Chapter 38: Lizzy — August 21, 2019 Summary

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

Lizzy arrives at the crumbling asylum building on August 21, 2019, her mind repeating “too late.” She checks the door for heat, finds it cool and wet, and turns the knob—it opens. Inside, the reception area is lit by candles arranged in a path leading to the basement door. Skink follows, whispering that the sister must be expecting them. Lizzy pulls out her gun and moves forward cautiously, stepping over fallen plaster, rotted rugs, and broken furniture. The floor is unstable, with burned-through timbers in places, and she warns Skink to be careful.

At the top of the basement stairs, the door stands open and candles line the stairway. Lizzy feels she is walking into a trap but descends anyway, remembering the old hospital beds, restraints, and ECT machine from her childhood. Skink follows reluctantly. The basement walls are spray-painted by vandals, with litter and broken glass scattered about. On the steel door leading to B West, someone has outlined a pentagram in red spray paint and written “The Devil Lived Here.” Lizzy pushes the door open.

More candles line the green cement hallway, which smells of rot, smoke, and mildew. Skink stops, saying he has a bad feeling, and Lizzy signals for him to stay behind. She creeps forward, trying not to crunch broken glass. She hears voices and a shriek—a girl in pain. Her heart races; she thinks Lauren is alive and that she isn’t too late. She passes an empty room, then reaches the procedure room—the same room where Gran’s body was found strapped to a bed. Candlelight flickers inside. A voice inside orders, “Hold still, or I’ll cut you.” Lizzy steps in, gun raised.

Inside, the room is full of candles and an overturned table with a camping lantern casting huge shadows. A girl sits in a chair, wrapped in a sheet so only the back of her head is visible. Beside her stands the monster—Lizzy’s long-ago sister—holding a blade in her right hand.

Key Events

Lizzy arrives at the asylum and finds the door unlocked, with candles forming a path to the basement.
She and Skink navigate the damaged, unstable floors of the reception area.
Lizzy descends to the basement, passing vandalized walls and a pentagram-marked steel door reading “The Devil Lived Here.”
She tells Skink to stay behind and proceeds alone down the candlelit hallway.
She hears a shriek and believes Lauren is still alive.
A woman’s voice threatens to cut someone inside the procedure room.
Lizzy enters and sees a sheet-wrapped girl in a chair and her sister holding a blade.

Character Development

Lizzy is driven by a desperate need to save Lauren, but she also acknowledges the possibility that she may have to kill the monster—her sister. Her internal monologue reveals a deep conflict: she feels kinship with her sister (“the only person I’d ever truly felt kinship with”), yet she is prepared to use lethal force. Her actions show both courage and recklessness; she ignores Skink’s warnings and her own instinct that this is a trap because she cannot abandon the rescue mission.

Skink serves as a cautious counterpoint, voicing his unease and stopping when his instincts scream danger. His loyalty keeps him following Lizzy, but he respects her signal to stay back, highlighting his trust in her judgment even when he disagrees.

The sister is presented as the antagonist, standing over a bound girl with a blade. Her actions and the setting—the same room where Gran died—reinforce her role as the monster Lizzy has been hunting.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Too Late / Not Too Late: Lizzy’s opening thought is “too late,” but the shriek gives her hope. The chapter plays with the tension between fatalism and the possibility of rescue.
Trap: Lizzy repeatedly senses she is being led into a trap, yet she proceeds. The candlelit path and open doors suggest deliberate staging by her sister.
Monster vs. Savior: Lizzy frames herself as the hero who must kill the monster, echoing the childhood book she and her sister wrote. The chapter forces her to confront whether she can actually do it.
Sister as Monster: The sister is explicitly called “the monster” and is positioned in the same room where Gran’s body was found, linking her to past violence.
Asylum History: The basement’s decay, the ECT machine, and the procedure room evoke the asylum’s brutal past, suggesting that the building itself is a character—an evil place that shaped the sisters’ lives.
Candlelit Path: The candles act as a guide, but also as a lure, reinforcing the trap motif.
Violence as Resolution: Lizzy’s plan, drawn from movies and her childhood book, is that the monster must die. The chapter sets up a violent climax.
Childhood Book Prophecy: Lizzy recalls that in their book, “the monster had to die,” foreshadowing the confrontation and suggesting that the sisters’ childhood stories are now playing out in reality.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter is the climactic confrontation. It brings Lizzy face-to-face with her sister, the monster she has been hunting, in the very room where their grandmother died. The chapter resolves the mystery of Lauren’s whereabouts—she is alive, but in immediate danger. It also forces Lizzy to confront the central question of the novel: can she kill her own sister to save the girl? The chapter’s setting, with its candles, pentagram, and decaying asylum, heightens the gothic horror and ties the present action to the building’s dark history. It sets up the final act, where Lizzy must choose between kinship and justice.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Lizzy ignore her instinct that the basement is a trap?

Lizzy is driven by the hope that Lauren is still alive. When she hears the shriek, she thinks, “I wasn’t too late! Lauren was alive!” This hope overrides her fear, and she feels she has no choice but to proceed. Her sense of kinship with her sister also compels her to face her, even though she knows it may be a trap.

2. How does the chapter use the asylum’s history to heighten the tension?

The basement is filled with remnants of the asylum’s brutal past—the ECT machine, the restraints, and the procedure room where Gran’s body was found. These details remind Lizzy (and the reader) of the violence that occurred there, making the current threat feel more sinister. The pentagram and “The Devil Lived Here” graffiti reinforce the idea that the place is evil, and that the sister is a product of this environment.

3. What does Lizzy’s recollection of the childhood book reveal about her mindset?

She remembers that in their book, “the monster had to die.” This shows that Lizzy has internalized a simple, violent solution to the problem of her sister. It also suggests that the sisters’ childhood stories have become a blueprint for their adult lives, and that Lizzy may be prepared to kill to end the cycle of violence.