Chapter 8: Five Thousand Dollars

Sadie's apartment was over the clinic, and it smelled of antiseptic and old coffee.

She put me on her couch with a blanket and two cats.

I had not slept in a bed in four days.

I didn't sleep now either.

I sat with the urn on my knees and my phone face down on the cushion.

The video had four million views by midnight.

Somebody had found my name, and somebody had found the school.

By morning there were reporters outside the building.

Sadie pulled the blinds without a word.

She made eggs and put a plate on my knee, and she left the television off.

"You don't have to talk," she said.

"Thank you."

"I'm not being kind. I'm tired of being the only one who knows you're not lying."

She said it flatly and went to wash the pan.

Something tight in my chest let go a little.

Someone believed me, and I hadn't had to beg for it.

At nine, the email arrived.

It was from the law firm that handled the VanHorne family's affairs.

The letter was polite and brief.

Mrs. Rhoda VanHorne claimed that I had obtained twenty thousand dollars from her through fraud.

Keep reading free with an account. Start She Trusted a Fake Lie Detector, So I Left Her the Truth from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.