*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧—chapter four: letters from an unknown past
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August 31, 2015 Hackett House Upstate New York, New York
CASSIDY HASN'T VISITED THE BASEMENT SINCE YESTERDAY. Travis had warned him that there were consequences if he ever went back down there. So, he didn't. He was just curious and Travis never let him do shit. He feels like he has to defy the man because of it.
It's almost noon and the boy was still upstairs. He had locked himself in his room again like he always did. He was constantly bored up here though. And that was what prompted him to look through his closet.
Nothing was out of the ordinary. Not anything he could see, at least. He had his clothes like his jeans and sweatshirts on hangers on the bottom shelf. He had his old stuffed animals resting on top of the shelf as well as an old Dell desktop PC from 2001 that had Windows XP installed on it. The top shelf of his closet had the spray bottles for cleaning and his feather duster, as well some rags to wipe off the sprays, and his different bedspreads.
There was a box in the right side of the top shelf in his closet, tucked behind a few spare decor items for his room that couldn't fit on the walls. Somehow he's never noticed it before. He moves the decor out of the way and pulls the box down and sets it on the floor.
Sitting beside it, he removes the lid and sticks a hand into the box, taking out its contents. It was just a stack of five letters. All of them either addressed to him or Travis. The envelopes had all been opened previously, the torn paper taped back down to seal it. Dad probably opened these at some point. But why did he never tell me they were here? He looks at the faded blue ink in the top left corner on of the envelopes.
Bethany Martin 615 Epsilon Boulevard Vallora, CA
"Bethany Martin?" He's never heard that name before. Cassidy tears open the envelope, looking at the words written in blue ink.
Dear Travis,
Something's come up recently. Sorry I can't make it to your sister-in-law's funeral. Tell Chris I'm sorry for his loss.
Your love, Beth
The date on this letter was just marked with the year: 2000, Cassidy observes as he flips the piece of folded paper over, seeing the date written in tiny lettering in the bottom left corner. And the sister-in-law in question was Amelia, Chris' late wife. Cassidy never knew his late aunt. She had passed away five years after Caleb was born, which was one year after Kaylee was born, and two years before Cassidy was born. He puts the letter back into the envelope and sets it off to the side. Then, he grabs the next one in the stack, opening it.
