Letters From Cages

“So who do you think lives there then?” Adam Powell asked me the next afternoon. We were sitting outside at a coffeeshop downtown which was surprisingly busy for the time of day. It was partly sunny, and as the clouds were moving, the sun came down and shined brightly on my face. I blocked it with my hand and looked over at Adam whose golden hair was literally beaming in the sunlight. He took a sip of his coffee and looked at me.

“I don’t know,” I replied.

When Adam and I first met up earlier in the afternoon, I had told him the whole story, about me going into Carter’s parent’s house and finding the address, about finding the street on accident and then parking on it in the pouring rain to see Jerry and I’m assuming Annabelle walk inside to be greeted by a black figure at the door. All of it seemed so eerie and the more I kept thinking about it, the more uncomfortable I felt. I needed to confide in someone, and Adam seemed to be my only friend at the moment.

“Well, from going to that junkyard to hearing about that whole group, I don’t think any of them seem like they’re going to be chasing butterflies and adopting puppies, but still, Gwenith, how do you know that… well..”

“How do I know that they killed Daniel and Carter didn’t?” I asked. Adam looked down at his cup and nodded while I leaned back in my chair and swept some of my dark blonde hair out of my face.

“I don’t know,” I finally replied. “I don’t even know what I think. All I know is that Carter seems like the last person in the world that would do something like this, and that group doesn’t.”

Adam awkwardly sat up in his seat and leaned over the table a little bit.

“But, didn’t you say that Carter was changing after he began to associate himself with them?” Adam asked. I raised an eyebrow.

“Yes…” I said quietly. “But he’s different. He’s not them.”

“I’m not saying he is, I’m just… I don’t know. They were saying a lot of things on the news about how whoever killed Daniel, that maybe they did it on accident and tried to cover it up. Maybe Carter didn’t mean to-"

“Stop,” I said.

“I’m sorry,” Adam quickly and genuinely replied. “I’m just trying to help you.”

“I know,” I replied with a long sigh.

“Gwenith, you were there every day during the trial, what exactly did they say happened that night in February?”

I leaned forward in my chair and played with lid of my cup before taking a deep breath and explaining.

“The prosecutors said that they believed Carter was the one who killed Daniel because he was his tutor, and knew about Daniel and his parents' schedules more than others’ did. They said that the safe, where Daniel’s parents keep their jewelry and large bills that was hidden in the house was tampered with, and half of the belongings were stolen. No one knew why half was, but they pinned it on Carter, even though he was already wealthy because of his parents. They believed that he just wanted to take half because that was all he thought he needed. I thought that was so stupid. Why would Carter take something like that when he wouldn’t ever need it? They said that Carter, who probably heard about the safe from Daniel, went to retrieve what was inside of it, until Daniel showed up and saw him. Carter ‘got scared’ and… strangled him. When Daniel’s parents showed up expecting to see their son, he wasn’t there, and then they found out their safe had been broken into. They called the police and they found Daniel at Tier Forest twenty minutes away,"

'They found Carter’s DNA on him, his hair on Daniel’s shirt, and footprints around Daniel’s body that matched Carter’s shoes that they found in his closet. When they asked Carter where he was the night Daniel was murdered, he couldn’t tell them. He said he was out driving, and they found his alibi, or lack thereof to be the icing on the cake. I begged him to tell me where he was that night but he wouldn’t tell me. His lawyer tried her hardest to defend him, but in the end, the evidence built up and he was convicted. The jury was so upset about the killing of an innocent boy just because the murderer didn't want to be caught stealing, that they convincted him of first degree murder.”

There was a long pause as Adam soaked in my information before he leaned back in his chair and ran his fingers through his hair.

“We need to find out what he was doing that night,” He replied.

“Do you think he did it?” I asked quietly. Adam leaned forward and shrugged.

“I think whether Carter did it or not, we both know he couldn’t have done it alone.”



It was a cloudy Sunday and I was cold and tired from my day at work, but I had promised that I would see Carter when I got done with my shift, and I wanted to see him. He had acted so weird a week earlier at the carnival after we had seen Jerry, Marco, Charlie and that girl Annabelle and I hadn’t seen him much since then, and I wanted to make sure he was alright.

I pulled up into his familiar driveway, for his gate was already open and as I was driving in, I saw that young Daniel boy that Carter said he was tutoring walking down the driveway. He looked over at me and waved at me politely and I smiled and waved back. When I parked and got out of the car, I looked behind me to see that Daniel was already on his bicycle zooming down the street to where I assume his house was. I turned to walk up the steps and was about to open the door when it swung open and Jerry stepped out and walked towards me while closing the door behind him. I stumbled back and almost fell, but Jerry just smiled his dazzling smile, which no matter how handsome it was, sent chills down my spine.

“Better watch your step there, darling,” He said before stuffing his hands in his leather jacket pockets and hopped down the stairs gracefully. He walked towards an older looking Camaro that was parked on the other side of the driveway that I never even noticed was there and drove away. After watching him drive away, I finally caught my breath and rang the doorbell. There was a thumping of footsteps and the door opened to reveal young Wyatt standing there.

“Are you here for my brother?” He said in a small and somewhat squeaky voice. I nodded. “Jeesh, he’s been having lots of visitors today!” He exclaimed and opened the door wider.

He's been having a lot of visitors?

“Thank you, Wyatt,” I replied.

“You’re welcome!” Wyatt chirped and pampered off into the kitchen while I awkwardly stood on the doorway. I then saw doors open to the side of me and looked to see Carter in a white shirt with a dark blazer and fitted jeans. His dark short hair still looked tousled and perfect as he stood in front of me. I looked down to realize he was barefoot and smiled.

