The Disapperance of Alys

Another thing I found interesting about this story was Alys, and how she disappeared. I know she followed Primrose and Penny into the forest, but no one ever sees her or finds her or any of her remains. At the end of the story when Penny and Primrose are discussing the creature in the woods as they reflect on it, they are trying to determine whether or not they really saw, or that the creature was indeed real. As Penny says, "Sometimes I think that thing finished me off", Primrose responds with "It did finish that little one off, didn't it?." As if she wasn't really sure what happened to the little girl. Byatt writes in the story that she went into the woods, never to be seen again, but when Primrose and Penny are reading the book inside the country house, there are no mentions of the little girl that was never found. As Primrose and Penny struggle to determine whether or not the creature was real, maybe the question is was Alys really there, or was Alys more apart of their imagination than the worm was? Or was Alys real and the worm was fake? I guess we'll never know for sure what ever happened to Alys in the woods that day, but maybe it's best that we don't.