Chapter 16 - A Letter from Prison|
The envelope arrived on a rainy Tuesday. It was standard prison-issue paper, stamped with the unmistakable seal of the state correctional facility. I stood on the porch, staring at the return address. Evelyn’s handwriting, though slightly more jagged and trembling than I remembered, was still terrifyingly precise.
I did not open it. I brought it inside and set it on the kitchen counter, treating it like an unexploded bomb. The legal injunctions preventing Evelyn from directly contacting Lily were still firmly in place, which meant she had addressed the letter to me, hoping to use me as a conduit.
I picked up my phone and dialed Sarah's number.
"She sent a letter," I said the moment Sarah answered.
"Evelyn?" Sarah asked, her tone instantly shifting to professional alert. "To the house?"
"Addressed to me. It bypassed the legal block because she didn't put Lily's name on the envelope."
"Do you want me to come over and burn it?" Sarah offered half-jokingly.
"Tempting. But no. I need to figure out what to do with it. Lily is coming home for Thanksgiving break next week. I don't know if I should tell her it arrived or just throw it in the shredder."
"Legally, it's your mail," Sarah pointed out. "But morally, you know Lily hates being kept in the dark. That was Evelyn's favorite tactic. Don't repeat her mistakes."
"You are right. But I despise the idea of letting Evelyn’s toxicity seep into Lily's life, especially when she is doing so well at college."
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"Evelyn is locked in a cage, my friend," Sarah said gently. "She has no power anymore unless you hand it to her. Let Lily decide how much space that woman gets to occupy in her mind."
I hung up the phone and stared at the envelope again. I picked it up, walked into my home office, and placed it inside the top drawer of my desk, locking it securely. I would wait until Lily was sitting safely in our living room before I mentioned it. I refused to let Evelyn ruin my daughter's first semester away from home. The monster was locked away, but her shadow was still trying to reach under our door.
