I walk into Ellie's apartment. Ava and Bailey follow me in absolute silence. I wonder if they also feel confused and overwhelmed with emotions.
Seeing Ryan after all these years. Hearing their mother was responsible for all our misfortune. The relief of Ellie still being alive. I feel a lot of anger at this moment. I know it is not the brother's fault that their mother is a monster but I do feel angry that they knew she was a monster and didn't tell us. We knew she was a difficult person to be around. We didn't know the extent of her cruelty.
I walk to the table where we were all seated a while ago. I turn to look at the other two women.
"How do you feel?" I ask Bailey.
"Shaken."
She pulls out a chair and takes a seat.
"I knew Marcella was evil. Brandon would not believe me that night. I saw her next to the road. She laid pegs across the road so we would get a flat tyre. When Brandon pulled over, she injected him in his neck. I got out of the car and fled into the woods. She was searching for me all night. At one point I got back to Brandon but he didn't know who I am. He didn't even know who he was. I knew she drugged him to force his memory loss.
I was still trying to help Brandon when she came back. That is my last memory. I now know that she injected us both. I had to have wandered into the bushes when Brandon wandered down the road.
My only real question is, why leave her son next to the road?" Bailey tells in her soft voice.
I take a seat next to Bailey and place my hand on hers.
"I am sure if you could find out who took Brandon to another hospital you will find that it was Marcella." Bailey looks at me and nods.
Ava takes a seat and stares at the table in front of her.
"I do not know if it is possible to process all the shock we had to suffer today" She rubs her hand over her eyes. "It has been a real rollercoaster."
"We should get some rest. Let's take a few hours to shower and sleep. We will be in a better frame of mind to discuss later on." I get up from the table and walk towards the doorway. I turn back to look at the other two. "Please don't leave the apartment without letting me know."
I go to one of the bedrooms. I didn't plan on staying over but I am way too tired to go back home today. I take a shower and crawl onto the bed, only covered in the towel from the guest room. I fall asleep immediately.
*****
I wake up hearing voices in the living room. I hear a woman speaking and then the voice of a man. They both talk in normal conversation tones. I get up and wrap my towel tighter around my body. I open the wardrobe in the guest bedroom. There are clothes neatly hung in the closet. I take out a pair of black comfortable pants and a white button-down blouse. I also get a pair of black pumps from the closet. I smile at the notion that we are all still the same size. We use to wear each other's clothes all the time.
I exit the room and join the others in the living room. Ava and Bailey made themselves comfortable on the double seater couches. Adrien is sitting on a single seater. I curl up in the other single seater.
"We are talking about going back to our jobs and lives." Bailey tells me quickly. She looks a lot calmer than she did the entire time we were here.
"Yes, I guess we will have to." I look from Adrien to Bailey.
"We have security detail on each of you. You will be safe. We cannot change things too quickly. We don't want Marcella to find any of you." Adrien adds to Bailey's statement.
"It looks like Greyson and Ellie found each other again?" I half state and half ask Adrien.
"Yes. In the time Ellie was in hospital they could talk a lot about the past and have come to the realisation that they would never have broken up if it was not for my mother's interference." Adrien says. His hands are clasped in front of him, elbows resting on his knees. He looks a bit embarrassed.
"That is the case for all of us." I tell him. Ignoring his embarrassment.
"Rachel, it is different for each of us. Marcella practically abducted Ellie and left her in a foreign country without a passport or any money to get home. This was after she forced Greyson to break ties with Ellie." Adrien looks at Ava.
"After we saw what happened to Brandon and Bailey, we realised that the only way we could protect the lot of you is to show Marcella that we were not having any contact with you. I know it sounds ridiculous, Rachel, but you were not there to see how Marcella reacted every time she heard one of your names. We sat down with her and promised not to contact any of you. If we had known she already executed her plans we would have intervened for sure."
I can only nod at him. I do not have the energy to demand explanations for everything that happened.
"I would like to leave for my home this afternoon" I tell Adrien. He nods.
"Everything is set for you to go home. I will let your driver know that you would like to leave this afternoon."
"May I go with you?" Ava asks me. "My home is more or less in the same direction as yours. I would like to get back to my life as soon as possible." Ava seems nervous to be left alone with Adrien.
Bailey also says that she wants to leave that same day.
Adrien gets up and gives each of us a look.
"It was really good to see all of you. I will tell the driver to come by this afternoon to take you back to your homes. I have given Ava my number. Please do not hesitate to contact me for absolutely anything you may need. Even if you just feel scared to be alone somewhere. We have enough resources to protect all of you. We just need to know where you are and what you see."
Adrien leaves the apartment and everything goes dead silent.
For a few moments it remains this way before Bailey asks the question, we were all wondering about.
"Do you think we can just go back to our lives like nothing happened here? I mean, the basis of all my decisions have been a lie. It feels a bit like everything that happened in the last ten years was fake. A failed test." She looks at us. Her eyes big and questioning.
"It does feel that way doesn't it. The only problem is that all those decisions you made that was based on lies, were real life decisions. Those real-life decisions formed the life you are leading today. This only means that even if it feels fake, it is still very real. If you have the means not to go back to the life you had before today, I guess you are lucky. I for one, need to go back because I need the income and I have responsibilities." I can see that Bailey understands but that is not what she wanted to hear.
Ava stretches out on the couch she is sitting on.
"I do not have anything to pack. I didn't even think I would have slept over last night." She looks down at the clothes she is wearing. "But I am sure as hell keeping this outfit."
We all chuckle at that thought. The three of us had the same idea when we woke up. Even if we all slept in different guest rooms, all the closets in the rooms were overfilled with clothes Ellie probably never even wore. The jean and cardigan that Ava is wearing looks very soft and comfortable. Ellie had a lot of really expensive clothes.
We talk a little more about things that never made sense that now suddenly makes a lot more sense. That one woman could ruin the lives of her own sons and the women they loved; it was madness.
The driver arrives shortly after midday. We take the few things we have to take with us. In the car we sit in silence as the driver starts to drive out of the city.
I am glad to leave. I am now too old to stay on rollercoasters like this. I have grown used to my peace and quiet.
And then I am sad to leave. I didn't have time to have a personal conversation with Ryan. I still have unanswered questions.