“Felicity, that’s the same picture I showed you before. It’s your profile picture. There is no one in the picture with you.”
I froze then flipped to the next picture. One moment I saw her, the next I didn’t. Sometimes it looked like she was fading right out of the photo.
“Take… me home… please.”
“We’re already here,” he said as the car pulled to a stop in front of my building. I reached for my purse but remembered I’d forgotten it at the gala.
“I don’t have my bag—”
“I picked it up after you ran out. I came here first to find you after you left. I’m sorry, but I let myself inside.” He held up the keys.
Not saying anything, I stepped outside the car. I didn’t wait and walked up the stairs to our condo. Turning the doorknob, my heart was pounding so hard my ears rang, yet there was no difference in anything when I stepped into the living room. It was absolutely the same as always. My teal pillows were on the tan couch Mark had loved the first moment he’d laid eyes on it at a yard sale.
“Mark?” I called, putting my keys down. “Cleo? Are you here?”
No answer.
Hearing the floorboards creak, I turned to see Theo standing with his hands in his pockets, watching me.
“They’re real,” I said.
“Felicity, I’m no expert by far. I just started to read a few things online on the way over here. However, something I learned was that hallucinations have one fatal flaw: even for the person having them. All you have to do is expose something that can’t be rationalized to help give people a point of clarity.”
I bit my lip, fighting tears. “Cleo and Mark are not hallucinations. I’ve not been hallucinating for six years! We all live together here. We are family. They are my family, so get the fuck out.”
He looked like he didn’t want to speak. His mouth opened and shut twice before he finally said what he needed to say.
“Felicity, why do you only have one bedroom?”
It took a second for his words to make sense. Stepping back, I turned and opened the door to my bedroom. Teal walls, a bright yellow bedspread, my books and clothes all over the floor. Closing the door, I went down the hall. This was Mark’s room.
But when I opened it, I saw the white laundry room. In it was nothing but shopping bags: Louis Vuitton, Versace, Prada… all for men. Kneeling, I reached into one of the bags and pulled out a watch and a receipt. It was dated three years ago.
“No.” I moved to the second door down the hall, Cleo’s room, but it was only a storage closet filled with shopping bags.
“Ahh—” I gasped, falling to my knees, clasping my hands over my mouth as I fought down the sob shaking my whole body. It was like waking up from a beautiful dream and having to watch your worst nightmare.
“Shh,” Theo whispered, wrapping his arms around me from behind. Clutching him, I broke down and cried, the words spilling from my lips like water from a hole in a dam.
“No one was there!” I remembered. “I left Golden Crossroads, and no one was there. I called home, and they said I still needed help. I went to the bank
and tried to get money, but I had to be twenty-one to get all of it, so I took what I could and bought this place. Rosemary mentioned something about going to a sugar baby party, and I talked to her about it. I thought it was Cleo and Mark who forced me to go, but I did it myself. I signed up myself. I was talking to myself, Theo. It was just me. Just me.”
“Shh, Felicity you’re going to be all right. You’re—”
“I’m just like her.” I shook my head. “I’m just like my mom. I’m… I’m.”
“It’s not just you. I’m right here. You’re going to get help, Felicity. I’m going to help,” he said softly, but I couldn’t stop crying.
What had happened to me?
I want to die.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Caging Felicity
Felicity