Letters From Cages

Annabelle looked exactly the same as she had when I saw her the day I followed her to Tier Forest. Her long brown hair fell past her shoulders and down her back. Her almond eyes looked at me and a small smirk was settled on her lips and she stood up from her chair and the smirk turned into a broad smile. My gaze averted from her and towards my father.

“Dad, why is she here?” I asked sharply.

“She said she was an old school friend of yours,” My dad replied, a tint of happiness was evident in his voice, which immediately made me feel uncomfortable. Why did he seem so happy and what did she say to him to make him that way?

“I never went to school with her,” I replied sternly and then looked back up at her.

“Friend of a school friend, same difference,” Annabelle said, her voice was smooth yet high-pitched and had the ability to feel as if there were knifes against my skin. “Mr. Hewlett, thank you so much for your hospitality, Gwenith and I can just go to her room to talk, it’s been a while!” My father smiled and nodded and my mouth fell open slightly as Annabelle grabbed onto my arm. “I assume that it is down the hallway?”

She began leading me out of the kitchen and through the hallway. Once we got to the front of my bedroom door and I opened it, she immediately pushed me inside and closed the door.

“What the hell are you doing here,” I said, moreso a statement rather than a question.

“Oh Gwenith, I absolutely adore how you have the audacity to ask me that, when you have been following me and the people I am close with for the past few months,” She replied, her once sweet disposition that she held with my father now seemed like pure evil. I stood with my back against the wall, my body involuntarily shaking. “Listen, I’m not here to scare you,” she said and paused. “No, actually, I am here to scare you. I’m here to scare you out of following us around and trying to get to the bottom of something that has no bottom.” She then stepped closer to me until she was whispering in my ear. “Unless you want to get yourself hurt, or even worse, killed, I’d advise you to mind your own fucking business.”

Annabelle stepped away from me and her eyes held a bit of playfulness that made me sick to my stomach. She then began to walk around my room and fiddled with an old Christmas globe I had on my desk. She picked it up and caught it in her hand and then finally turned to me again.

“Look, I know you’re all sad about how ‘the love of your life’ is in prison right now, but really Gwenith, did you honestly believe that he wasn’t up to something the last few months before the murder? We all know something was going on. You can sit here like a little girl in denial and tell yourself over and over again that he didn’t do it, and you know, whatever makes you sleep at night. You can also continue to blame me or Jerry or anyone else that were Carter’s friends that didn’t meet your standards of acceptance, or you can back the hell off and realize that your boyfriend murdered someone.”

I flinched from her words but still didn’t speak, mainly because I did not know what to say. Annabelle placed the globe back on my desk and walked back to the door. My head finally jerked up and I spoke.

“You deleted the pictures, didn’t you?” I asked. “You saw that I took them, somehow got in here and deleted them.”

Annabelle stopped with her hand on the doorknob and turned to me and let out a small laugh.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about Gwenith,” She said, and with that, walked out of the door and out of my house.



I was sitting with my father on the couch in our living room the day after Carter found his room completely empty. We were watching Jeopardy on the television and my dad was drinking water in his cup slowly, making the ice clink against the glass. Soon after Carter and I discovered his empty room, his parents came home, and they all immediately got into harsh conversation as I stood uncomfortably to the side. And that was when Carter’s mother turned to me, her dark brown hair pulled back into a bun, and her red lipstick lips pursed into a straight line.

“I think it’s about time you go home, dear,” She had said to me in the most venomous tone I had ever heard. I took that more literally than ever and darted out of the Wright estate before Carter, who was arguing with his father could see me.

I flicked the ends of my nails and leaned my head against the back of the couch, thinking about how that happened just yesterday.

My father cleared his throat. “So, do you know what is going on with Carter’s situation?” He asked. I looked over at him and eyed him carefully. He had a fairly grown mustache on his upper lip and his lighter brown hair was combed to the side. He was average height with small bones but a larger gut, and I felt as if I looked nothing like him. I always told myself that I looked much more like my mother, but I honestly didn’t. She had dark brown hair and green eyes that matched my father and my own, but I didn't look much like her. She was beautiful in an old Hollywood style way, whereas I was just... me. I always wanted to look like her, but never did. I also always wanted to respect her... but never did.

“I’m not sure,” I said while leaning forward and grabbing a peppermint off of the coffee table in front of us. I unwrapped it quietly and fidgeted in my seat. “Dad... when mom left for that year and then came back when I was five, where did you tell me she went?”

My dad stopped playing with his water glass and placed it on his knee, his hand still firmly wrapped around it. He looked straight forward.

“I told you she went on vacation,” He replied.

“I guess you weren’t really lying,” I said quietly. My father shrugged and flipped the channel on the TV as I sat back on the couch.

