The Love Built On Silent Lies

nor

lur of sound, harsh and unwelcome. My head throbbed, my body ached, every muscle protesting. I tr

ness I' d never heard before. "Ten years! Ten years of playing the dutif

e. Guilt. That was it, wasn't it

racked, filled with a raw, desperate yearning. "I wish..

nds, hidden beneath the hospital sheets, clenched into fists, my nails digging into my palms,

as choked with tears, filled with a profound shock and sorrow. "Aft

his voice laced with a cruel defiance. "It doesn't

usually calm and composed, was now shaking with rage. "Don't you dare speak of Elinor like tha

oesn't pity me, she doesn't treat me like some fragile porcelain doll. She'

a decade. And I was hearing it all, every raw, brutal word. This was the first time I' d ever hea

He hated me. He

my chest spread, consuming me. My heart, once a vibrant, beating thin

, heavy with unspoke

n and tired. They talked about the investigation, about getting justice for me, but they didn' t ment

voice trembling. "We'll go to the school, the police. No one gets to

le it. My resolve was cold, hard, unyielding. I wouldn' t let them fi

. I vowed it in my he

tark contrast to the lively boy who usually filled the house with his presence. His

ding. "Could you... could you go find him? Please? He won't listen to us,

on the mantelpiece, a picture of us as children, la

d, a soft, deliberate agreement. I would go

, surrounded by a group of rough-looking kids, a cloud of cigarette smoke hanging heavy in the air. Bryan, dressed in a crisp white shi

hed a bright red. He quickly dropped his cigarette, crushing it under