Ellie's knee bounced up and down in the waiting room's hard, uncomfortable seat. She made no attempts to settle her restless leg, knowing it wouldn't do any good. She had been endlessly on-edge since stumbling upon her old apartment building three days ago.

She looked to Joe, who sat on her right and had not taken his eyes off her since they arrived. He gave her a small smile that was probably meant to reassure her, but he only succeeded in showing his nerves as well. Pulling his hand away from Tessa's, he rubbed his palm up and down Ellie's back a few times to make up for his lackluster smile. Ellie couldn't blame him, though. None of them wanted to be there.

A few other people were peppered across the room in the same uncomfortable chairs, all of them looking about as anxious to be there as they were. The grungy white walls locked them all into the same space with no escape.

Ellie's leg began to bounce with so much force that her heel thumped against the tile floor. A hand rested against her knee in an attempt to settle it. Looking to her left, Ellie locked eyes with Freya, whose unsure smile only mirrored Joe's.

A deep sigh escaped Ellie's chest and she shifted in her seat, but it did not take long for her leg to resume its original pace.

— — —

Three days ago

When Joe and Tessa came home from their date night to find Ellie leaning against Freya with red eyes and tear stained cheeks, they wasted no time calling an emergency family meeting. Twenty minutes later, Joe, Tessa, Chase, Freya, and Ellie all sat around the dining room table like they were preparing for the most important meeting of their lives. Lizzie and Stella had been instructed to stay in another room.

"Just tell him what you told us," Tessa said next to Ellie, lifting her eyes towards Chase.

Ellie shrank in on herself. After relaying the evening's revealing events to Chase, he remained stiff and expressionless. She feared it was too much for him to handle, or that it would send him spiraling again. After all, who knew how close his daughter had been to becoming the next Anna?

To her surprise—and everyone else's—Chase stood from his chair, walked around the table, and knelt beside her. He enveloped her in a tight embrace, which she gladly returned.

"That must have been really hard for you," he said into her hair.

Ellie nodded, then pulled away. Three months ago, Chase wouldn't have looked at her, let alone touch her. Now he voluntarily held onto her and his eyes met hers with understanding.

Then, Chase turned to his brother and his stern voice returned. "You need to go to the police. If he hurt another girl without anyone knowing, then the wrong person is rotting away in some jail cell."

"Bold of you to assume they actually made an effort to find out who killed the kid," Freya said with crossed arms as she slouched in her chair.

"A little girl died," Joe said in Chase's stead. "They wouldn't have just stopped looking for who killed her."

"Why not? They didn't even wait for a body before they gave up looking for Ellie and decided she was dead. Look what that got her."

Ellie grimaced at Freya's words, even though she understood the meaning behind them. Joe eyed Freya with disbelief, but a hint of grief hid behind his gaze. He did not want to admit that what she said was true.

"We're not going to just sit on this and hope someone figures it out. There's a justice system for a reason."

"A load of good the justice system has done you and your family. They couldn't find two girls stashed away in some creep's house. What makes you think they could do right by anyone else that fucking freak hurt?"

Ellie had no interest in learning where Joe and Freya's exchange was headed. Instead, she physically removed herself from the conversation, though the parties were too busy bickering to notice her absence. She did not want to hear anything else about Annas or dead girls.

— — —

Present day

"Potter."

The harsh voice made Ellie jump. She looked around the waiting room to see whose turn it was to go through the door. A tall woman stood up a few rows in front of her. The woman did not seem nervous, though. She just looked like she wanted whatever it was she was there for to be over with.

The waiting room had two doors: one to leave, and one to go further into the depths of the building. It felt eerily similar to the two doors in the basement. This time, she hoped to walk through both doors on her own accord.

She found herself in a staring contest with the solid door that led further in, daring it to show her what it concealed. If she thought hard enough, maybe it would show her something to ease her mind... or send her running in the opposite direction.

Unfortunately, the door won. Ellie tore her eyes away, suddenly afraid of the possibilities of what lay behind it.

Her hand traveled to her forearm and her fingers curled so that the edges of her nails lined up with the skin under the cuff of her sweater sleeve. But before she could add to the collection of bruises and crescent moon-shaped marks that had re-emerged in the last few days, Joe took her hand and gently grasped it in his against her knee. A common occurrence between them in the last few days.

They looked at each other, but no words were exchanged. With nothing else to block the frightening thoughts that consumed her, her finger tapped itself against her shaking knee in a similar rhythm. Once Joe determined that she would not try again, he removed his hand from over hers. With her leg and fingers working overtime, Ellie tried to forget that she did not want to be there.

