A Welcome Reunion

by Lucinda Berry

Janie wasn’t like other children, and I’d known that from the moment I laid eyes on her at the hospital. There was something wrong with her that no amount of mothering or loving could fix. I’d accepted that fact. Christopher never had. Even to this day. That’s because she’d always been his. She’d never truly been mine. But the two of them? It’d been love at first sight from the moment they met in the emergency room. He’d always been so much more than her doctor, and there was no severing that bond. Even after all this time had passed.

And it was true. Janie had been tied in a closet and fed dog food most of her life. Her multiple broken bones were what led Christopher to her in the first place. He’d done her surgery. It didn’t matter to me, though. She was broken beyond repair. It didn’t matter if she was born that way or her mother made her that way. Whatever was wrong with her, you could no longer fix it, and I didn’t feel sorry for her, even if everyone else did. “She killed my sister.” I gave the same response too. Just like him. And that’s where we always stopped. That was the impasse, and I had no desire to go there again right now.

“Sarah brought Caleb on the show to talk to Janie.” “Caleb? My nephew Caleb?” I asked in disbelief, as if there were any other Calebs we knew. He nodded solemnly. Caleb and Janie had something in common—they’d both seen his mom’s dead face. The paramedics found him lying on top of her. The neighbors all the way at the end of the street heard him screaming. It was a sound they said they’d never forget.

“So glad she’s been able to turn herself around from all that,” I said. Bitterness lined every word. The strange look hadn’t left his face. There was more. I knew him well enough to know when he wasn’t telling me something. “What is it?”

He exhaled slowly. “I know you haven’t read the book and don’t want to hear anything about what’s in it, but Janie’s working with a recovery coach, and part of her therapy is making amends to the people she hurt when she was young.” He paused, taking a deep breath to gather himself before continuing in a somber tone. “Janie said she was glad Sarah had Caleb on the show because she has a long list of people she’s making amends to, and he’s on it. You and me are the first people on the list. She kept saying she needed to clean up her side of the street.

He cut me off before I spiraled further. “I know that. Nobody said anything about us talking to her, but Hannah . . . she . . . she wants to meet with Cole.” He swallowed hard. “It sounds like they’ve already been talking.”

My baby? She was coming after my baby? Air whooshed violently in my ears. The world felt shaky underneath my feet. He was right. I should’ve sat down.

You’ve got to help me keep her from hurting Cole. I don’t care what anyone says about her or how many doctors she gets to give raving reviews about her miraculous recovery. She’s a sociopath, and people like her don’t stop hurting people.”

But Janie being evil? That was as real as it gets, and that’s what terrified me. She was back, and she was coming for my baby.

Seeing her had stirred up so many emotions. She was the last person I expected to run into today. Christopher, yes. I’d been half expecting him to show up in one of the places I’d been following Janie since I’d started doing it, but not Hannah.

I didn’t know how to stop Janie from hurting Cole any more than she did. I didn’t know how to stop her from hurting anyone, period. She was my first child sociopath. My first and only, because true psychopathy in a child is rare. But it dawned on me that I couldn’t say that about her anymore. She was no longer a child sociopath—she was an adult one. Ten times scarier.

“Cole, honey, she’s not your sister. I wasn’t even pregnant with you when we brought her home from the hospital, and you only lived together for a couple months when you were an infant. There’s no way you even remember her.” “Yes, I do! That’s not true,” he yelled. His fists clenched at his sides. “I’ve always remembered her. Not like a person, really. More like a feeling of somebody. And she’s that feeling. She’s the part of me that was missing.”

“Do you know how lonely it is without siblings? And then I find out I’ve had a sister this entire time? My whole life I’ve had a sister, and you’ve kept her a secret from me.” His voice wavered with emotion. Tears filled his eyes. I hadn’t seen him cry in years.

My head spun, trying to connect the dots. Nothing had seemed amiss with him. Absolutely nothing. He’d been his usual self. He still hugged me on his way to bed every night. It physically hurt to imagine him believing I’d do something so awful.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” she said. Her eyes flashed with anger, but before I could respond, she jerked her gaze from mine and focused it on Hank. “I told you she might do something like this.”

Janie flew across the room to stand next to him in solidarity and crossed her arms on her chest. “I’ve already filed a claim with Instagram to take down AlleyesonJanie, and if you don’t stop following me, I’m going to file a restraining order next.”

