A Story to Remember

Chapter 3 Secrets Revealed

Gavin-

She pulls up to an old hollow log hanging up in the trees. She stops the jeep and pauses only a moment. She parks Bluebird, or Blue-Jay "Follow me." she says walking deeper into the woods by a wooden cross. She bends down by the cross and uncovers a hole in the ground a few feet away. She pulls out a water resistant safe. She opens it and hands the contents to me. A bunch of letters all opened and addressed to her, with no sender.

"What are these?" I ask shuffling through them when I come across one where the writing was visible. I curiously read the letter.

"Chelsea Stonefield, I know you're onto me. I've warned you many times now. Leave, or much worse will happen to people that you care about. This is my last letter to you regarding this matter. I ask you now. Do you want to live knowing you're the reason that your friend is missing? Leave quietly now and you won't have to worry. If anyone finds out consider yourself and your friend gone. J"

"Is this why you left?" I ask Chelsea. She looks around before taking the letters from me. She replaces them with bullets and a switchblade.

"Those and these" she answers quietly. She quickly grabs them from my hand when her hand brushes past mine I grab her hand.

"Who wrote them?" I ask her as she pulls back and places everything back into the safe and placing it back into the ground.

"I couldn't let anyone happen to my family." She says turning back to the jeep, "I'll take you back to the stable, I have to make dinner." she climbs in and starts the jeep. Tears falling from her eyes. "Come on Gavin." Her voice quiet and shaky. I climb in and she turns the jeep back to the stables. She pulls it to the back and turns it back off taking out the key and placing back in its compartment.

"I'm here, if you want to talk" I tell her on the walk back to her house. She gives a weak smile before walking back in the back door. "Chels," Austin greets her from the counter in the kitchen, but Chelsea stays silent. She gathers food and supplies for cooking, "Chels, what's wrong?"

"Chels, just tell him, everything." I tell her. "He has a right to know."

"I can't" she says, "I can't risk losing him." She continues to work in the kitchen. "Both of you please leave. Please"

"Chels," Austin takes a step toward her, "Why are you crying?"

"Please, Austin, Just leave me alone. I don't want you to get hurt." She turns her back to her best friend. "Out! Both of you! Please!"

Austin gives a defeated sigh and turns away from her, his head hung low and he walks out the back door. Hat in his hand. "Chelsea, tell him!" I tell her.

"Jason, get out of my kitchen! Please, get out." Her voice shakes as she hits her hand on the counter and the dam breaks. "Please, just leave me alone."

"I'm sorry, Chelsea, I'm not going anywhere." I walk around the counter until I'm standing next to her. "Stop running scared. And put whoever it was to justice." I put my hand on her shoulder she looks up and straight into my eyes. I pull her toward me she continues to cry into my shoulder.

"I can't." she says, her voice still shaking. "I don't want anyone else to suffer because I told someone what this person did." She pulls back and takes a deep breath to recompose herself. "Sorry." She says going back to work on dinner.

"Let me chop something or do something." I tell her

"Can you follow the recipe to the letter?" she asks, "I should really go talk to Austin."

"Definitely, go, I didn't take four years of cooking classes for nothing on that TV show."

"I didn't know you cooked." She says. "Thank you. If you need anything Seth and David are upstairs, just yell." She takes her hat off her head and splashes water on her face. She smiles in my direction, and returns her hat to her head. She quickly walks out the door a smile on her face. Yeah, it makes sense that she doesn't know I cook, because I don't cook, "Hey, Seth!"