Gone Girl 3

Chapter 3

I've been staying in this hospital bed for four days already, I'm feeling better physically.

But it's a miracle I'm alive considering how wrecked my car is.

My mom is sitting quietly near me, waiting for me to finish eating my soup. It's not that bad, I'd expect worse food from the hospital.

Three days left and I'll be free.

But not from him.

"I saw the box on the floor..." my mom says awkwardly. "You didn't open it?"

"I was about to... but you know what happened next," I say still feeling weird to talk about it, but I guess everyone knows. They saw the house. It was a mess.

"I brought it today," she says as she searches through the bag she brought for me with clothes and well, the box that almost got me killed.

I can also blame Cyprian for that. I still haven't heard anything about him and didn't talk to Nicole. I need to tell her that he is a psycho as soon as possible.

She opens the box for me and puts it on my lap.

"It's going to hurt you, I know," she says disappointed by herself.

"I don't think anything can hurt me anymore," I reply disappointed. I know what to expect already.

Maybe Cyprian is less of a psycho but he will never be my brother. I'll never accept him as one.

I dig through the box and I notice a letter from Atlanta's penitentiary.

It's from Derek Forster... and the date is June 25, 2020. Two weeks after he was arrested and I sent him a letter asking him to forgive me.

I thought he never replied... how stupid I am. He told me he did and I never believed him. But it's just one letter and why the hell does my mom have it?

I take it back. Everything can still hurt me. My heart aches knowing that she hid it from me when I needed it the most. She knew how much I cried over him when he wouldn't reply, she held me at night. Sometimes she would sleep everyday in my bed and try to comfort me.

I pick up the letter. This would have been more comforting than her lies.

"Why?" I ask with my eyes filled with tears.

"I didn't want you to cry over a man who was in prison and wouldn't have been out soon... I didn't trust him. It felt right," she explains but I shake my head in disbelief.

"You took away my choice. I deserved to read this letter. I deserved closure," I say devastated. I realize the letter is opened. "You read it." I scoff.

"I am sorry. I shouldn't have done it. I needed to know what I was throwing away."

"Yet you kept it," I retort.

"It would have made you more sad. It's the only letter he sent you and it was right after he was arrested," she explains as I read the letter.

06/25/2020
To Veronica Reeves
2932 Oakridge Lane, Atlanta
From: Derek Forster
Atlanta penitentiary

Veronica,
This is the only time I will reply to you. I don't want letters from you. Stop reaching out to me. I will never accept your visits. I genuinely don't want to see you. I don't love you anymore. Please, move on.

Derek

A few tears roll my cheeks. My mom is right, if I would have seen this back then it would have ruined me. I would have relapsed so badly. Derek wanted to hurt me so I would stay away from him, but because of my mom the letter never got to me. A few months ago he said he never stopped caring about me and his letter was a lie, he was glad I never actually read it.