“This isn’t you?” She waved the phone in my face.

I whipped out my phone and pulled up Instagram. I found AlleyesonJanie almost immediately. The page looked as legit as any other catfisher account. She used my picture from the Women’s March for my profile so I looked like an activist. Pulled all the best photos from my real Instagram account, even downloaded old Facebook photos. And then I spotted the picture I’d supposedly posted a week ago. Everything stilled. The last photo was an elaborate collage taking up the entire wall of the closet in my guest bedroom. It was covered in newspaper clippings, timelines, court transcripts, and photos from her case.

I wasn’t going to lie. It made me look a bit obsessed, and maybe I was, but that wasn’t the problem. I’d never posted the photo anywhere. I’d never even shown anyone the wall. Nobody had seen it but me, because obviously, I knew how it looked. That only meant one thing—she’d been in my house.

“Hannah?” Shock first; then a smile spread wide across her face like she was happy to see me, almost as if she’d been expecting me. “What are you doing here?” I froze. Just like I’d done before when I saw her. But this was nothing like then. She tilted her head teasingly to the side. A playful smile in her eyes. I’d never forgotten that look. She’d been waiting for this. It was exactly what she wanted. She took a step toward me. She loved toying with me. Always had.

She stared at her hands clasped on the knife, and a wicked grin slowly covered her face. Pain—even her own—excited her.

“I had to do it, Piper. I had to. You don’t understand. I couldn’t let them run away together. At least that’s what he thinks they’re doing. I don’t know what she was going to do to him, though. What she’s been planning. Think about all the years she had to plot this, Piper. What if she killed him? Or tortured him? I couldn’t just stand by and let her hurt my son. I couldn’t take the chance. I just couldn’t.” I talked fast, repeating myself. “I know you don’t have kids, so you can’t understand, but you’ll do anything to save them. Absolutely anything. Even if it means sacrificing your own life. He—” She grabbed my forearm and squeezed hard to stop me. “I understand completely.” And then it registered. She wasn’t calling 911 either.

“You should get out of here before anyone comes,” I said, putting my arm around Piper’s shoulders. It was oddly comforting having her with me, but it was time for her to leave. “You don’t need to be any part of this.”

“That’s a terrible plan. There’s no way you get away with this.” I shook my head. “I’m not planning on getting away with this. I’m going to jail for sure.” That was the hardest part of the plan, but I meant what I said to Piper—you’ll do anything for your kids, including go to prison.

“That’s very Gone Girl of you,” Piper said, and I couldn’t help but laugh. “Unfortunately, it’s probably not going to take the investigators long to figure that one out either.” She took a deep breath, then pointed down the alley. The same direction she’d come from. “Go.”

“I said go. Get home to your family. They need you, and that’s who you did this for.” She motioned for me to leave again.

“Hannah, you have a family. That’s more important than anything else. To both of us.” She turned me around so we were facing each other. “Look at me. You have a child at home that needs you more now than he’s ever needed you. He’s going to be wrecked by this, and you’ve got to help him recover. You have to be there to walk him through it.” She pointed to Janie’s body. “You can’t go to jail, but I can.” “You have a life too,” I cried, pulling her close to me, “and it’s just as important. Who’s going to save the world if you’re in prison? Huh? Think of all the people that need you.”

Suddenly, she took off her hoodie and pulled it over her head. For a second, I thought she was giving it to me, but she pushed me aside and straddled Janie’s body with both legs instead. Janie’s eyes were still open. There was a chance she was still breathing. Piper took her shirt and wiped the handle of the knife, erasing all my prints. Then, before I knew what she was doing and could stop her, she jerked it out in one swift movement. It released a torrent of blood and a violent scream from Janie. Piper gripped the knife in her hands just like I’d done moments before, and just as Janie opened her mouth to scream again, she plunged it back into her. “Get out of here, Hannah!”

“People aren’t dogs.” “They are when they act like savages.” I wouldn’t feel sorry about what I’d done, and he couldn’t make me. Maybe that made me like her in the end, but he could think whatever he wanted. So be it. I’d protected the one I loved and saved the world from a monster. It was finally over. She couldn’t hurt us or anyone else ever again.