“From what I can gather, they’ve already spoken to a professor at your grad school.”

“The school didn’t know,” I said. I’d enrolled as Olivia Meyer, no Arden tied to my name.

A pause. “They did, Olivia. They knew.”

My ears started buzzing.

Jonah. It had to be Jonah. Had he known all along? Had he sought me out because of it? Not granting me special attention because of what he saw in me but because of his interest in something else. The pull of the story. Something to unravel, to be close to.

“Listen,” she continued, “they were digging through some incidents in your past—things they shared with me in the hope that it would inspire a quote from us in response.” Another pause. “Do you want to talk about those incidents?”

I remained silent. Felt everything tensing inside me.

When I didn’t respond, she continued, “I told them I could not comment on an active investigation, but they are obviously going to be coming out with something—the connection between you and Sean Coleman is undeniable. I can only help you if you help me here.”

But all I could do was imagine the people who had commented. My colleagues sharing rumors? Dr. Cal’s receptionist protecting her job by providing an anonymous statement? Had Dr. Cal himself tried to spin his role into something that would make his career—as it had for others in the past? Had Bennett cracked, giving them something?

It could’ve been anyone. It could’ve been everyone. This was how it started; I felt myself shutting down. The way to handle this was by not speaking. The way to handle this was by leaving.

“I know this is a lot all at once, but you’ve got to say something,” Detective Rigby said, her voice growing tense. “They mentioned some violent outbursts in your record?”

It was related to the PTSD, the therapist back then had said. It explained what had happened to that girl in the gym locker room. And it explained what had happened to that guy in college. I’d been trapped. That’s what the detective wanted to hear. She wanted my story—but I knew better by now. I knew what could happen when you turned it over to someone else.

“My friend died last night,” I said through gritted teeth. “Did you know that? Elyse Ferano, overdose. So excuse me if I’m having trouble concentrating on something that happened almost a decade ago. Excuse me for thinking it matters. This is what people do. They tell a story. It doesn’t matter what happens to us after. It doesn’t matter if it’s even true, as long as it’s a good enough story.”

She waited a beat before responding. “You want to keep your past secret, I get that. Is that what happened back then?”

And there it was: a motive. Had I killed to protect my past? Subconscious or not, how badly did I want to keep that part of my life buried?

Here, right here, was where everything changed.

“I gave you everything,” I said. “I told you who I was, didn’t hide my connection to Sean Coleman. Doesn’t that count for anything?”

“Maybe the phone isn’t the best way—”

“No,” I said, “it’s really not.” I disconnected the call before she could say anything more. I dropped my head into my hands, counted the rapid beats of my heart, waiting for it to slow.

Everyone wanted the story, and oh, this was a good one. Proof of the dark side of humanity. Of hidden pasts. Of the mysteries buried at the heart of other people.

Finally, I took out my cell, scrolling to Bennett’s text. I found the information for his sister, Mackenzie Shaw.

The call rang until it went to her voicemail. “Hi, my name is Olivia Meyer, I’m a friend of Bennett’s,” I began. “I think I’m in trouble.”

———

I DIDN’T LEAVE MY office again until the end of the day. Where was there left to go? I focused on my work, jumping with each ding of an email.

My stomach sank when my boss’s message came through. There was a single line: Is this true?—with a link to some article below.

It didn’t matter whether the article was true. The fact that it existed was all that really counted.

I read it despite myself. Just so I could prepare. Fight back. Because that’s all that could happen from here. This was the truth that currently existed—and so anything that came after would have to chip away at all that came before.

Everyone wants to be a part of the story. Sell your words, your friends, your soul.

Watch what happens.

Be careful. There’s no going back.

OBSERVER ONLINE

August 26, 2020

Posted: 3:47 P.M.

From National Icon to Person of Interest: The Girl from Widow Hills Emerges Twenty Years Later at the Center of a Murder Investigation

By Alice Perry

She was a national icon. Twenty years ago, Arden Olivia Maynor was rescued from the underground drainage system that ran through the terrain of Widow Hills, Kentucky. Her case sparked national interest when it was reported that the six-year-old girl had been sleepwalking and was swept away during a flash flood. The story gripped the public interest, until thirty-two-year-old Sean Coleman spotted her hanging on to a drainage grate in the middle of a wooded area, three days after she’d gone missing.

It seemed like a happy ending, but tragedy has struck nearly twenty years later.

In the early hours of Saturday morning, Sean Coleman was found dead on the border of a property in Central Valley, North Carolina. According to public records, that property is owned by seventy-year-old Rick Aimes, and the neighboring property belongs to twenty-six-year-old Olivia Meyer.

Olivia Meyer and Arden Olivia Maynor share the same birthday, per public records.

Detectives on the case declined to comment on the connection or to confirm whether Olivia Meyer and Arden Olivia Maynor are indeed one and the same. However, several sources report that, in fact, they are.

After the ten-year anniversary, Arden Olivia Maynor ceased to exist, becoming Olivia Meyer, according to several sources. Though the name-change file was sealed, administrators at Central Carolina University had been aware of her true identity since before her enrollment.

“We were made aware. There had been some flags in her file. With the sleepwalking and a few incidents on her record, we had to be sure we weren’t putting any other students at risk, especially when considering living arrangements,” says Arlene Shore, director of admissions. “Though I can’t say there have been any incidents in her time here. She was a good student, as far as her records indicate.”

But those who had one-on-one contact with her had other things to say. A professor from her graduate program who asked to be quoted anonymously tells us, “She was a troubled young woman. Very smart. A gifted liar.”

Olivia Meyer currently works in health care administration at Central Valley Hospital, where she’s been for the past two years. It’s not clear how much contact she and Sean Coleman have had over the years. Most colleagues declined to comment, though one agreed to be quoted anonymously: “It seems like too big a coincidence. A man killed in the middle of the night outside the home of a girl once famous for sleepwalking?”

There are far more questions than answers at this time. As of the posting of this article, Olivia Meyer could not be reached for comment.