Chapter 25 - The Unexpected Letter
A week passed in absolute tranquility. The summer heat settled into a comfortable rhythm of warm afternoons and cool, breezy evenings. Grace was spending more and more time outside, her confidence growing with every step she took without hesitation. I had almost completely put the midnight encounter with Clara out of my mind, assuming she had finally accepted her fate and fled the city to lick her wounds elsewhere.
Then came the mail delivery on a Tuesday afternoon.
Among the usual junk mail and utility bills was a thick, cream-colored envelope bearing no return address. My name was handwritten across the front in shaky, unfamiliar cursive. Frowning, I carried the mail inside and set it on the kitchen island, staring at the envelope with a sudden, uneasy prickle at the back of my neck.
Grace was out in the backyard watering her tomato plants, humming a tune to herself. I picked up the letter, grabbed a letter opener, and sliced the top open.
Inside was a single sheet of heavy parchment paper. As I unfolded it, a small, faded photograph slipped out and fluttered down onto the counter. I looked down at the photo, and my breath caught in my throat.
It was a picture of Clara and me when we were little girls, sitting on the porch of our childhood home, smiling gap-toothed grins at the camera, our arms wrapped around each other’s shoulders. Written across the bottom of the photo in black marker were the words: *Remember when we were invincible?*
My hands trembled slightly as I picked up the letter and began to read the neat, desperate handwriting inside.
*“Natalie,*
*If you are reading this, it means I have finally run out of places to hide. They came yesterday—the sheriff’s deputies. They cleared out the house, changed the locks, and threw everything we owned onto the lawn. Tyler has gone. He packed a bag in the middle of the night and left, refusing to even look at me. I am writing this from a cheap motel room on the highway, listening to the hum of the traffic and realizing, with terrifying clarity, that I am entirely alone.*
*You warned me, Natalie. You told me that cruelty has a price, and that building an empire on the backs of people you step on only ensures that your fall will be absolute. I laughed at you then. I thought you were weak because you chose kindness over power. But looking back from the ruins of my life, I see the truth.*
May you like
*I don't expect forgiveness. I don't even expect you to read this to the end. But I wanted you to know that the monster you despised finally broke into pieces. I hope you and Grace have found the peace I was too blind to value.*
*— Clara”*