“Why did she come back?” I asked. My father placed the remote back down on the table and still didn’t look at me.

“She said that she missed us, and that she finally was able to clear her head and get things figured out.”

“Where did she go?” I asked.

“She went here, Gwenith, to Oregon,” My father replied. “I think that’s enough talk of your mother for today.”

I let out an irritated sigh and stood up from the couch, standing over my father and making him make eye contact with me. He glanced up at me for a second before looking down.

“It’s always ‘enough talk’ with my mother, Dad, but I deserve the right to know more about her. She died when I was seven for goodness’ sake, I deserve to know what she was like and what she was doing before she died. What was she doing in Oregon, visiting Grandmother Lyba?”

“And other things…” My father replied.

“Oh my God, will you stop being so vague?” I asked and threw my hands up in the air dramatically. My father clenched his jaw and finally looked up to see me.

“When we moved to West Virginia, it was because I had a job offer there, she always wanted to move back to Oregon and stay close to her family, although she would have never admitted it. Her and Lyba would fight like they couldn’t stand the sight of one another, which was very true. But when your mom didn’t come back in time to see your grandfather before he died, she was completely heartbroken. And Lyba would blame her, and me, for not coming in time. She stayed back here for a year and sorted things out, according to her. I don’t exactly know what she did.”

“And then she came back and stayed with us until she died?” I asked.

My father nodded and I knew that that was all I was going to get out of him. I sighed, finally giving up and walked away towards my room. I stopped in the hallway and looked at pictures of my mother, father and I. There was one when I was just born where I was in my mother’s arms and my parents were both staring into each other’s eyes, as if they were so proud of one another for making such a creation.

I traced my fingers along her arms and then let my hand fall and lay limp by my side. I turned to walk into my bedroom and once I opened the door almost jumped back to see Carter sitting on the edge of my bed with his hands pushing down against his knees. His head jolted up when he saw me enter.

“You scared me,” I said, breathing heavily. He stood up and walked towards me and enveloped me into a tight hug. “What’s wrong?” I asked, but then felt immediately stupid. Of course I knew what was wrong with him.

“They told me that unless I change my mind about colleges, they’re not going to let me stay,” Carter whispered into my ear. “It was awful, Gwen, they were absolutely livid, just screaming at me for not doing what they wanted for me, not even letting me freaking speak, and Wyatt was standing in the other room listening the whole entire time until I noticed him and told him to leave. He looked scared out of his mind. They won’t even tell me where they put all my stuff. It’s ridiculous.” Carter paused and kissed my temple. “They told me if I apologize to them for the embarrassment I have put them through then they’ll give me my stuff back and consider letting me stay until I can find a place. Apparently they told all of their co-workers and friends that their bright ol’ son was going to Dartmouth, and now that I’m not, they’d like to erase me from their memories.”

“That’s ridiculous,” I responded and he stepped away. “What are you going to do? Maybe you can just apologize and stay there until you can find a place to stay. I’d say you could stay here but you know my father, he’s still secretly mad at you for missing my birthday.”

I let out a small laugh but Carter didn't at all. He just rubbed the back of his neck and reached into the back of his pocket.

“I did find a place, Gwen, it’s in Richardson, a town only 25 miles away,” He said and handed me a piece of paper. I opened it up and saw a picture of a nice looking apartment complex that read ‘The Willows: If you lived here, you’d be home now.’

“Can you afford to live there?” I asked. “Didn’t your parents take away your trust fund and close down all of your bank accounts?”

“I’m over 18, they have no control over my bank accounts, but they did take away my trust fund. And I told you, I’ve been saving, I have more than enough,” Carter replied and then paused for a second and took the paper from my hands. “Come live with me.”

“What?” I asked.

“Come live with me,” He repeated. “We can live together, be together like we’ve always wanted. We’ll both be going to the same school, we can live in the same apartment. Come with me.”

“Carter, I can’t,” I replied while stepping back.

“Why not?”

I turned and looked at my door and envisioned my dad sitting at the couch still flipping through the channels with a solemn look on his face. “I need to stay here for my Dad,” I responded.

Suddenly a loud buzz came from Carter’s pocket and he took out his cell phone and what I gathered to be fear rose into his eyes as he quickly snapped it open and held it to his ear.

“I can’t right now, okay?” Carter said quickly. I heard a man’s voice from the other line and Carter just kept saying ‘Yeah’ and ‘I know’, before hanging up. “I have to go, but please Gwen, please just consider it.” He said. He leaned forward to kiss me on the forehead and left out of the tall window of my room and I sat down on my bed and looked back towards my bedroom door. What did I have to lose? My father and grandmother who never spoke to me? This whole house filled with awkwardness and animosity. Maybe it'd be best if I left. Maybe I could go with Carter.

