Chapter 2: What the Fire Left Behind
Mrs.
Gable stared at her for a long moment, then grabbed Charlotte's arm.
"Charlotte.
The fire investigators are already asking questions.
They want to know where you were last night."
Charlotte didn't flinch.
"I was on the bus.
There are cameras."
That same morning, Frank was discharged from the hospital.
His sister, Diane, drove him to Maple Grove.
Nobody had told him yet.
When the car turned onto their street and he saw the yellow tape, the blackened walls, the collapsed roof where the bedroom used to be — he didn't speak for almost a minute.
Then his phone rang.
It was Samantha.
"Frank, what happened?
I've been calling you all night.
Is the house — is it gone?"
He stepped out of the car and walked toward the ruin without answering her.
On the front step, half-burned but still readable, was a single sheet of paper Charlotte had left on purpose — the only thing she had not taken with her.
It was a letter from a private clinic dated December 14th.
Frank picked it up.
His hands began to shake.
Diane leaned over his shoulder and read the first line.
She stepped back and covered her mouth.
"Frank," she whispered.
"Did you know about this?"
He said nothing.
But the look on his face said everything.
---
What was written in that letter — and why did Diane react that way?
The truth Charlotte had been carrying alone is revealed in the full story.
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