“Mitchell, don’t blame yourself. This was her decision; it’s not your fault.”
Maggie clung to Mitchell’s hand and placed it on her slightly rounded stomach. “You still have me and the baby.”
Mitchell looked at her and, after a moment, forced himself to calm down. “Didn’t you say you weren’t feeling well? Why are you
here?”
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Chapter 4
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“I was worried about you,” Maggie replied, her voice laced with false concern. “I don’t know what Nora was thinking. All you did was scold her a little, and she-”
Maggie wanted to say more, but the coldness in Mitchell’s eyes silenced her.
“You’re not angry with me, are you, Mitchell?” she asked tentatively. “I was only trying to comfort her. How was I supposed to know she’d accuse me of taking her necklace and push me? I had no idea she would kill herself.”
“Did you really not take the necklace?”
“Of course not! Don’t you trust me?”
Mitchell stared at her, as though weighing her words. After a long pause, he lightly patted her shoulder.
“Go back and rest.”
I thought Mitchell believed her, but after sending Maggie away, he made a phone call.
“Look into something for me. I need answers, fast.”
Mitchell sat silently by my hospital bed for a long time, saying nothing.
It was as if the shock of my actions had barely fazed him before he returned to his usual self.
He went home but didn’t go to his own room. Instead, he spent hours in the small attic that used to be mine.
I hadn’t brought much with me when I came to live there–just a few changes of clothes and a slightly worn teddy bear, a gift
from Mitchell.
It wasn’t anything special, just a toy I had fallen in love with at a claw machine during a family outing when I was ten.
After several failed attempts, my mother insisted it was time to leave. I cried, begging to stay, but she dragged me away, saying it was too late.
The next morning, I woke up to find the teddy bear sitting by my pillow.
Mitchell had stood there, beaming with pride. “I used up half my savings in coins, but I finally got it!”
“Mitchell, you’re amazing!”
“Of course! I can do anything! Whatever you want, I will give it to you. I will protect you forever!”
I thought he had forgotten about it, but now Mitchell was clutching that bear, his expression unraveling,
He didn’t visit me again, nor did he go to see Maggie, who was also hospitalized.
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Chapter 4
Maggie called him repeatedly, but he always used work as an excuse.
He was lying. He hadn’t been working at all.
+30 Bonus
Each day, he seemed lost, staring blankly at the teddy bear or going through old photographs from a drawer–pictures of our
family of four, pictures of me, snapshots from my childhood until now. They were all there.
One afternoon, Mitchell received a phone call.
“We found the person who took the necklace. He said a woman paid him a hefty fee to deliver it. The account traces back to
Maggie.”
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