Traveling back to treegap was easier than I thought. The questions that were asked were about Winnie, not me, and her mother was surprisingly heartbroken to see her go.
Ms. Foster curled up beside me on the couch, burying her head in my lap like I was her Aunt and not the other way around. Mr. Foster put a hand on my shoulder.
"Willow, may I see you in my office?" He asked and his wife gave him a look. "When you're finished with my wife, of course."
I nodded and eventually Ms. Foster got up, exiting the room. I made my way through the pocket doors to my uncle's office.
"Willow, I know my daughter. Winnie wouldn't just run off on her own, not like this." He sighed, and I took a deep breath. "Was it a boy, maybe? Or did she find some other family, some people who treat her better than us? You must help us, Willow. We love our daughter, we want what's best for her, we just...we have a hard way of showing it, don't you see?"
"Mr. Foster, I see more than you think."
"You've got to help us get her back."
"And," I continued. "If you love your daughter like you say you do, you let her stay where she is. She's taken care of there, she's loved, and whether or not you want to believe it, she's happy."
"I refuse to believe it, Willow!" He slammed his hands down on the desk and I had to keep my body from flinching. "Who are you to tell me my daughter is happy, is taken care of?"
"You have to let her go sometime!" I yelled back at him. "And it's now, rather than later. Please, I beg of you, leave her be."
I exited the room then, before he could recoil, and went to the bedroom I shared with Winnie.
It was empty without her. The two of us shared everything, even the same bed. As i laid down in it, I regretted drinking from the spring. Seventeen was too young to be condemned to a life of solitude-a life it looked like I would be leading for a while now. Maybe I would find Miles one day and we could pick up where we left off, but the world was a big place and it was unlikely that he would ever return to Treegap.
Besides, I wasn't the kind of girl who would spend my life waiting.
If things went according to plan they would leave tonight and I would leave the next day, maybe go back to New York.
I fell asleep like that, with visions of the city in my head, and woke up the next morning with screams ringing in my ears.