— — —

Two days ago

If the past twenty-four hours had taught Ellie anything, it was that she wanted nothing to do with the death of eleven-year-old Anna Marie Carlton, whose name she accidentally uncovered after too many impulsive internet searches. Anna's body had been found at a construction site several months after she disappeared, but they never found her killer, just as Freya suggested.

It made Ellie sick to think that she could have been found in a similar manner, had she not gotten out when she did. But that was not the most disturbing part in her mind. The thing that really made her want to vomit was knowing that Anna died the year Ellie was born.

With that information, Ellie tried to convince herself of what she needed to do, but to no avail. Finally, she turned to her last resort: Joe and Tessa.

"Tell me I have to go," she demanded to Tessa.

"I can't do that," Tessa said in an infuriatingly calm voice. "This needs to be your decision, but frankly, I don't think it's a good idea."

Ellie gritted her teeth and huffed through her nose.

"But she's dead! She's dead, and He killed her, and we have to do something."

Tessa returned Ellie's frustration with a soft expression, which only made her more furious.

"Look at her," Ellie said, whipping out her phone and shoving it towards Tessa. The screen showed the school photo she found online of a young girl with wavy brown hair down to her shoulders, pale skin, and a smile that reached her emerald eyes. "She looks exactly like me. This is Anna."

Even after being accosted by the same photo she had seen a dozen times, Tessa gently brushed Ellie's hand aside.

"We are doing something. The police know everything you do now. But I will never make you do anything like this against your will."

Ellie let out an exaggerated groan. Spotting Joe standing to the side and avoiding the confrontation, she switched tactics.

"Joe, please," she begged with pleading eyes. "Tell me I have to do something—anything. Please. I'll listen to you. You know I'll do whatever you tell me to, even if I don't want to."

Instead of responding with words, Joe circled his arms around Ellie and held her close. His tight embrace brought warmth and comfort, which she basked in for a moment. She rested her head against his shirt and let the pressure of their bodies pressing together serve as a reminder that she needed him. Ellie knew Joe did whatever she asked, even when Tessa didn't want him to. But for reasons beyond her comprehension, he chose to put his foot down.

"Ellie, this one's up to you."

Appalled, Ellie pushed Joe off of her and stormed away.

— — —

Present Day

"Sherman."

Ellie did not flinch at the harsh voice that came from the door, but she still averted her gaze from the person whose turn it was to go through. The staring contest she lost to a hunk of metal moments ago left her unwilling to find out what was behind it until absolutely necessary.

"My name is Ellie," she mumbled to herself, practicing what she needed to say and how to say it as she stared at her hands. "My name is Ellie. My name is Ellie."

She must have sounded insane to anyone within earshot. But the two hour-long car ride was not enough time to rehearse, so she continued to repeat her name under her breath. "Ellie. Ellie. Ellie."

— — —

One day ago

After passing out on her bed, sleep finally caught up to her. Unfortunately, it did not last long. Just a few hours of restless sleep were enough to reboot her brain and throw her back into the cycle of exhaustion, but with a mind too busy and heavy to sleep.

When she emerged from her bedroom in a foggy haze in the middle of the day, she found Lizzie and Stella sitting outside in the backyard while Chase congregated with Joe and Tessa out of earshot.

The other half of the Holland family had been over every day since Ellie's discovery. She was not sure why, since there wasn't much else to discuss about the situation, but she imagined it had something to do with Chase not wanting to be alone.

"Daddy said you're supposed to be sleeping," Lizzie said, looking up from where she meticulously filled in a mountainous scene in a coloring book.

"Well, I'm not." Ellie pulled out a chair opposite of Stella, who was too engrossed in the tablet in front of her to notice or care about Ellie's arrival.

"And Uncle Joe and Aunt Tessa said to send you back if you woke up."

Ellie hummed and glanced towards the small group of adults huddled together across the backyard. She still felt some bitterness towards the fact that Joe and Tessa refused to do what she asked, but her anger had eased up over the last day. Instead of being resentful that she was useless in the quest to prove that He killed Anna, she was simply defeated.

She could not bring herself to do what she needed to do. Maybe she really was a coward.

"I know what's going on," Lizzie said, keeping her eyes on the paper and her crayon moving.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I know about Anna. Daddy doesn't think I know, but I do."

Ellie sank in her chair. Chase went to extra lengths to shield Lizzie from aspects of the life Ellie had to live. While it often meant that she could go weeks without seeing or talking to Lizzie, she understood that it had to be that way. Ellie had done the same for her in the basement. Lizzie was still young; she deserved every chance to reclaim a life with some semblance of normalcy.

Still, even though Ellie knew why she had to stay away so often, Lizzie was sometimes the only person on the planet who could sympathize with her. It was one thing to pour her troubles onto Joe and Tessa's listening ears; it was another to talk to Lizzie about the experiences they shared.

