Her

As you check your mail, you notice a letter that makes you stop in your tracks. Your free hand covers your open mouth and you drop the stack of mail. You start shaking. You drop the ground, wrapping your arms around our knees. You rock back and forth. Before you can stop them, tears run down your face. You start to rock back and forth harder; furiously.

"Ida? Ida! Ida, is everything okay?" You look up to see your neighbor, a retired man in his early 60's, leaning over you.

"Are you okay, Ida? It's me, Harry. Is everything alright?" He puts his hand out towards you and you grab it. You let him pull you up onto your feet. He wraps his arms around you and you oblige to the hug. When you let go of him, he bends down and picks up the stack of mail you dropped. You wipe the tears off of your face.

"Here you go, sweetheart." Harry handed you the mail and you wearily grab it from him. He was an older man, you a younger woman, but he understood you perfectly.

"What did you find that's got you so worried?" You look up at him from your staring at the letter.

"You don't need to worry about me, Harry. Like you've said before, I can handle anything. Thank you, though. I appreciate it. Go on home, I'm sure the granddaughter will wake up soon." You manage a smile and Harry smiles back. He gives you one last quick hug and then briskly walks off towards his house. Before walking into his house through the front door, he turns around and looks at you. He makes eye contact, but you look away. You hear him open the door and then close it shut behind him.

You look down at the letter again and then close your eyes to prevent more tears from coming out. You grip the stack of mail harder and close the mailbox. You walk towards your house and go up the steps onto the porch. You look over at Harry's house; his granddaughter is staring at you from the front window. You sheepishly wave and walk inside your house.

As you close the front door behind you, you hear your phone ring. You run out of the hallway and into the dining room. You pick up your phone from the table and look at the screen. It's an unknown number calling, but you answer anyway.

"Hello." You set the stack of mail down on the table, for the exception of the letter. You flip it over and over in your hands, looking for a sign that it's fake.

"Hi. Did you get my letter?" You stop messing with the letter and sit still.

"Yes, I did. But I haven't opened yet. Why would I need to? It's not like you're going to apologize." You were holding back tears yet again; you couldn't let her hear.

"You should. I put a check in there with a letter telling you what to use it for." You rolled your eyes. Who was she fooling?

"FaceTime me. I wanna see what you look like after all of these years. And I'll open the letter." You hoped that that was a good enough offer for her to do it.

"Fine." You pulled your phone away from your ear and pressed the FaceTime button. Connecting… There she was. She looked so different. She used to have long, brown hair. Now it was above her shoulders and blonde. Her eyes were hazel, now they were bright blue. She used to have a chubby face, now it looked sickly.

"Well, you haven't changed a bit." She raised her eyebrows and you put your hair behind your ear.

"Brown eyes, short black hair, super skinny. You still look like you're eighteen." You rolled your eyes.

"I couldn't say the same about you. Changing your appearance because of the cops? Or because you don't want to run into our family and have them recognize you?" You could tell she was contemplating whether to hang up or not, but she chose the latter.

“Neither. I just wanted to create a new life-and appearance-for myself. So what?” Her personality hasn’t changed a bit, you think. There’s silence between the two of you for a minute. It makes you feel uncomfortable, but you also know there’s really nothing to say.

“Well, you said you were going to open the letter. Open it.” You nod and grab the letter off of the table. You look up at her again before ripping open the top of the envelope. You reach your hand into it and pull out two pieces of paper. They’re folded into little sections.

“I folded them up so tiny because I wanted to make sure that they both fit.” You open one of them and it just has writing on it. You spot words like time and lost. Short and simple. But so meaningful for so many reasons.

“I’ll read this after I open up this other piece of paper.” You turn your head to your phone where her face is displayed, and she nods. Your emotions start going into overdrive again. Tears roll down your face for what feels like the millionth time and your breaths are short and quick. Your whole body is shaking. Your palms are sweating.

“Ida? Are you going to open it?” You wipe the tears from your face and hold yourself. After noticing that she was staring at you, you stop and grab the folded piece of paper. You look up at her before you start slowly unfolding the paper. To your surprise, it really is a check. For...No! She couldn’t have really given you that much. 

“Yeah. It’s really that much.” She must still be able to read your thoughts. You stare at that big number. What would it be for? There’s no way that you would use it for anything on a day-to-day basis. That number. One million.

“What do I use it for? It’s not like I need it.” You set the check down on the table and stare at her. She stares back. Or is she staring at something behind you? 

“How are you out of jail?!” You whip your head around behind you to see Harry.

“Harry? How do you know her? And how do you know that she was in jail?” You look at him, and then back at her. She looks shocked; he looks angry.

“She’s the reason my wife is dead.” Your eyes widen at her and she looks away. You turn back around and look at Harry, raising your eyebrows to prompt him. 

“She framed my wife for what she did. My wife was put in jail.” You see silent tears fall down Harry’s face.

“I robbed a jewelry store.” You don’t even turn around to face her.

“Yes, she did. And then she framed my wife because my wife had been in that same store earlier that day. Therefore, her DNA was around the store. She was arrested. She was in jail for two years, and we had to pay a lump sum of money. I can’t completely remember how much it was, though. And then she framed my wife again; when she robbed another store. The police officer shot her. She died instantly.” The tears started rolling down Harry’s face faster, and there were more. You sensed there was more to the story, but nothing that Harry was willing to share. You couldn’t stand to see him cry anymore, so you turned back to her.

“What’s the money for?” You rest your head on your shoulder and lean back in your chair.

“For Harry.” And with that, she hangs up the video chat. You get up from your seat and walk over to Harry. You give him a hug and he hugs you back. You stay there for a minute, both of you crying. When you release him, he wipes the tears from your eyes.

“Maybe we should talk.” You nod and motion towards the table. You both sit down and Harry takes a deep breath. This is where I will finally find my truth, you think.