𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐘 𝐈 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐃 𝐘𝐎𝐔, 𝗷𝗼𝗵𝗻 𝗯 𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲

𝟬𝟮𝟮, the truth right in her face

11:46 p.m.

And it was at this precise time on her phone screen that she finally saw something concrete. A book stuck behind the bookshelf caught her attention. Eden frowned to herself at this discovery, and slipped her hand between the space to grab the brown book. She blew off the dust and the rest with her hands, discovering something marked on it.

PEREZ'S DIARY.

          Only that. But it was enough to take over all her curiosity. She had never seen her father writing in this book, never heard him mention it or even seen him hide it. This book was a complete secret. So she sat on the single sofa, her legs crossed together as she lit up the pages on her phone. The pages were old, a little yellow, and the writing was a little difficult to read.

June 28, 2007

Me, Eden and Noah have just gone on a big treasure hunt for the first time in their lives. I had already prepared everything. Eden was more than happy while Noah was more trying to run away than love what had taken me a month to organize. But it doesn't matter, because Eden appreciated it. She had the time of her life searching from one place to another with a map of our house in her hands. She even went so far as to go find her three friends to help her. It was really fun. My baby girl was finally understanding why I'm leaving sometimes to the Bahamas.

          Throughout his life, Thomas always had to go to different places around the world for gold. He often went to the Bahamas for some reason since the gold wasn't even there. Questioning reigned on her features on her soft and sleepy face at the same time as her eyes slowly moistened.

          She turned a few pages, reading only a few unimportant bits, but she still had fun reading it all. She discovered more beautiful things about his life, his story. . . Sure, a diary is supposed to be private, but her eyes read for themselves without her even being able to stop them. Until she came across a page where the letters seemed more rushed, stressed, and where she could see that something wet had landed there.

March 19, 2008

I've always hated hospitals. Bad smells, bad news, bad doctors. Nothing is ever good in a hospital. And right now, I don't know if I can say it's good or scary. I already have a family—not a very happy one—but I have a family. Two children that I love, a woman with whom I no longer really feel anything. And now I'm going to have to open my arms to her. Violeta. The woman at least let me choose her first name, since I didn't want a new person in my life. Violeta Perez, my second daughter.

The diary found itself on the floor in a shock, while Eden moved as far away from this book as possible. Her heart which, unlike her breathing which had stopped, it beat more and more quickly and harder without stopping. Her lips, her hands, her entire body sent electric shocks, endless tremors. She was contributing to her own earthquake. Her own life suddenly falling apart.

          It couldn't be. Nothing she had just read could be real.

He had another daughter. And now she had to have. . . twelve years old? Twelve fucking years of not knowing her, never having seen her or even heard her speak. A real ghost. A story without answers. A mystery. The biggest secret her father ever told her.