What She Left Behind ✔️

chapter thirty-five

The weeks following that earth-shattering Tuesday morning were hard. Harder than I ever anticipated.

There was a lot of crying. For days, we wept. Mom shed the most tears. She had already lost Raelyn. Now Benson was gone from her life, too.

She apologized to Bowie like a record on a loop. It was hard for her to fathom that he'd been suffering in silence for so long. As his mother, she thought it was her job to protect him from such ordeals. She felt like she failed him. I'm sure still feels the occasional pang of guilt.

As for Dad, he kept his cool. His number one priority was to ensure that none of us had to associate with Benson ever again. He made arrangements with his brother, my Uncle Duncan, for Benson to relocate to Manhattan. Apparently, Mom and Dad co-signed the mortgage for his condo. They paid off the rest of the loan and are planning to sell it. They told Benson he had until the second week of May to gather his things.

Not that he fought them. Had he not been exiled, he would have left voluntarily. He might be heartless, but he has a brain. He knows when he's unwelcome.

Out of all of us, Bowie is doing the best. He's thriving, actually. He's like a whole new person. Benson's secret was a weight on his shoulders. Now that it's out in the open, he's walking on air.

"I think I might go back to school," he informed me the other day.

"That's great!" I exclaimed. "I think that will be really good for you. You only need a few more credits to graduate, right?"

"Well, maybe more than a few. I'm thinking about changing my major."

"I thought you were set on marketing."

He shook his head, an uninterested expression on his face. "Marketing was just a way to make money one day. Now I'm more concerned about making a difference."

"Well, what are you switching to?" I pried. I was expecting him to say something like environmental studies or medicine. Those are the go-tos for ambitious millennials who want to save the world.

"Political science," he answered.

I couldn't mask my surprise. "Really? You're following in Uncle Duncan's footsteps?"

"It's not about him," he clarified. "It's about creating change. Guys like Benson get away with hurting women because our laws are outdated and ineffective. Women can face life in prison for killing their rapists. Meanwhile, a rapist can serve three months and then walk away like nothing happened. We need to fix that. I want to fix that. I owe it to Rae and every other girl who's been in her shoes."

My eyes brimmed with tears as I pulled my brother into a hug. He's an amazing boy with a heart of gold, and I'm so proud of him.

I've seen Alyx once since she and Benson called it quits. She confessed to me that she saw Benson rifling through my purse the night Carla crashed family dinner. She never told anyone, not even him. This confirmed a past theory: Benson took the original "veritas" drive. I don't know how he knew about its existence.

I suppose I never will.

Alyx moved back in with her parents, whom I guess she's trying to rebuild a relationship with. She seems happy, and I'm happy for her. After all the drama my brother put her through, she deserves to live an uncomplicated life.

When I asked about the life growing inside of her, she had a melancholy, far-removed look in her green eyes. For a moment, I thought she was going to tell me she terminated the pregnancy.

"I'm keeping the baby," she finally said, "but Benson won't be involved. I'm gonna do it on my own."

"You won't be on your own. My family will be there every step of the way," I assured her.