Letters From Cages

I led Adam to my bedroom and closed the door quickly behind us and grabbed him by the neck and kissed him again, trying to convey every single feeling that has ever soared through my body into my actions. Adam didn’t pull away, and didn’t stop me, but instead grabbed the sides of my face and kissed me as if it was what he always wanted to do but never had the opportunity. It wasn’t until I led him to my bed that he pulled away from me and shook his head.

“Gwenith, I can’t,” He said. I raised my eyebrows, thinking that I should be the one saying this and not him. “Look, obviously you’re upset, and you’re doing this because of it.”

I scooted closer to Adam and placed my hand on his shoulder.

“No,” I insisted. “That’s not true. I’m doing this because I want to. I think I always have.”

Adam shook his head, his blonde fair falling out of place.

“No you’re not, Gwenith,” He replied and then turned to look at me. His eyes betrayed his words but he still stood his ground. “You’re in love with Carter, you’ve always been in love with Carter and I… well I have to accept that.”

“He’s in prison, Adam,” I said and leaned in close to him until I could feel his breath on my lips. “But you're not, are you? You’re here, in front of me.”

Adam leaned into me and then right when I felt him giving in, my doorbell rang. I sighed and got up off of the bed and walked down the hallway to open the front door, somewhat agitated with Adam but also slightly relieved that something interrupted my thoughts enough for me to calm down and maybe think about what I was doing. But I was still just so angry at Carter, I wanted anything to not feel the aching in my heart that was a result of the words he spoke to me. I wanted to not feel as awful as I did right at that moment.

I swung open the door and those thoughts rushed to the back of my head as I saw small little Piper standing in front of me with tears running down her face. Her lip was swollen and her skin around her eye was black and blue. My eyes widened as I pulled her inside and pushed her bangs out of her face.

“Piper!” I exclaimed. “What happened?!”

Adam showed up behind me and I heard him exhale his breath into a gasp at the sight of Piper, who looked like she had been beaten and was utterly traumatized. We led her to the kitchen and I was grateful that it was late enough that my father retreated to his room and my grandmother was already asleep. Having my dad or grandmother see a crying girl who looked like someone used her face as a punching bag in our kitchen would raise way too many questions that I just didn’t want to answer.

I reached into the freezer and grabbed a frozen bag of peas and handed it to Adam, who placed it gently against Piper’s lip and eye.

“What happened?” I asked again, leaning forward to try to make eye contact with her.

“I was walking by the lake and…” Piper took a deep breath and her voice was an octave higher than usual, as if she was just about to burst out sobbing, “This man approached me. He was short and fat and had this terrible mustache, he told me his name was Charlie and he was there regarding Carter. He was so scary. Then that girl stepped from behind him and then the next thing I know, I was on the ground with soaring pain all around my face. And then they were gone. My lip was bleeding all over my face, I thought I had busted it open. I couldn’t see out of my right eye.”

I placed a hand over my mouth and Adam closed his eyes for a second, his hand balled into a fist.

“How do they even know you were with us or who you are,” He said angrily. “How do they know!”

I ran my fingers frustratingly through my hair and sat down across from Piper. I reached forward and took the bag off of her face and surveyed her. She looked as frightened as anyone could and I felt so awful. This was all my fault. I should have never involved either of them in any of this.

“Carter told me…” I began to say and then took a breath. “Carter told me they know more about me than I think. He doesn’t know that you two are involved, but I’m sure they know more about you two as well. They know where we live and what we are doing. They probably know that we’re all together now, talking about them.”

“They told me that this was a warning,” Piper squeaked. “That we need to stay away.”

“I know,” I said, my voice trembling. “Annabelle visited me this afternoon. I just don’t understand why she didn’t give me the message she gave you. Why I don’t have the black eye and swollen lip right now.”

“Am I the only one who didn’t get paid a visit?” Adam asked, sitting next to me.

“They probably were on their way to you when I called you over,” I said. Adam looked at me and we both averted our eyes, realizing what we had done when I did call him over.

“We need to do something,” Adam asked.

“No!” Piper yelled, we pulled our heads back, surprised by the loudness of her small voice. “Is my face not evidence enough of what they’re capable of? We’re not going to do anything unless we want ourselves killed. I didn’t know what I signed up for when I offered to help you guys. I kind of just wanted to do this for fun, to see what happens, I didn’t actually believe that Carter didn’t do it. That this random group of people did it. But now I know better, and now that I know better, I’m not doing this.”