Perplexed by Lizzie's concentration, Ellie picked up a spare marker and moved it back and forth on a blank page in front of her, staining the white paper with streaks of red.

"Everybody thinks it's a bad idea," Ellie said, scribbling away. "What do you think I should do?"

Lizzie stayed silent as she concentrated on filling in a yellow sun. Ellie briefly glanced at her, then returned to her own abstract work.

"He killed her, right?" Lizzie finally said. Ellie nodded. "I think her mom and dad miss her. And you can help them miss her a little less."

Ellie paused mid-scribble and stared at the red-stained paper that now resembled a bloody mess. She did not think to question whether it was Anna's blood or her own. Regardless, she finally heard what she needed to know that she had to do whatever it took to help Anna.

— — —

Present day

Ellie chose not to hear the name that was called. She thought that if she ignored it, she could stay there until it was too late to go in.

"They're ready for us," Tessa said, looking at Ellie from the other side of Joe.

Ellie's heart stopped, but it also beat harder than it ever had before. She held her breath as Freya, Joe, and Tessa all stood. She tried to follow their lead, but she suddenly forgot how to move. Her arms tensed at her side as every muscle began to shake. Her lungs felt ready to burst from the lack of oxygen when a glimpse of teal hair reminded her to breathe again.

"You can do this," Freya said, crouching and taking Ellie's hands in hers.

"I can't," she whispered.

"Then don't."

Ellie looked and felt like she could vomit at any minute, but she was not sure if it was the prospect of pressing on or running away that made her feel as such. Either way, she did not make it this far for nothing.

She tried to put on a brave face and forced herself to her feet, but her trembling breath still gave her away as she followed everyone else's lead.

The officer waiting at the door ushered them down a hallway. Ellie could not see much past Joe and Tessa's height in front of her, but she also did not want to. Instead, she kept her head down to block out as many sights as possible. As they continued, the circular scars around her wrists began to itch, and she rubbed at her skin from over her sleeve.

The walk through the gray hallway seemed endless, but they came to a stop all too soon for Ellie's liking. They paused a few feet from a door... the door. The police detective who she had spoken to countless times within the last few days waited outside. Blood drained from her face and hands, leaving her in a cold sweat. Joe and Tessa parted so that nothing stood between her and the door.

"Remember what we talked about?" The detective asked at the first sight of Ellie.

She gave a small, quick nod without looking up from the floor.

"We'll be with you the whole time in the next room over," Tessa reminded, though it didn't do much to settle her racing mind and heart.

"The door's unlocked from the outside, but not inside," the detective said. "You can go in when you're ready. He'll only talk to you, but we'll be watching and listening to every word."

Ellie clenched her fist and took in deep, shaky breaths. The prospect of moving herself forward and through the door left her paralyzed.

She couldn't do it.

But she had to.

Her legs somehow carried her a few steps forward, but she stopped and turned around again.

"Hey, Freya?" She asked in a small voice. Her eyes slowly rose from her shoes to find her friend looking back at her expectantly. "Remember when you said you wouldn't go to prison for me?"

Freya's quiet chuckle of surprise would have brought a smile to Ellie's lips, had she not been so tense. Her friend stepped forward between Joe and Tessa and secured her hands just below Ellie's shoulders.

"Tell that fucker who you are."

Ellie looked from Freya to Joe and Tessa, who both gave nods of approval. Even though they were shrouded in doubt, their gentle smiles filled her with what she needed to turn the knob and step through the door. But as soon as the latch clicked shut, she froze. The room felt ten degrees colder than it was on the outside, and chills ran down her spine. It was too late to run, even if she wanted to.

Her hand slowly fell from the knob and she turned around, though she couldn't bring herself to look up from the floor. A short, snide laugh sounded from a few feet away, leaving her feeling helpless and weak again. With trembling shoulders, she forced herself to look across the room, but she could not meet the sinister eyes she knew were glaring back at her.

"I knew you'd come, Anna."

The voice she had not heard in nearly nine months stabbed her like a hundred knives. Her breath caught in her lungs, and she could not release it. Even though His hands and feet were chained to a hook in the floor, she feared He would break out at any second and strangle the life out of her.

My name is Ellie.

Her lips parted as she attempted to find her voice, but all she could manage was to choke back gasps of terror.

Ann—Ellie.

The words shoved themselves back down her throat. The more she tried to swallow her fear, the more it threatened to overcome her. Finally, she managed to push it out, though it did not carry the power she hoped for.

"M-my name is E-Ellie."

Her unintentional hesitation made her cower. The memories of His palm slapping the skin on her face and His fists connecting with her ribs felt like physical marks imprinted on her body. At that moment, she was certain of two things that absolutely terrified her: He still controlled her, and this was a mistake.