The Soldier's Journal

||Entry Thirty||

March 20th, 1957

I went back home last night. Not for good, I just wanted to see my family. And the grass needs to be mowed, so I'm gonna do that, so Eleanor doesn't have to. Not that she can't, I just don't want her to feel like she has to. But I was in for a surprise when I was woken up by Eleanor.

I woke up to hear "she's gone." I was still tryin' to get woken up, but my eyes quickly shot open when she kept repeatin' that Emily had ran away. I don't even remember what I said, I just got up immediately. I searched the whole house, even though I already knew Eleanor and Rebecca had already done that. Rebecca took her car to search the town for Emily.

I don't think I ever thought Emily would do somethin' that stupid and dangerous. Eleanor asked our neighbor if she'd seen Emily, but had no luck. Right when Eleanor was about to call the cops, Emily came walkin' up the driveway, like nothin' even happened at all. She had the whole family worried sick, and she's just bein' so casual. I don't even know if I've ever yelled quite that loud at her, but I couldn't help it.

She almost gave all of us a heart attack, and she's not even phased. I just know she ran away for a boy. Every teenage girl who runs away, is always doin' it over some boy they met. She's still sittin' in her room. Eleanor had a talk with me to try and calm me down.

She says Emily is havin' trouble dealing with everything goin' on with me and her mama. But you'd think she'd be happy I'm back home right now, instead of runnin' away because of me. I'm just not convinced that's the reason. I just know Emily has friends that are boys, and her friend has a brother, or maybe it's even just some random boy she met. Eleanor's reason doesn't make sense, but mine does.

That's the only logical answer at this point. Eleanor says Emily's been keepin' a journal like me and her mama. I have to go run some errands, but Eleanor says she'll go through Emily's journal to try and find out why she really ran away. Emily's handin' over her journal like she has nothin' to hide, but I just know it's an act to throw us off.

Emily apologized, but I know it's fake. She's a good liar and basically an actress. She intentionally put zero effort into makin' it seem like she was really sorry. I just wanna know why she did it.

There's no reason for her to run away, all because of me.

As always,

– Edwin Myers