Maybe I would.



“Phone call, Gwenith!” I heard my father yell from the kitchen. I got up out of my bed, still shaken from Annabelle’s visit and grabbed onto the receiver that was on my nightstand.

“Hello?” I asked into it.

“Gwenith,” Carter’s voice said on the other line. My stomach immediately felt light in response to his voice and I closed my eyes for a quick second, trying to feel him through the phone with me, standing right next to me, but instead just felt the emptiness of my room.

“Hi,” I breathed.

“Oh God, Gwen, what on earth are you doing?” He said, almost sounding sad but angry at the same time. I sat back down on my bed and leaned backward.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Jerry came and visited me today,” Carter said, his voice sounded hesitant, as if he wasn’t sure whether or not he wanted to even tell me this. “Gwenith, he knows what you’re doing. They all know what you’re doing. You have got to listen to me. Stop it. Stop it right now.”

“What? Carter, I can’t,” I said angrily. “I’m way too involved to just forget about everything. They don’t scare me.”

“Bullshit,” Carter spat. “That’s complete crap and you know it. They scare the shit out of you.”

“Well, so? Who cares if they do? It’s still not going to stop me,” I said and stood up from my bed. I was now pacing in my room, still clutching the phone to my ear.

“Gwenith, listen to me right now, you cannot, I repeat cannot continue doing this unless you want to get yourself killed. They know you way more than you think they do. They know where you live, what you’re doing and when you're doing it, everything. They've always known, because you were associated with me. Stop screwing around thinking that you’re going to patch everything together in a neat bow because the instant you think you you've got everything figured out, they’ll be one step ahead of you to cover it up. I only wish I had found this out sooner. Don’t try to be a hero and save me, just save yourself and stop doing what you’re doing.”

“No,” I said sternly, ignoring Carter completely. I wasn’t going to let him sit in prison for something he didn’t do. I wasn’t going to let that happen, no matter what danger I was in. If he honestly believed I was the type of girl that didn't value him enough to try to do whatever I could to do what he would do for me, then he was absolutely out of his mind.

“Damnit, Gwenith, will you use your brain for once? Are you really being this idiotic?”

I bit my lip, trying not to let Carter’s words affect me. I needed to stand my ground for once in my life, I needed to do what I believed in, and that meant saving him.

“You can keep talking all you want but nothing is going to stop be from trying to get you out of there,” I said quietly.

“Nothing?” Carter asked. “What if I completely erased you from my life. Never called you, never wrote you or spoke to you ever again, would that make you stop?”

I paused. “What are you getting at, Carter?” I asked, my body was now shaking. His words were now hitting me like rocks and I had to sit down. The possibility of never speaking to Carter or seeing him made me feel as if I was jumping of a cliff into pure nothing, it made me feel uncomfortable and the thought of it sounded almost repulsive.

“If I continue to talk to you like I am now, you’re going to want to try to save me, or figure out what happened when I don’t want you to. I’d rather lose you as mine then have you lose your life. If you continue on with this, I won’t speak with you or accept your visits.”

I took a deep, angry breath, my fingertips pressing into my palms.

“Are you kidding me?” I asked, suddenly completely infuriated. “You’d rather cut off all ties with me, your fiancé, just because I'm trying to do what's right and get you from behind bars? And you think I'm idiotic. That's completely and utterly stupid, Carter. I can't believe you'd even consider something like that. I can't-”

By now I hadn't even noticed, but I was crying and my words were spilling all over each other. I was scared, scared out of my mind, but I knew I was doing the right thing. I was. All I needed was Carter to tell me that everything I was doing was meaningul, worthy of him. I wanted him to tell me that everything was going to be okay. That he was going to help me and never even think about leaving me to do this alone. I wanted him to tell me that he was proud of me for trying to help him and would never leave my side.

But instead, there was a long pause and the last words he spoke were, “You are not my fiancé anymore, Gwenith."

And then he hung up.

More tears instantly began running down my face as I angrily threw the telephone across the room. It hit the wall with a loud bang and I sank down until I was sitting on the floor. I couldn’t understand what he was trying to do. Everything I was doing was for him. Every single thing. And he’d rather not know me, pretend I didn’t exist if I continued to try. It didn’t make any sense to me. It may make perfect sense to others, but to me it felt like complete pain soaring through my heart.

I took a deep breath and hastily walked to the other side of my room to grab my phone and called the first person I could think of... and that was Adam. I told him I needed him and he was over in less than ten minutes.

When my doorbell rang, I took quick, persistent steps towards my door and launched it open, and before he could even speak, I grabbed him by the neck and kissed him hard, knowing that he wouldn’t ever abandon me like Carter would, and knowing that he was here, right then, not behind bars, but with me.