#Chapter 99 Mess

Dominic “I hope you forgive me. I did what I thought was best.” ———— The words spun around in my head for hours, taking away any hope I had of focused productivity. Even reading them on the page, years later, I could hear each word in my mother’s voice. A haunted echo of her in my mind. There was trepidation in my fingers when I slid them along the lip of the envelope to unseal it. The paper crackled with the effort of unsticking, and I held the papers in my hands like fossils as I read what she had written to me. A tear had dropped and blurred ink before I realized I was crying soundlessly. When I finished, I folded it nearly and tucked it back into the envelope. So many things came together at once, and yet a mystery still lay ahead. I left mother’s room exactly as I found it, except I took her journal with me. No one else knew it was there, probably not even my father, and I figured no one would miss it. My heartbeat was irregular and fast. I was both weighed down