Perfect Imperfections

Chapter 16: A LETTER

30th June, 2010

Dear ................,

Whoever I actually address this letter to, please don't think much into it. I just want a place to rant, a place to express my anger because I am really overwhelmed and I need someone to listen. I need someone to know about my suffering. Even as I write this letter, I know I may end up tearing it into a million pieces and throwing them in the nearest trash bin. If by any miraculous chance, this letter manages to reach the police or any other concerned authority, I will deny everything I have written in this letter.

It's been two weeks since my best friend, Elaine Barker vanished from my own birthday party. I have not yet come to grips with the fact that I may never see Elaine again. By the time you are twenty years old, you already know what happens to girls who disappear more especially girls who disappear for two weeks. Everyone tells you that it gets better but no, it doesn't. It never gets better. You cry and cry until you have no choice but to muffle your cries with your own pillow. What's the use anyway? Crying will not bring Elaine back.

The entire town of Mattapan has searched for Elaine for the past two weeks but even the police are now losing hope. Craig and Gertrude Barker have been fervent in their efforts to find their daughter. They have appeared in all sorts of TV interviews, they have cooperated with the police and they have even created a Facebook page which is updated almost every hour with pictures of Elaine to convince Elaine's abductor that she is human -a loved daughter and a friend -my friend. My favorite picture on that Facebook page is the one where our faces are smeared with ice cream from one of our High-school parties.

I know they are not going to find Elaine anyway because my parents are protecting her abductors. My parents pretend that they support the efforts to find Elaine but in reality they don't want Elaine found because deep down, they know who's done it and they are protecting him. They are protecting their son.

I am so stupid. I was so busy dreaming about finally having a normal life that I did not see how much danger I was putting my best friend in. I pushed her into having fun at the party even when I could tell that she was tense. Her eyes were darting everywhere like a frightened bird.

The Houghton family is your normal, if not quintessential family. We are your typical next door neighbors. We participate in big charity events and help the struggling families in Mattapan. We are the first to attend church service on Sundays and we are at every social gathering there is. We will even bring you a pie or a casserole when your daughter is missing even though we are protecting her abductor.

The interior of this house has an ominous feel to it. The pale green walls of this house sag in protest. They want to burst into song and sing the atrocities of my parents. The wood paneled floors also creak in protest. They are equally tired of being accomplices to my family's dastardly deeds.

My family is very good at keeping appearances. Everyone envies our family. Alex, my naive but money minded boyfriend believes that he will be marrying into money but our money only serves to hide the deepest secrets. A secret so dark that my parents, Albert and Victoria Barker don't care that my best friend might be dead. I can't fault them though they are just fulfilling their role as parents.

The Houghton family built Mattapan. Maybe that was how my grandparents had initially planned it out to be. Jacob and Estephania Houghton did a great job building the town -not physically like by constructing buildings but economically. Before, it was just known for it's rampant gang activity hence earning it the nickname "murder-pan". It was highly ranked among the most dangerous neighborhoods in Boston. When they moved here ,they started the Mattapan Cathedral project and soon Mattapan became a source of low cost housing. In less than five years, Mattapan became highly populated with a mix of races; blacks, Caucasians, Asians and Haitians you name it.