Mother's True Love.

Here Comes The Past.

Emily sat on the edge of the bed in the small cabin, her phone still clutched in her hand after hanging up with her dad. Her mind was racing, her thoughts tangled in knots. The weight of the conversation with Bob lingered, but there was something about this cabin that suddenly hit her. It felt familiar—comforting in a bittersweet way.

Alex was watching her from across the room, his brows furrowed in concern. "You okay?"

Emily looked around the cabin, the warm wooden walls, the soft scent of pine. And then it clicked. "This place... I've been here before," she whispered, her voice thick with emotion. "We used to come here. My family, Jules too... When we were kids."

Alex stayed quiet, letting her process the memories flooding back. She could almost hear the echoes of her childhood laughter, see Jules running around, carefree. How had it all gone so wrong?

Emily shook her head, pushing the memories aside. "Dad ran into Linda," she said, her voice shaky as she explained the situation. "It got tense, but he handled it. For now, at least."

Alex came closer, his presence grounding her. "That's good. Bob's got it covered. We need to focus on this," he said gently, nodding towards the diary on the table between them. "You ready?"

Emily glanced at the worn, fragile pages. It felt like a ticking time bomb. But she knew they had to face it—piece by piece, until they uncovered the truth.

She nodded, though her hands were trembling. "Let's read it."

They sat side by side, flipping through the pages slowly, carefully. Each word felt like a step deeper into the darkness that had consumed Jules. They were both on edge, but determined to see it through.

The handwriting was unmistakably Jules', a mixture of rushed scribbles and careful, thought-out lines. The first few entries were harmless, talking about school, friends, even a few mentions of Nathan. But then, the tone shifted. Emily could feel it coming before she even read the words.

As they reached the entry dated two weeks before Jules disappeared, Emily's stomach twisted in knots. Her heart pounded as she read aloud, her voice trembling.

"I can't take it anymore. I miss Emily so much. I can't talk to anyone about how bad things have gotten—except Nathan. Mom doesn't understand. She never will. She thinks I'm exaggerating, that it's just high school stress or whatever, but it's not. It's worse. And Dad... Dad's always working. I love him, but he's never here when I need him."

Emily's voice broke as she read the next line, her hands shaking.

"Sometimes, when I don't want to go to school, Mom gets mad. She... she hits me. She says I'm being dramatic, that I need to toughen up. But it hurts. Everything hurts. She hits me when things get really bad between us. And I can't breathe anymore. It's suffocating."

Tears welled up in Emily's eyes as she finished reading, her throat tight. Jules had been suffering all this time, and she hadn't been there. She hadn't known. She had run away from it all.

Emily dropped the diary onto her lap, her body trembling as the guilt came crashing down. "Oh my God," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "Why wasn't I there for her? Why did I leave her alone with... with all this? I was so selfish. I left her to save myself, and she... she had to go through that."

Alex placed a hand on her shoulder, his voice soft but firm. "Emily, listen to me. You didn't know. You couldn't have known."

Emily shook her head, the tears flowing freely now. "But I should have. She was my sister. I should've been there. Instead, I left her with Mom, knowing how hard things could get. I ran away because I couldn't deal with it. And now she's gone."

She buried her face in her hands, sobbing, the weight of everything crashing down all at once. The guilt was suffocating, overwhelming. She had always told herself she had no choice but to leave, but now, reading Jules' words, it felt like a lie. She had left Jules alone in that house, with Linda, with all her pain. And now it was too late to fix it.

Alex knelt down beside her, his voice calm but insistent. "Emily, I get that this is hitting you hard, but you can't let it break you. We're getting closer to the truth, but you need to keep it together. If you lose it now, if you let the guilt take over, we won't be able to figure this out. And I know you want to figure this out—for Jules' sake."

Emily wiped at her face, her breathing ragged. "I just... I don't know how to handle this. I don't know how to move past it."

Alex took her hand, squeezing it gently. "You don't have to move past it right now. But you do need to stay focused. We're going to find out what happened to Jules. We're going to uncover all of it. But you have to be in the right headspace to do that."

Emily nodded, though the weight of guilt still pressed heavy on her chest. She didn't know if she'd ever be able to forgive herself for not being there for Jules, but Alex was right. They couldn't afford to fall apart now. Not when they were this close.

"Okay," she whispered, her voice hoarse. "I'll try."

Alex smiled softly, brushing a strand of hair out of her face. "That's all you need to do. One step at a time."

Emily took a deep breath, steadying herself. The pain and guilt would never fully go away, but for now, she had to push through it. For Jules. For the truth.

They turned back to the diary, flipping to the next page, ready for whatever came next.