The End of Us novel · Chapter 13 of 24

Chapter 13: What He Saw

"I was on the far bank," Keith said.

Nobody in the cellar spoke.

The elder took Ginny by the good arm and walked her up the steps, and the lantern light went with them.

Keith and I were left in the dark with the open box.

"I was fourteen," he said. "My father had parked his truck on the north road and told me to wait."

"Tell me the rest."

"I saw your father come down to the water. He lifted his hand to me."

My nails bit into the page.

"Then a woman stepped out of the trees behind him. She wore a grey coat, and an iron ring."

"Maud."

"Maud." His voice cracked. "I saw her put the knife in his back."

I heard myself make a sound.

"He turned around. He looked at her. Then he looked across the river, straight at me, and he shook his head."

"He told you not to come."

"He told me to stay hidden. She pushed him into the current, and I lay in the reeds until dark."

"You let him die."

"Yes."

He did not look away, and he did not make an excuse.

I hit him.

It was an open hand across his face, and the crack of it came back off the stone walls.

He took it and did not lift his hand.

"Seventeen years," I said. "You watched me at the Council. You watched me marry that man. You knew whose house I slept in."

"I knew."

"You let me call her Mother."

"I told myself I needed proof," he said. "That was a lie. I was afraid."

I hit him again, harder, and then I stood there shaking with my palm stinging.

He stayed where he was.

There was a red mark on his cheek, and his green eyes were wet.

I could have walked out of that cellar and never spoken to him again.

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