Changed Time

Chapter Twenty-One

I had to take a few steps back, away from Paige, away from Sophie, away from what I had just heard.

Paige was one of the murderer's victims.

She had gotten away.

Her sister was following the murderers.

Paige had been lying to me this entire time.

"So why are you still here, Paige?" I asked, my voice emotionless. "If these guys took you, why the hell wouldn't you run once you escaped?"

"Because I thought they had my sister!" Paige yelled. "They said that they had Mia, and that if I didn't listen to them, that they'd hurt her!" There were tears in her eyes, and I almost felt bad for what I'd said. "I‒I thought that they still had her, so I've been trying to find them. But ever since you and I went to the warehouse‒"

"The shoe. That was your sister's shoe." It all made sense now. Why, since we went there, she had been so jumpy, guarded, more than usual. "You knew this entire time that your sister was here, why didn't you tell me? I could have helped you, Paige. We could have helped you!"

"I thought she was with the murderers. I thought that they were keeping her alive for some sick reason, because I hadn't had a vision of her." She was just letting the tears run from her eyes, her voice was full of pain and guilt and basically every emotion out there. She stares at me, "Drew, every night, I tried to prepare myself‒I tried to prepare myself for seeing her. Seeing my thirteen year old sister murdered, knowing that I wouldn't be able to do anything about it." She finally wiped her eyes, but she continued to stare at me with those gray eyes. The gray eyes that were no longer guarded by an army or a wall. "The first time we met. In that vision. I thought that that was going to be the night she died, but instead you were there."

"Why did you want me to be here?" Sophie asked. Her voice was soft, sweet as always. Full of sympathy. "If you weren't here for Jamie's murder, then‒"

Paige shook her head. "No, I was here for Jamie's murder. I had a vision of her while I was home. So I drove up here, but when I got to the warehouse, they were still here." She closed her eyes, and Sophie put her hand in Paige's, encouraging her to continue. "They caught me, said they'd been waiting for me to show up, like, like they knew I was coming. They shoved me in the truck, told me that they had to do something. So the twin with the green eyes, I called him Greeny, watched me while Beard and the other twin, Bluey, went back into the warehouse." She was starting to break down. "They came out, and Bluey was hauling something out." She looked up at Sophie. "It was Jamie." She broke, the tears were spraying out of her eyes, and she covered her face with her hands. "I'm so sorry, Sophie."

Sophie bit her lip, tears were slowly sliding down her cheeks. She let go of Paige's hand and stood there, frozen.

I stepped closer to Sophie and wrapped her in my arms. "It's okay," I whispered. Paige looked up at us, and I caught her eye. She looked broken, like she didn't know what to do. I reached down with one hand and she took it. I gave her a small smile, and she gave my hand a small squeeze.

"It's okay."

Though I didn't know which girl I was talking to.