"what?"
he waited for the information to set in and stared at me quietly. I looked at him in disbelief. "but that doesn't -- it doesn't make sense," I exclaimed angrily. "I'm not crazy."
"believe it or not, you're not the only one who's said that," he replied coolly.
"no -- you don't understand -- I don't even know how I got here," I told him, desperately trying to get him to understand. "I can't be here. I shouldn't be here."
a mental asylum. why on earth would I be here, of all places?
but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Tessa, always taking care of me -- my nurse. Jaycen, always watching me -- probably the head of the place, or a doctor. the white gowns. the white walls. the white people, the white ghosts who could never give me a straight answer -- all patients.
Finn -- my cell mate.
"what do you remember?" the boy asked me, snapping me out of my thoughts.
I shook my head. "barely anything. I remember some parts of my life, but it's like there's this huge chunk that got ripped out of a book. like there's all these pages that I know I've read, but I don't remember what they said. and I don't know where to find the words."
"well, I'll bet you the answer to this whole mystery is in those missing pages," he said, matter-of-factly. after a moment's consideration, he added, "look. you seem like you got a good heart. and you're definitely different from the rest of these --" he looked at the other ghosts -- patients -- around us, "people. if you really want out, then I can help you."
at this, the weight on my heart lifted a little. "you can?"
he nodded. "tomorrow. 9 am sharp. be here. we'll talk."
that was my cue to leave. I nodded in gratitude, and stood up. maybe there was hope for me and Finn, after all.
as I walked away, I remembered something. turning around, I looked back at the boy, who was already looking at me. "wait. I don't even know your name."
he smiled for the first time, and something about it took me aback. "Kai," he said quietly.
"Kai," I repeated with a nod. "see you tomorrow, Kai. and thank you."