{CROSSWAYSNET}

I see the face, drawing into focus. 
NO.

NOT ETHAN.

Not the face I was expecting. He cannot hear my scream.



I’ve lain here in wait for so long. For ADAM, not YOU!

I see the flash of fire in the angry eyes. They grow darker as that fire burns.

He’s poring over me. The pressure of his thumbs pulling me out of shape. He rages. Salted tears on the edge yet too angry to fall. I’m being torn.

STOP! THIS IS NOT FOR YOU! I’m here for Adam. He was to KNOW. You were to be gone…

I feel the last loop tear from me. Me and all the words that follow. We’re wildly waving through the room. And there - the flashes of orange and red before me. I can smell it now. The fiber and ink of my writer’s soul; a whisp and vapor rising into nothing above the glowing grate.

Seth is yours, Adam. Not Ethan’s. He didn’t deserve a son. I knew he would eventually kill us both if you didn’t follow through. Before it was too late. If you have this diary, you know why I made you pledge to kill him first. Now you’ve at least avenged us. 

I will always love you,

Susan

*****

Yes, now I really ‘know’, Susan. This makes it so much easier. I’m a lot quicker with a knife than Adam. And I know how to pick a lock.

Goodbye. Again.

[Haunted Flash Fiction submission, FracturedLit.com 11/2022]