Forest Lake

Chapter 13

She nodded, fidgeting with her fingers.

“You left me.” I said. “You left your twin brother and you never looked back.”

Her eyes widened. “I had no choice, Mason. Mom took me away. I never wanted to leave you. You know that.”

“No choice?” I repeated and chuckled darkly. “You had no choice other than to abandon me completely?”

“Mason, you know I wanted to stay with you and dad.” she said quietly, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “You know I never wanted to leave with mom. But what could I have done, Mason? I was nine years old. It wasn’t my decision, and it wasn’t yours either.”

I clenched my fists and tightened my jaw. Every fucking piece of furniture in this room looked very punchable right now. I knew she had to leave. As much as it hurt me, I knew that she couldn’t stay with me and dad. But that is not what I was talking about, and she knew that.

“You could have called.” I said through my teeth. “You could have visited like we agreed to, but you never wanted to. You didn’t want to have anything to do with me, didn’t you?”

Her eyes widened. She stared at me in shock and confusion. Why is she shocked? Did she think that dad wouldn’t tell me?

“What are you talking about?” she asked me quietly.

“Oh, come on.” I sighed. “Don’t pretend like you don’t know. Dad told me everything.”

She furrowed her eyebrows. “Dad told you what?”

I sighed, running my hand through my hair.

“He told me what you said when you left.” I said, clenching my fists. “He told me that you never wanted to hear from me again. He told me that you never wanted to see me again. Did you really think I wouldn’t hate you after that? We’d promised that we would talk every day. We’d promised that we would see each other all the time. You hugged me, cried on my shoulder, and promised all those things, only to tell dad, not even 10 minutes later, that you never wanted to hear or see me again. That is why I fucking hate you, Emma!”

By the time I finished talking, I was screaming at her. I was pacing around, grabbing a fistful of my hair, and glaring at her with all the hate I could muster up.

She was staring at me wide-eyed. Tears were streaming down her cheeks in a continuous flow. She was shaking from top to bottom.

“What, you didn’t think dad would tell me?” I chuckled as I stopped pacing. “You thought that he would keep it between the two of you?”

A sob escaped her lips. She placed a hand over her mouth and closed her eyes.

A part of me wanted to hug her and take her pain away. Another part of me was happy because she finally felt the pain I felt when dad said those words to me.

She opened her eyes, moved the hand from her mouth, and took a deep breath.

“I never said that.” she said quietly, her voice trembling.

“Right.” I snorted. “Like I am going to believe you.”

She looked up at me and sobbed again. It felt like a knife went through my heart.

“I never said that, Mason.” she repeated, sobbing. “I tried calling you. I tried texting you. I even wrote you letters. The calls and messages didn’t go through. The letters came back because the recipient refused them. I still have them, Mason. I didn’t leave you, Mason. I would never do that. I could never do that. You were my best friend. I love you more than anything in the world. I could never leave you. I don’t know why dad said that, but it wasn’t true.”

My world stopped spinning.

She is lying. She has to be lying.

“I thought it was you who didn’t want to talk to me.” she continued, wrapping her arms around herself. “I begged mom to take me back so I could talk to you in person and find out what I did. She wouldn’t do that. I tried everything. I kept calling you, hoping that just one call would go through. I called dad. I called everyone I knew. When none of that worked, I started writing letters to you begging you to talk to me and tell me what I did wrong. I wrote at least a dozen letters. They all came back. I still have them. They are in my room.”

My heart was pounding like crazy.

I stared at her with my mouth wide open.

None of it made sense.

Is she lying?

Did dad lie? But why? Why would he do that? Why would he separate me from her when he knew how much I loved her?

She stepped toward me and wrapped her arms around my torso. She leaned her head on my chest and sobbed.

“I am sorry, Mason.” she managed to mumble out in between her sobs. “I am so sorry.”

I stared down at her, unable to move and unable to think clearly.

What the hell should I do?