Page 155 of I Dare You
I don’t fight as they escort me toward the awaiting van.
“I promise, we’re in this together,” Kit says as they put me into the van.He places his hand on the glass.“You do this, and there will be no more demons to slay.I love you.Always.”
And I love him too.
As the van pulls away, I lower my head, defeated because Kit is mistaken…the greatest demon here is me.
“How are you feeling today, Hallie?”
I peer out the barred window at a bluebird sitting on the bars.
He’s outside while I’m inside, for how many days, weeks, years…I don’t know.
“I’m okay.”
Dr.Sangallo nods, her dark hair brushed back behind her ears.She always looks so composed.She’s been my doctor since I arrived here at Orange Lake Hospital, a place designed for people like me.
The night at Jack Bloom’s house taught me many things.
The first is that I was Jupiter Lemmings.I did some really fucked-up things to cope with the trauma I experienced that night in the woods.
And second is that Kit Rivers loves me.
That seems far more important than anything else because even after he found out my secret, he refused to give up on me.Detective Crawley, who arrested Jack, was a client of his from the garage.
She was the only cop who wasn’t crooked in this town.She worked for the SVU.He confided in her and showed her the proof of the women’s confessions.He told her she needed to act immediately, for fear of my mental health.
Kit had placed a recording device in Jack’s home before I arrived to record Jack’s confession.Kit knew my plan to kill Jack all along.It was like he knew me better than I knew myself.That explains all the secrecy between him and Dandy.
He didn’t intervene, as he knew this was the only way for me to see the truth.
The truth that Jupiter was never real.
“You’re making great progress,” Dr.Sangallo says.“We’re looking at supervised day trips very soon.”
Hooray…
I quash down that cynical voice in my head, as I don’t want any more of those.At least it’s mine, however.
“To support your recovery, we need to review what occurred so that you’ll know how to respond if it happens again.”
I’ve heard this a thousand times before.
“You’re not evil, Hallie, regardless of what you believe.”
I can’t help but laugh.“I made up a ‘friend’ who murders people.”
“Was Jupiter made up?”
I ponder over her question and shrug.“I saw her.Spoke to her.I felt her.”
She nods calmly.“When you were sixteen, you experienced something so horrific, so overwhelming that your brain couldn’t process it.It couldn’t understand how you survived.So it did what traumatized brains sometimes do.It divided you…into two people.Hallie is the part that endured the assault, and Jupiter is the part that needed to fight it.The part that protected you.
“Your control was taken away.And you were scared.The brain compartmentalizes with cases of trauma such as this.One part holds on to the fear, and the other holds on to rage.
“Jupiter is the part of you that refused to be powerless.She protected you.”
“Yes.”I nod, my lower lip quivering.“She punished them.”
