Chapter 16%
The knock on the door was soft, not urgent. Aunt May called my name from the outside of the apartment, her voice oddly bright for how early it was.
I opened the door in my robe, hair still a mess, sleep half clinging to my skin.
“She’s here,” Aunt May said. “And she brought something.“”
My stomach dropped.}
Sophie stood outside, bundled in her favorite oversized hoodie, her eyes wide but steady.”
She held something in both hands like it might crumble if she blinked too hard. Cream envelope. Familiar cursive. Isabelle’s.
The real one.
“Where did you get that?” I whispered.}
Her voice was quiet. “Ava gave it back.”}
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. I wasn’t ready.”
I’d waited five years for that letter. And now, suddenly, it was real. I didn’t know if I had the strength to read it.
Sophie stepped forward. “She gave it back. Said she didn’t want it anymore.”}
Ustared at her. I didn’t know what to say. Part of me was too stunned to even move.
Sophie stepped forward and placed the letter in my hands.
C
“She said she made up the worst part,” Sophie murmured. “The thing about how he always looked at you. That wasn’t in the letter.” I nodded slowly, unable to speak.
“I read it before I came,” she added, her voice barely above a breath. “But only the first paragraph.”
I looked down at the envelope. It had been opened, but gently, almost reverently. My hands shook as I peeled it open fully, slid the folded paper out, and sat on the couch.
Aunt May quietly walked inside the house.
Sophie sat across from me, hugging one of Aunt May’s throw pillows to her chest like armor.}
My hands shook. My vision blurred before I even started.}
And I read.
Callie,
If you’re holding this, I’m gone, and I hate that more than I know how to say. I hate that I couldn’t fight longer. I hate that I had to ask you to stay behind and hold what I couldn’t. But I don’t regret choosing you. Not once.}
I swallowed hard.
If I’m gone, then know that you were never a shadow. You were my mirror. You were the real thing. The only person I trusted to raise my daughter and keep my husband alive even when I knew he didn’t know how to let someone in.
But here’s the thing, and it’s the part I need you to hear: I gave you my life to carry. Not to bury yourself with it.”
I felt that line hit like a body blow. I folded forward, elbows on my knees, letter shaking in my grip.
You don’t owe me this ghost life. You don’t owe me silence. Or smallness. Or any version of love that hurts more than it heals.”
If staying has made you invisible, I’m asking you now, don’t. Don’t disappear for me. Be seen. Let them see you.”
If they don’t, come find me in the stars. And scream at me until you can start over.”
But don’t stay buried.”
I love you, you idiot. And you’ve always been mine, too.”
– Isabelle
I didn’t realize I was crying until Sophie crossed the room and gently wiped a tear from my cheek with her sleeve.§
My body didn’t tremble. I didn’t fall apart. I just… released.”
Because I had held onto her final wish like it was a sentence. I’d let her memory trap me in a home where I didn’t belong, playing a role I never felt allowed to want. And she knew. She knew all along.”
“She knew,” I whispered. “She really knew.”
Sophie nodded.”
“I thought I was supposed to be nothing but a placeholder. A shape to fill a space she left behind.“}
“You weren’t,” Sophie said. “You aren’t.“}
I blinked at her.”
‘I didn’t know how to love you without hurting,” she said, voice soft. “But I never hated you. Not really”
‘I tried so hard to push you away,” she said. “When Mom died, it felt like the world just… split. And you moved in, and I hated it. I hated you For not being Mom. I hated Dad for letting you try.”
‘Sophie-” I tried to reach her but she shook her head.”
11:16 AM
I blinked at her.N
Tou arent. N
019
“I didn’t know how to love you without hurting,” she said, voice soft. “But I never hated you. Not really.”
“I tried so hard to push you away,” she said. “When Mom died, it felt like the world just… split. And you moved in, and I hated it for not being Mom, I hated Dad for letting you try.”
“Sophie-“I tried to reach her but she shook her head.N
you
“I know you were trying. Even when I said awful things. I knew. And I kept pushing because… because I wanted it all to collapse. If I let you love me, it felt like I was letting Mom go.“N
I closed my eyes, chest tight. “You were a kid. You didn’t know how to carry that.“W
“But I do now.“N
She looked at me, really looked.N
“I didn’t hate you, Callie,” she said. “I was scared,” she continued. “Because you felt safe. And if I let you be real, then it meant Mom was really gone.”
I sat frozen, tears glassing my eyes.
“I know I hurt you, and I don’t expect you to forget that. But I’m sorry, for everything.”
I folded the letter gently and set it down on the couch beside me and immediately hugged Sophie. I understand her, I understand her pain. “Don’t be, baby. I didn’t know how to love you either without breaking my promise to her.“N
Sophie climbed into my lap without asking. It startled me how easy it still felt to hold her. Like time hadn’t pushed us apart after all.
She leaned her head against my chest and whispered, “She wanted you to stay.”
I wrapped my arms around her. My breath hitched.N
“I want you to stay too,” she added, a little quieter. “But not as her. As you.“N
My throat tightened, but I couldn’t speak.N
Her arms wrapped around me, tentative, warm, real.N
She didn’t cry.
Then she tilted her head up and whispered, so soft I almost didn’t hear it.N
“Will you come home now?”
