"I've missed you so much," Mom whispers into my hair, pulling me into her even more, "I can't believe you're here. It doesn't feel real."
"I feel like I'm dreaming." I mumble into her shirt.
She laughs and sniffles.
"Please don't cry, you're going to make me cry." I tell her, since I am holding back tears that I've been holding back for so long now.
A police officer comes over to tell us to head inside and a group of other officers surround us to block us from the cameras.
We go inside and shut the door on all of the reporters and paparazzi.
I look around the house and a wave of sadness washes over me.
It looks exactly like how it did when I saw it on the news: photographs of me everywhere, various 'missing child' posters pinned to the walls and mess everywhere.
It feels weird being here, surrounded by photos of me that I don't remember being taken. I feel like I've died and gone to my own funeral.
"Ky!"
I look to the sofa and see Ike scrambling to his feet. He throws his arms around me and starts sobbing into my shirt. I also begin sobbing, having missed him so much.
Once I start crying I can't stop. I've opened the floodgates and they're not going to close for a while.
"Dad's at work right now, but I'm sure he'll come home when he hears the news." Ike tells me, releasing me from the hug.
"He still lives here, after what he did?"
Ike looks confused.
"He beat me half to death in the kitchen, how do you not remember?" Now I'm getting confused. Did that even happen? "He got mad at you for being with that goth kid and beat me."
Ike shakes his head.
"No, he got mad because he caught me getting high with Firkle and grounded me. That's all that happened." He frowns.
Why did I have a flashback/dream/nightmare of it then? Was it even a flashback or was it just some kind of nightmare based off the event? I guess I'll never know.
Ike spots Heidi behind me and gasps.
"You're that girl who went missing! Girl, there are conspiracy theories aboot your disappearance. Shane fricking Dawson did a video surrounding you!" He grabs his phone and loads up the video to show her the thumbnail, "you should totally do an interview with him at some point."
A semi-awkward silence falls over us as a cop walks into the room.
"I'm going to need to talk to you, Mr. Broflovski. We can do it here instead of going to the station if that makes you feel more comfortable."
"Sure. We can go to my room."
The officer nods and I lead him up to my bedroom.
I'm shocked for a second when I enter. It's exactly how I left it. Even my trash and dirty laundry hasn't been touched.
I sit on the edge of my bed and the officer sits on my desk chair. He pulls out a small audio recorder, sets it on the desk and then pulls out a notebook and pen.
"For the benefit of the tape, I am speaking with Kyle Broflovksi who returned to his home on the 27th of May," he announces before turning towards me, "So, did you run away or did you get kidnapped?"
"My memory is a little hazy," I admit, hoping this doesn't ruin the investigation, "but I think I was kidnapped along with eight other people."
The officer raises his eyebrows at the number and notes something down.
"I can name them if you like."
The officer raises his eyebrows again and nods.
"Well, Heidi was there, obviously. Then there was Esther, Wendy, Butters, Nichole, some girl I didn't know and..." I trail off, a wave of sadness passing over me, "and Annie who got killed by Bebe, who is also dead."
When he's finished taking notes on the names, the cop looks back up at me. I'm trying to hold back tears at the thought of leaving Annie behind in that hell hole.
I grab a tissue from my nightstand and press them to my eyes, praying I don't cry in front of this guy.
He pats my knee awkwardly to try and comfort me.
"Were you close to Annie?" He asks gently.
"Sort of. She felt like a little sister to me," I feel kinda stupid admitting this to a stranger, "she got shot and I tried to carry her out of there but when we got caught and tied up she was taken from me. If you find her, please make sure you let me know. I want to arrange a funeral if her mother can't."
The cop nods and makes another note.
"So, the question everyone and their mother is wondering, where have you been all this time?"
"It sounds totally fake, but across the street."
"Huh?"
"The Marsh house. Underground," I explain, "in some place they call 'the dollhouse'. It's huge. There's still people there. You need to find them."
The cop clicks his pen and places it down on the desk on top of his notebook.
He excuses himself and walks out of the room, closing the door behind him. I hear him talking to someone, presumably to someone on his walkie-talkie, and he tells them the address of Stan's house.
The cop walks back into the room and sits back down at the desk. He picks up his notebook and pen, but puts them away in his pocket.
"Heidi's story matches up to yours and since you've both been away for so long without meeting each other before you went missing, we're going to investigate the house across the street."
"The trap door is in the garage." I inform him before he leaves.
"Thanks, kid." The officer tips his hat slightly and leaves the room.
I go back downstairs and sit on the sofa beside Ike, not knowing what to do with myself.
I could go find my phone and text David or Scott, or I could go on my computer in my bedroom, but I don't want to leave my family just yet. It feels too weird to leave them, even if I'm only in my room.
"Holy crap, that was quick!" Ike jumps off the chair and runs to the window, where red and blue lights are flashing on the cop cars, "Jesus Christ, are they already making an arrest?"
"Ike! Language," mom scolds, joining him at the window, "oh my gosh, that's Sharon's husband. And her son? Wow, I never would've thought they had anything to do with it."
She gives me a quick glance before turning back to the window. She twitches the curtain open a little more and frowns.
"I think they're going to the garage. Were you in the garage the whole time?" She asks, horrified.
I nod, which makes her look even more horrified. I mean, I was basically under her nose the whole time.
There's a loud knock on the front door which makes all of us jump. The door is unlocked for the cops to come in and out, so the door swings open and seven people walk in.
Three of the people are police officers, but the other four are people from the dollhouse.
Wendy, Esther, Nichole and the girl I never learned the name of. She's the one in the indigo dress who bumped into me one time.
One of the officers is carrying Annie and another one is carrying Bebe.
Once again, I break down crying over her. I didn't even know her surname but I felt like she was a younger sibling.
"We found the body," the cop who questioned me gestures to her, "She was shoved in a closet upstairs."
I take the body from the officer and cry into her shoulder. If this was a fairytale, my tears would bring her back to life. If only this was a fairytale.
"We need to take her away for examination," the cop tells me, nodding at the officer to take her back, "unfortunately it may be several weeks until we can give you information, possibly even longer since you're not family and we'd have to contact her family."
"I understand." I wipe my tears away with my sleeve and take a deep breath to compose myself.
The cops leave and take the girls with them, presumably to take them back to their concerned parents.
Around half an hour later, my dad returns home. Since all of my family is now home, I decide to explain what happened to me in the dollhouse. They listen in silence and hang onto my every word, the perfect audience.
I leave out the part about having sex with Stan and instead tell them I took it when he took his jacket off. I think that story is a bit TMI to tell your parents and little brother.
When I'm finished, I realise Heidi has taken my hand and is squeezing it. I hadn't noticed so I guess I was just really in the story telling zone.
"I'm glad you're out of there. That place sounds super creepy." Ike gives me a quick hug.
"Me too." I smile.
But a part of me is not happy that I'm back. Part of me wants to be back there with Stan.