Silence. Then, a small, careful breath.
“Chloe, I don’t know what you’re talking about…”
“The road. The ditch. Terry’s phone was still recording when Dad got out of the car. It caught every word.”
“Chloe, listen to me. Everything we did, we did for your future. That boy was going to trap you here forever. We saved you.”
“You didn’t save me. You broke him!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about…”
“Honey, please. Let’s talk about this in person. Don’t do anything rash.”
I hung up. My father hadn’t said a single word in the background, and I knew he was there. I could hear him breathing.
I sat there staring at the black laptop screen, terrified.
If I exposed them, I’d lose everything I thought a family was.
But if I stayed quiet, I’d become them.
“Don’t do anything rash.”
Terry reached for my hand, and I finally understood what the following day had to look like.
***
The following morning, I drove to my parents’ house with Terry beside me.
My hands were surprisingly steady on the wheel.
My mother opened the door with red, swollen eyes. My father stood behind her, somehow looking smaller.
“I know everything,” I said. “And I have the footage.”
My mother’s face crumpled.
I drove to my parents’ house.
“Chloe, please. We’ll give you anything. Just don’t take this public.”
“You think this is about something I want?”
My father stepped forward, his voice rough.
“I’ve carried it every day. I never wanted… I’m sorry. For all of it.”
I looked at him, then at the woman who’d raised me.
“We’ll give you anything.”
“I’m not going to the press today. Terry’s family has been through enough. But you don’t get to be in my life anymore. No calls. No holidays. No pretending.”
“Chloe, we’re your parents,” my mother whispered.
“You stopped being my parents the moment you drove him off that road.”
I took a breath.
“Chloe, we’re your parents.”
“The footage will remain with my lawyer. If either of you ever contacts me again, it goes public. And you’ll fund an accessibility program in Terry’s town, anonymously. If that program doesn’t get funded, the footage goes public too. That’s the deal. Turn your guilt into something that actually helps someone.”
My mother wanted to say something, then looked down. My father nodded once, slowly.
I walked out, pushing Terry, and the door shut behind us for the last time.
“The footage goes public.”
***
Months later, our apartment felt safer and warmer than my parents’ house ever did. It also felt like mine.
Terry laughed more now. Not the careful laugh he’d used for five years.
It also felt like mine.
***
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