“You’re here!” He said happily and then ran towards me and scooped me up into his arms. I yelped in surprise and he kissed my neck before placing me back down on my feet.

“I wasn’t expecting that kind of hello,” I said while laughing.

“Aw, are you disappointed by it?” Carter asked in return. I just rolled my eyes and hit him on the shoulder as he grabbed my hand and led me towards the doors that led outside to his mother’s eccentric garden.

“So what’s on the agenda for tonight?” I asked as I let go of his hand and smelled the bright white roses that were growing on a large bush outside the doors.

“It should be getting dark in about twenty minutes, why don’t we look at the stars and try to find our birth constellations?" I turned to Carter and laughed while he just eyed me with a completely serious look on his face. “What?" He asked.

“You’re such a romantic,” I replied with another laugh and grabbed onto his hand. We both walked deeper into the backyard and laid down on the grass and stared up at the sky. The sunset was already diminishing and we could see a few stars here and there.

“I see the big dipper,” Carter said quietly and pointed upwards. I turned on my side and propped myself up on my elbow to look at him. He jaw was relaxed, his ocean blue eyes beamed up at the sky above us.

“Carter?” I asked.

“Yeah?” Carter replied, still looking up at the now night sky.

“Why was Jerry here?” I asked hesitantly. Carter tensed and finally took his eyes off of the stars to look at me.

“He came to apologize,” He replied. “We got in a fight and that’s why I wasn’t so pleased to see him at the carnival, but he came while I was tutoring Daniel and pulled me aside and apologized.”

“What did he do that he had to apologize for?” I asked curiously.

“It was nothing,” Carter responded. “Just him being stupid. Let’s not talk about Jerry right now, okay? Because there are other things I’d rather be telling you.”

“Like what?” I asked. Carter turned on his side so we were face to face. He reached out his left hand and stroked my hair behind my ear.

“Gwen,” He began and then took a deep breath. He was nervous. Carter was never nervous. “There's something about you that honestly makes me so much happier. It's like I become instantly ten times a better person when I'm in your presence. You’re beautiful, smart, elegant, understanding and I’m so glad I met you. And… well, and..”

I raised my eyebrows as if telling him to go on.

“And?” I asked.

“And, I'm positive that I'm in love with you," He finally said.

My stomach felt like it was doing flips as I quickly leaped onto Carter and attached my lips onto his, he leaned his head back in surprise at my outburst but welcomed it as we kissed forever under the moonlight and under the stars, in a garden full of beauty. I think we both knew that I didn’t have to say it back, we knew that I felt the same way.



“Maybe you can try to go visit him again,” Adam asked as we drove in his Volkswagen around town. Some odd hard rock song was playing on the radio and I turned it down and looked over at him.

“It takes a while to make an appointment,” I replied. “I guess I can just hope that he will call me again sometime soon and I will be able to ask him. Maybe he’ll give me an answer this time.”

Adam pulled up in front of my father’s house and I turned to him and tried to manage a smile, even though for some reason my heart felt heavy in my chest and I missed Carter and the sound of his voice and his smile and everything he was so much that it made me physically hurt. Adam sensed my uneasiness and reached out to touch my shoulder.

“Hey, I’m here for you if you ever need anything,” He consoled. “You can’t try to figure all of this out alone and I’m willing to help.”

I smiled and nodded. “Thank you, Adam,” I replied. “I’ll be calling you.” I then turned to open the door and Adam’s hand fell from my shoulder down onto the seat where I had been sitting as I walked from his car and to my house. Just as I opened the door my father rushed towards me.

“Gwenith,” He said. “You must have impeccable timing, Carter is on the telephone.”

I felt my stomach drop. I told Adam that I was hoping Carter would call me sometime soon, not in the next two seconds! I swallowed what seemed like a massive lump in my throat as I walked towards my father who handed me the receiver. I walked to my room and sat down on my bed before finally bringing the telephone up to my ear.

“Hel…hello?” I asked into it.

“Hi,” I heard Carter’s deep voice say on the other end. A deep breath escaped my mouth before I even realized I hadn’t been breathing. “How are you?” He asked.

“I- I’m fine,” I replied and mentally told myself to gain my dumb composure so I can speak properly. “I miss you,” I said honestly. I heard Carter breathe heavily on the other line and I closed my eyes, wishing I could see him.

“I love you for even saying that to me,” Carter replied.

“Carter, I need, I really need to ask you something, and you can’t escape the question okay because I need you to answer it for me,” I said quickly and as sturdily as I could possibly manage.

“What is it?” Carter asked me.

“What were you doing the night Daniel Cody died?” I asked.

“Is this really what you want our first conversation we’ve had in almost three weeks to be?” Carter snapped.

“Yes,” I said back quietly. “I just want to know.”

“I told you,” I could hear Carter say through his teeth. “I was driving.”

“Driving?” I moreso stated than asked. “Where were you driving?”

“Gwenith, please, can we just not talk about this, I’m so done talking about this.”

“No, Carter,” I said quietly. “I am – I was your fiancé, I deserve to at least know what you were doing that night.”

“Yes, you do deserve to know but I just… I can’t, okay?”

“Why?” I asked sharply.

“Gwen, come on, let’s just, please let’s just talk about something else.”

“Why can’t you tell me?!” I yelled into the phone.

“Gwen-“

“Carter, why?”

“Damnit, Gwen! I can’t tell you because I’m trying to protect you!” Carter almost yelled into the phone.

“Protect me from what?!” I said back, but right after I asked, the line went dead.