Page 83 of Letters to the Lost

“She’s doing ok. The notes have gotten worse the last few days which is making her anxiety worse. She’s really struggling to leave the house,” Atlas tells us all.

“How many notes?” Zander asks.

“Here,” Atlas procures them from a drawer in the coffee table, “She hides them here and before you worry about her hiding them from us, she tells me she’s put it there and just doesn’t have the strength to look at them. They are getting worse though, he’s escalating.”

‘You will always be mine!’

‘Do you miss me as much as I miss you?’

‘I can’t wait to have you again Little One.

Do you still taste as sweet as I can remember?’

‘Nothing can keep us apart Little One.

I will kill anyone who tries.’

‘I’m coming for you Autumn and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop me. You will be mine again.’

“He’s crazy if he thinks he’s going to ever get close to her,” Tobias seethes, his hand tightening around a bauble.

“We’ll keep her safe and she has Ellie too,” I remind them.

“We’ll just never let her be alone. She’s starting to spiral though. One moment she’s strong but he has a hold over her, something the others never had and it’s messing with her head,” Atlas says solemnly.

“We’ll make sure she’s ok. Does she have another appointment with her therapist this week?” Zander asks.

“Yeah, two days after boxing day. I’ll see if one of us can sit in on it for a bit to express our concerns,” Tobias says.

“That works. Now let's try to get all this sorted for her coming back. The parents will be here soon,” I say, unraveling a roll of ribbon.

“I’m mixed parts excited and terrified,” Atlas fake shudders, “Is Kathleen coming?” he asks Dominic.

“Yeah, bringing her new foster kid too,” Dominic says.

“Nice. How’d it go with his piece of shit dad?” I ask.

“He’s been dealt with,” Dominic says as vague as ever, but the guy is most likely dead.

“Good. I’m going to grab a drink any of you want one?” Tobias asks us all, a round of yes sounds in unison as he leaves the room.

Tobias makes no moves to hide that he’s about to check on Autumn, the man can’t be away from her for long without basically breaking into hives. Finding Autumn dead has destroyed him in a way that all of us understand, but Tobias is struggling with it the most while we’ve managed to try to move on from it along with her.

“Don’t get caught!” Dominic shouts after him making us all laugh, Tobias’s chuckle echoing back to us.

Chapter 30

Autumn

‘Broken – Jonah Kagen’

“Sit down Sugar,” Mrs. McKay says as she bustles around the kitchen preparing us some tea.

Numbly I sit on the hard wooden seat at the table, my mind blank as I try to process what just happened.

Dad promised to try, to try to understand where my mind was at. Even going as far as meeting with my therapist and following his recommendations to help me heal, this is just a blow I didn’t realize my heart can’t take.

“Is he a good dad to Brenn?” I blurt out unable to stop the question from slipping from my mouth.

---