Chapter 46
Letters From a Ghost
Levi
I don’t like to lie or keep secrets, and yet that’s all I have ever done. All of those lies and secrets, they ate me alive from the inside like a virus, only there was no cure, until now.
The plan we have is solid, except that Spencer doesn’t know that he and Scarlett will not be part of it.
What kind of brother would I be if I allowed them to stand in harm's way? What kind of protector would I be? This weekend marks the beginning. I looked at Grant’s work schedule to see that he would have this weekend off.
It’s time to make him pay. It is time he takes what he has dished out all these years; only I’m going to win this time, or I’m going to die trying.
Getting through the week is easy when you have lied as much as I have; you become accustomed to the feeling, the way the words should roll, the way your face shouldn’t shift, you catch on to cues that would give you away.
So, whenever Spencer or Scarlett asked about the plan and when we were going to implement it, the lie rolled with ease.
‘After Christmas’ was my answer, the one they believed to be true.
Little do they know, today is the day. Their date, the one night I have alone with the devil, and I’m going to make him dance.
Scarlett went shopping for new clothes for her first date tonight, and Grant is finishing his last shift for the weekend.
Going into Scarlett’s room, I reach up to the highest shelf, grabbing a box. Before my mother died, she had two confessions. One, the adultery and betrayal of my Dad, that admission had rocked me to my core. The second was her letters.
A small box contained letters from her to my Dad.
When Leo first went into the army, she would write to him every day.
They were smitten in love, until she suddenly wasn’t.
After Grant showed her who he truly was, she began writing to my late father again.
Maybe it was her way of penance, to write to him about how awful her life was; I think they call that Karma.
Sitting on the floor in Scarlett’s closet, I open the first letter.
Leo, of all the mistakes I have made in this life, leaving you was the biggest. In breaking your heart, God decided I needed to be reminded of my infidelity.
This man is evil, and now I am stuck with him because I have birthed his offspring.
I can’t look at her without seeing him—the color of her eyes, the way her nose scrunches, and the waves in her hair.
The greatest mistake of my life was meeting Grant, getting pregnant, and keeping his child.
He won’t ever let me leave, meaning Levi will never be safe, not that I keep him safe.
I am weak, Leo, and I simply cannot stay here any longer.
Wherever you are, I know I will not find you, for you will be at peace, something I do not deserve.
With all the love I should have given you, Sara.
I fold up the letters from a ghost as a tear falls onto the paper.
Her greatest regret is Grant and Scarlett.
She regretted the one thing that made living bearable.
The more letters I read about her pity, the more it turns my stomach.
The letters are full of ‘poor me’ laced with regret.
Well, guess what, Mother, we didn’t get pity or grace; instead, you gave us your back when we screamed for you.
We got shushes when we would beg you to leave him; where was our pity, Mother?
This woman begged for mercy. How dare she?
Where was ours? How do you look at your children and think they are not worth it?
How do you let them be beaten and broken, then dare to ask for pity and remorse?
I hate her, I hate the woman she became, and the mother she was.
Grant will see her soon if this plan goes right.
Grabbing the letters, I head back to my room just as the front door opens and up runs Scarlett.