STILL YOU(PART 10)- STILL YOU

The next morning, Lauretta woke before her alarm. For a few seconds, she didn't remember why. Then she saw the silver necklace on her bedside table. And everything came back. Lara. The lake. The photograph. Her father. The last thing Lara had said. And someone else. Lauretta sat up. For twenty years, she had lived with an empty space in her memory. Now she was finally going to fill it. Lara's house was quiet when Lauretta arrived. Elias came with her. He didn't ask if she wanted him there. He simply showed up. Somehow, that felt right. Lara opened the door holding a small brown envelope. She looked at Lauretta. "Ready?" "No." Lara smiled. "Good." They sat around the dining table. The envelope remained between them. Lauretta stared at it. "That's the photograph?" Lara nodded. "I've kept it since I was ten." "Why didn't you show it to my mother?" "I tried." Lauretta looked up. "What do you mean?" "After everything happened, I asked my mother to contact yours." "She did?" "She tried." Lara looked down at the envelope. "But your father made it very clear that he didn't want anyone talking about what happened." Lauretta's jaw tightened. "So everyone was afraid of him." "Yes." Elias looked at Lara. "And the photograph?" "I took it." Lauretta frowned. "You took it?" Lara nodded. "I found an old camera near the house. I thought it would be funny." A small smile appeared. "You hated photographs." "I still do." "I know." Lara opened the envelope. Then placed the photograph on the table. Lauretta reached for it. And froze. There they were. Two little girls standing beside the lake. Lauretta with her arm around Lara. Lara holding the silver necklace. Behind them stood their father. And beside him— Lauretta's mother. Lauretta stared. Her mother's face wasn't frightened. Not yet. She looked angry. Very angry. Lauretta's fingers tightened around the photograph. "What were they arguing about?" Lara answered quietly. "Us." Lauretta looked at her. "What?" "Your father wanted me gone." She pointed at the photograph. "Your mother didn't agree." Lauretta's eyes moved between the two adults. "Then what happened?" "They argued." "About me?" "About both of us." Lara swallowed. "Your mother told him that separating us wouldn't make the truth disappear." Lauretta stared at the photograph. "What truth?" Lara was quiet. Then she said, "That he had two daughters." The room went still. Lauretta looked down. For years, her father had treated Lara like something that needed to be hidden. Not because Lara had done anything wrong. But because admitting she existed meant admitting to a part of his life he wanted erased. "And the necklace?" Lauretta asked. Lara smiled sadly. "He wanted it back." "Why?" "Because it had his initials engraved on the back." Lauretta turned it over. She had never noticed. Tiny letters. Barely visible. Her father's initials. "He thought if anyone found it, they'd start asking questions." Lauretta looked at Lara. "And you gave it to me." "Because I didn't want him to take the only thing that connected us." Lauretta looked at the necklace. "You knew." "I knew it mattered." "And that note?" Lara nodded. "I wrote it because I was scared he'd take it before you could keep it." Lauretta looked at the photograph again. Everything suddenly made sense. Not perfectly. Not beautifully. But enough. The lake hadn't been a mystery. It had been the place where a family secret had finally become impossible to hide. "And the night I fell?" Lara looked toward the window. "I remember everything." Lauretta waited. "Your father and your mother were arguing. I heard them from the dock." "What did they say?" "Your mother said she wouldn't let him send me away without telling you." Lauretta's breath caught. "And your father?" "He said you were too young." Lara paused. "Then he saw us." "Me and you?" "Yes." She looked at Lauretta. "You had the necklace." Lauretta nodded. "He came toward us." "And?" "You got scared." Lauretta frowned. "I don't remember being scared." "You were." Lara smiled faintly. "You always tried to look brave when you were scared." Lauretta laughed quietly. "Apparently I haven't changed." "No." Lara looked at her. "You haven't." She continued. "You started arguing with me because I told you I was leaving." "I remember that." "You said you were coming with me." "I remember." "You promised." Lauretta looked down. "I did." "Then you ran toward the dock." Lara's voice became softer. "I followed you." "And I fell." "Yes." Lauretta swallowed. "What happened after?" "You slipped." "I remember the water." "I jumped in." "I remember your hand." Lara smiled. "I got to you first." Lauretta looked at her. "You saved me." "We saved each other." Again. The same words. This time, Lauretta understood them. "And Elias?" Lara looked over at him. "He came running." Elias smiled faintly. "I remember that part." "You pulled Lauretta onto the dock." Lara looked back at Lauretta. "And then your mother came." "What about my father?" Lara's expression changed. "He