"I'll be here. For as long as you need me."
I remember Carter's voice so clearly that I can at least pretend he's speaking to me. He didn't say 'forever,' though he could have. Carter doesn't believe the living should obsess over the dead or that the dead should talk to them, even when they can. I swallow and splash water onto my face. Get dressed. Just get dressed. Don't think about the rest of your life or whether or not you even want it.
Everyone I can remember was left in Between, and I've returned to a life full of strangers. I have two names, two houses, and two sets of family and friends who don't speak to each other. No one knows who left me in the woods or why I went missing. No one understands how I survived.
I'm trying not to waste this chance: if I can't remember who I was, I get to decide who I want to become. And life is getting better—except someone wanted to kill me. I'm beginning to suspect I wasn't his first victim, and if I don't speak up, I may not be his last.