Piper stood up from the table.

“Piper just sit down, we can talk about what we’re going to do,” Adam said reassuringly. Piper shook her head.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” She replied.

There was silence in the room.

"What else can we do?" Adam asked. I stood up and tried to put on a face like I had everything together.

“We need to go to the police,” I said.



I folded the last of my clothing and zipped them up into a suitcase in my room a few days after Carter asked that I should move in with him. My father didn’t know, I didn’t have the heart to tell him. So the stupid side of me just decided that if I packed all of my things while he was at work and while my grandmother was out at the Farmer’s Market, that when either of them came home, I’d be gone. He’d call me, and then I’d tell him that since I was done with high school, I wanted to try to live on my own. I wouldn’t have to see his face when I told him. I wouldn’t have to see his reaction.

I nodded to myself, thinking that this plan was the only feasible option and took a picture I had of him and I off of my nightstand and placed it in a box. I was nine in the photograph and he took me to one of those pottery places where you paint the pottery and leave it there and come back in a few days to see the finished, shiny, beautiful result. I had painted an blue elephant and was so proud of myself. I was smiling so big.

And now I don’t even know where that elephant is.

I looked over at the clock and saw that is was 1:00, right when Carter said he’d pick me up. He was absolutely pleased that I was moving in with him. It was all he could talk about. He found furniture and a large television and told me in a teasing voice that it was just like playing house. I told him that after a few months, playing house wouldn’t be as fun as it sounds anymore. But he shook my statement off and starting talking about how we should get a pet. Dogs weren’t allowed in the apartments so he was adamant on going to the shelter and getting a cat. A fat cat.

My suitcase felt heavy in my hand as I opened my door to walk to the front of my house, where I was hoping Carter would be pulling in front of any second. But what caught me by surprise was the front doorknob turning, and in walked my father and my grandmother. They both took off their coats and put them on the rack, and then stopped what they were doing when they saw me on the other end of the hallway with a large suitcase in my hand. We stood in silence for a few moments, just staring at one another.

“Gwenith,” My father said slowly. “Why do you have a suitcase? Where are you going?”

I stood, stunned in front of them, my eyes wide and watery and I didn’t know what to say. I stammered over my words and both of them stood in front of me, confused. I felt as if there was ever a time I needed to take a picture of a situation in order to make me feel awful about myself, then this was the perfect time to whip out my camera.

“I’m… I’m leaving,” I finally said. My dad stared at me for a few seconds, and then blinked, as if he didn’t understand what I was saying. As if I was speaking a completely different language.

“What?” He said. “Why?”

“I…” I shook my head, not knowing what to say. I wanted to crawl into a hole and die at that very moment. The looks on their faces alone felt like it killed me. “Carter found an apartment and… I..”

“You’re going to move in with Carter?” My dad asked, his tone now a tad rigid. “Lyba, can you go put your vegetables in the kitchen, I need to talk to my daughter.”

My grandmother looked at me for a second, her eyes seemed to burn holes in my skin. She shook her head at me, and looked at me just like she probably looked at my mother, full of disappointment. She scuffed past me and into the kitchen and I turned back to my father.

“Dad, I’m sorry, I just… you weren’t supposed to be here.”

“I’m on my lunch break and I was taking your grandmother home from the market. I wasn’t expecting to see my only daughter attempting to move out of the house when I came here." He said.

“Dad, I’m sorry,” I repeated. “I just can’t do this.”

“Do what?” He said, his voice low and hushed, like he didn’t want my grandmother to hear, although it was obvious she was listening. “Leave the roof over your head where we provide for you, love you, care for you and let you live a life of your own decisions? To go live with your boyfriend who was kicked out his parent’s house? You are not living with him, Gwenith. You are staying right here.”

“No, I’m not Dad, I’m sorry,” I said and tried to walk past him. I couldn’t look at his face anymore. I felt as if I was about to collapse, all the strength was sucked out of me just from seeing the hurt in his eyes.

My dad stood in front of me and tried to take my suitcase from me but I pulled it from his grip.

“You are not leaving. Think about what you’re doing, Gwenith,” He insisted.