left." Lauretta frowned. "He left?" "Yes." "Why?" "Because your mother told him she would tell everyone what he'd done if he ever came near us again." Lauretta stared. "So she protected us." "She tried." Lara looked down. "But she was still afraid." Lauretta understood. Her mother hadn't been innocent. But she hadn't been the monster Lauretta had spent years imagining either. She had been frightened. She had made terrible choices. And sometimes people could love you and still make choices that hurt you. That was perhaps the hardest truth of all. Lauretta took the photograph from the table. She looked at the two girls in it. One had forgotten. The other had waited. Twenty years. "I thought I lost my childhood," she said. Lara looked at her. "You didn't." "I forgot you." "But you remembered." Lauretta smiled through her tears. "Eventually." Lara reached across the table. Lauretta took her hand. Neither spoke. They didn't need to. Some reunions didn't need speeches. Sometimes being there was enough. Later that afternoon, Lauretta stood outside with Elias. The others had gone inside. The sun was beginning to set. Elias looked at her. "How do you feel?" She thought about it. "Strange." "Good strange?" "Not exactly." She smiled. "Just... lighter." He nodded. "You finally got your answers." "Most of them." "Most?" She looked at him. "There will probably always be something I don't remember." "That's okay." She frowned. "How?" "Because you don't have to remember everything to know who you are." Lauretta looked at him. For a moment, she said nothing. Then she laughed. "You know, twenty years ago, I probably wouldn't have understood that." "Twenty years ago, you were ten." "I was also very bossy." "Very." She nudged him lightly. "You've mentioned that." "I have evidence." "The photograph?" "Several witnesses." She laughed. Then became quiet. "Elias." "Yes?" "When you first saw me at that wedding..." He waited. "Did you know?" "I knew you looked familiar." "That's all?" "At first." "And then?" He smiled. "Then I remembered." Lauretta looked away. "Was that why you kept coming back?" "Partly." "What's the other part?" He looked at her. "Because I liked you." She smiled. "Even before you remembered?" "Especially then." For the first time in days, Lauretta felt completely still. No mystery. No photograph. No forgotten childhood. Just the present. And the person standing in front of her. That evening, Lauretta went to see her mother. Her mother opened the door. Neither of them spoke at first. Then Lauretta walked inside. "I know." Her mother's eyes filled immediately. "You know?" "About the photograph." Her mother sat down. "I'm sorry." Lauretta sat beside her. "I know." "I should have told you." "Yes." "I thought I was protecting you." "I know." Her mother looked at her. "Do you hate me?" Lauretta took a long breath. "No." Her mother cried. "But I'm angry." "I know." "And I'm going to need time." "I understand." Lauretta reached for her hand. It wasn't forgiveness. Not completely. Not yet. But it was a beginning. And sometimes beginnings were enough. Months later, Lauretta returned to Lake Aster. This time, she wasn't alone. Lara was beside her. Elias walked a few steps behind them. The lake looked different. Or maybe she did. Lara sat on the old dock. Lauretta joined her. "Do you remember this?" Lara smiled. "Everything." Lauretta looked at the water. "I remember enough." "That's all you need." Lauretta touched the silver necklace around her neck. She had started wearing it again. Not because it belonged to their father. But because it belonged to them now. A reminder of the girl who had waited. The girl who had jumped into the water. The girl who had refused to let twenty years become the end of their story. Lara looked at her. "You know what I kept thinking all these years?" "What?" "That you'd forgotten me." Lauretta smiled. "I did." "I know." "But forgetting isn't the same as losing." Lara looked at her. Lauretta continued. "Some things stay with you even when you don't know they're there." Behind them, Elias called. "Are you two coming?" Lara stood. "He's impatient." Lauretta laughed. "Very." They started walking toward him. Then Lauretta stopped. She looked back at the lake. At the dock. At the place where everything had begun. She finally understood the words on the back of the photograph. You always find me. It had never been about one person finding another. It was about the pieces of yourself that life sometimes scattered. The childhood you forgot. The people you lost. The truths you weren't ready to know. And the version of yourself you thought was gone forever. Sometimes, they found their way back. Lauretta smiled. Then turned toward Lara and Elias. Toward the life waiting for her. And for the first time, she wasn't looking backward. She was moving forward. Still Lauretta. Still herself. Still loved. Still here. And somehow— after all those years— still her. The End.

Other insights from Jhaymkay🖤

Contributor Points

Points-to-Coupons

Referral Earning