Please come home. Or at least, let me know you’re okay.
I love you,
Ethan
The Letters
I read all of them.
There were dozens, spanning the entire eleven months since Emily’s disappearance. In the early ones, Ethan sounded confused and heartbroken. In the middle ones, he sounded angry. In the most recent ones, he sounded resigned—like he’d accepted that she was gone.
But there was something else in the letters. Something I didn’t understand.
In one letter, Ethan mentioned a “secret” he’d been keeping for Emily. In another, he wrote about a “promise” he’d made. In a third, he wrote:
“I know you didn’t mean to hurt us. I know you thought you were doing the right thing. But you weren’t. You lied to us, Emily. To all of us. And I don’t know how to forgive you for that.”
I didn’t understand what he meant. What secret? What promise? What lie?