“I have been thinking, Dad,” I said. “And I want to do this. I have to do this. I can’t live here anymore. I don’t even know who you are, or who grandma Lyba is. I feel like I'm living with strangers. I just… I can’t live here.” I walked passed my father, whose hands just laid limp at his side and to the door. I looked out and saw Carter pull into the driveway and turned to my father. “I’ll get the rest of my things when you go back to work.”

My dad shook his head, his mouth opening and closing as if he wanted to say anything to make me stay but couldn’t. He was never one to get angry, never one to express his opinion or how he really felt. He was never one to get the women in his life to stay with him. The thought of that made me want to cry. And it turned out my father was thinking of the same thing, because as I walked out of the door he took one last agonizing look at me, and with sadness and disappointment in his voice, said:

“Go ahead and leave. Just like your mother.”



Adam, Piper and I pulled in front of the police station, apprehension in all of our movements. We knew what happened the last time we visited the police station. But now with the physical evidence that was Piper, we believed that this could finally be the opportunity that we needed for the police to get involved somehow.

Piper got out of the car first, holding her face, and I felt like a pile of dirt looking at her hurting. She looked over at me and with a blank expression, walked forward towards the police station.

Once we reached the doors we saw the same woman at the front desk, on a phone call. A few people that looked as if they were oozing trouble were sitting outside of the police officers’ offices, with handcuffs around their wrists and defeated looks on their faces. We heard yelling from the back of the office and suddenly the place seemed much scarier than it had been when we came in that morning. Now it was night. Darkness. When all the bad things seemed to happen.

The woman hung up the phone and looked up at us over her red-rimmed glasses.

“Miss Hewlett,” She said with a bitter tone to her voice, only looking at me. Not even acknowledging Piper’s battered face. “Nice to see you again, you are lucky, Mr. Kreankali started his night shift less than 45 minutes ago. I can lead you right to him.”

“No, miss, can we possibly see someone else-"

But before I could finish, she already had the phone in her hand and pressed a button.

“Kreankali, Ms. Hewlett is here again,” She said and hung up the phone. “You can go ahead and go to his office, I’m sure you know where it is.”

Bitch. I thought as we reluctantly walked towards the back of the large police station and towards Kreankali’s office. I put my shoulder around Piper as we walked into the door and sat her down, and Kreankali raised his eyebrows at Piper’s face.

“What happened now?” He asked and rolled his chair backward towards a small miniature refrigerator and pulled an ice pack out of the freezer compartment. He handed it to Adam who then handed it to Piper to put on her face.

“They attacked her, sir,” I said. Kreankali raised his eyebrows, obviously amused at how stupid he thought we were. I tried to hold my anger back and gestured towards Piper. “They found out about the pictures, deleted them, and then hurt her to show us that they want us to stop.”

Kreankali leaned back in his chair, his round stomach sticking over his belt. “Is this true?” He asked Piper. She simply nodded and Kreankali tilted his head to the side. “Ms. Hewlett, did I ever tell you that this isn’t the first time I’ve seen Ms. Nguyen in this station?”

I raised my eyebrows and looked over at Piper, who’s one eye that was showing was glaring at Kreankali.

“What?” Adam asked.

“Ah yes, Ms. Nguyen was here about seven months ago, injured from her step father’s physical abuse. He ended up going to jail for battery charges against her mother as well, and was released a month later and now they both have a restraining order against him,” He explained and then leaned forward in his chair to look at Piper. “Ms. Nguyen, if he is doing this to you, tell me and I will immediately get on this. You don’t need to make up a story like this in order to protect him like you used to. We can send him away again. He can get in a lot of trouble for violating the restraining order. Did he hurt you?”

“It wasn’t him,” Piper said through her teeth. “He moved when he got out of jail, to Ohio, I haven’t seen him since. It was not him. It was a man and a girl, the girl was who we took pictures of.”

“Listen,” Kreankali said, a tone deep in his voice. “You three need to stop with this. That case was open and shut. Carter Wright killed that poor boy and we all know it, and the more we accept it, the more we can move on from this tragedy. I don’t want this bullshit to keep being brought up when it doesn’t have to be. The town is just getting over this. Ms. Nguyen, there’s no need to lie about this to get attention. Tell me it was your stepfather and I can send out a warrant.”

“It wasn’t my step father!” Piper exclaimed.

“Then I can’t help you.”

All three of us stood up in utter shock as Kreankali stood up from his desk, opened the door to his office and asked us to leave.