Flashback: Jas’s Time with the Friend's Family
As they sit around the fire one evening after their birthday, Ivy Mae and Roman are talking quietly about the family they just met, and it reminds Jas of the two months they spent with their friend’s step-aunt after Crystal disappeared.
“It was supposed to be a safe place,” Jas begins hesitantly. Ivy Mae looks at them, concern creasing her brow.
“She drank,” Jas continues. “A lot. Most days, she’d just sit in that recliner, staring at the TV like a zombie. But then sometimes… sometimes she’d snap out of it, and she’d be full of questions.”
“What kind of questions?” Roman asks gently.
Jas’s voice lowers. “Weird ones. Paranoid stuff. Like, ‘Why’s the government watching me?’ or ‘Are you hiding something from me?’ She had this way of looking at you, like she could see straight through you. It was terrifying.”