build my own utopia by myself. See you later, Willa. I’m tired and need to rest. When I wake up someday, I’ll come find you and we can chat again.”
Every few months I’d remember to send Lily some books or magazines.
In March of her second year, she wrote me back.]
Her handwriting was surprisingly neat. She told me about all the stuff she’d been learning–pottery and creative writing.
She said she was really getting into it, and maybe when she got better, she’d send me some of her poems or something
At the end of the letter, she said that day she’d originally planned to take me with her when she died.
But standing on that high building, she’d had second thoughts. Why should she kill me?!!
Chipre 14
To make River sad? River had cheated–what was all this bullshit about me being his true love? How ridiculous.[]
She should have brought River up there instead. Then he definitely would have regretted everything.
Also, Willa, when you yelled at me it didn’t hurt at all, because when I was very little, I’d already heard much worse, much dirtier insults.
