I told you I’m not there.
I’m at home
Alone
Watching you
Starving
Gnawing at the bars of my enclosure
An idea pops into my mind, one that I haven’t been able to act on since my identity has been under wraps up until this point.
Lifting my phone up, I open the camera app and snap a selfie, smirking, my hood pulled up over my hair. I hit Send.
She clicks into the image, studying it closely. Zooming in, she searches the background, only finally accepting my words as truth.
Serena: Good. Don’t come back to my house
I absolutely am going back there. I have to see our son
Serena: Freddie is absolutely NOT your son
I beg to differ
And so wouldhe. He loves me
Serena: He’ll get over it
Serena: Just like I will
Don’t say things you don’t mean. You and I both know that was a lie
But we can pretend for a little while longer if you’d like
While I’m not hiding out in her house, I did leave early to swing by and drop something off.
Check under your bed
Serena: I swear if you’re under there …
She jabs the knife into the air a couple of times, looking serious at first, but then I see the tiniest smirk flash across her lips.
Crouching down, she drops to her knees and peeks below, holding her breath. Her delicate fingers reach beneath and pull out what I hid.
A letter. One that I made without the help of the guys, without any prying eyes, and without any secrets between us. I’ve been keeping a stash of them in my car, only filling them out before I dropped them at her house.
After she told me she knew who I was at the gala, I wrote one for the first time without secrets between us.
She doesn’t open it, but goes for her phone, typing away.
Serena: You left me a letter?
Serena: Also, where else do you have shit stashed? Because this is the second time you’ve had me find hidden gifts.
I’ll never tell …
And yes, of course I did.
