Pathways // Gawsten [Book 2]

02 - Uncovered

When Grace finally convinces Awsten to read the letters, it happens to be when Jawn is in town, and she really wasn't expecting it. This was only the second time he'd come to visit them in England since Geoff's disappearance, and he'd been a very good distraction from the topic so far.

Grace was sat on the floor re-reading the letters again. Her bedroom door was wide open, and she could hear Jawn and Awsten talking downstairs. She didn't want to intrude on their time together, so she decided do distance herself just for today. Jawn had taken back to the room he stayed in last December when he stayed there, and each morning he woke up, he told Grace he was reminded of the pain he felt last time he was in that room.

She folded up the letter she'd just finished reading and went to slot it back in the box when she noticed the letter at the back. It was still in perfect condition, unlike the rest, and Grace realised she'd never opened that letter before. It was the smallest letter out of them, and definitely the most recent one, and somehow she'd completely overlooked it. She was hesitant to reach for it, thinking that there must be a reason she'd never read this one before. Pulling it out of the envelope, she immediately realised it was the letter offering Geoff to go to Otto. Offering Geoff to leave to Texas and save Otto from being killed. To attempt to fix everything.

Tears rushed to glaze over her eyes. This was the final answer she'd been looking for. She never knew why Geoff had left, always accepting that it was probably because of guilt. She also never knew where he went. They were left completely in the dark about where he was, where he'd gone, if he was even alive. But reading the letter opened her eyes. Geoff was with Otto, which meant Otto was alive. 

When she saw the location of where the boys were, her heart stopped. Houston. This entire time they'd been in Houston. She didn't even put the letter back in the envelope before she was rushing downstairs to get Awsten and Jawn. The two were sat next to each other on the sofa laughing at something when she ran to get them,

"Hi, I don't wanna interrupt but I really need you both to do something." She said as she came down the stairs, halting the boys' conversations.

"Sure, what is it?" Jawn asked,

"Jawn, I need you to find Geoff's location. Like his actual location. Awsten, I need you to read these goddamn letters." Grace pleaded at them, ignoring how Jawn's eyes blew wide open at her request.

"Grace, how many times do I have to tell you I don't want to read them?" Awsten sighed and went to turn back to Jawn before Grace spoke again,

"Awsten, I wouldn't ask if I didn't think you reading these letters would help you some way or another." She stated, crossing her arms. She was desperate. This was her chance to get her boys back, and she couldn't do it without Awsten. She couldn't get them back if Awsten didn't want them back.

Awsten sighed and looked down. He knew at some point he would have to suck it up and read those stupid letters, but he didn't want to admit that he could've been wrong in any capacity. Although this time, he wasn't sure he had a choice about reading them. Jawn had already gotten up from the sofa and moved into the kitchen to work on his laptop, quickly tapping away. 

"Fine." Awsten mumbled, standing up with his head still down. He didn't want to do this, but he knew he had to. Grace had been asking him since the day Geoff left, and it was coming up to the year anniversary. 

"Really?" Grace asked excitedly and watched as Awsten nodded. She leaned forward to grab his wrist and yelled for Jawn to follow them upstairs. Grace pulled Awsten to sit on her floor in front of the box of letters, and she immediately told him to start reading. She could see his eyes flicker across the pages of the letters and as he read each other, she could tell he was beginning to feel guiltier and guiltier.