Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 86226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Dear Diary,
I told Troy that he was going to have to kill me. And I meant it this time. There is a madness inside of me. An insanity that Troy only makes worse. I need to get out. I need to be free. I need to do something. Anything. And if trying to escape means Troy kills me… then so be it.
I prepared myself for his fury. I readied myself for his storm. But instead the man I once loved looked into my eyes with sadness.
“I don’t want you to go,” he said. There was no demand. No threat.
“I have to.”
“What about the children?”
“They’re being pulled into our darkness, and the best thing I can do for them is to set them free from it.”
Leaving my children will be the hardest thing I could ever do, but I’m already gone. I’m simply a hollow ghost walking the halls of this manor. I haven’t been a mother for a very long time.
“They won’t understand how a mother could just leave them,” Troy said, but there was no judgement in his voice. No anger. He was simply stating a fact.
I nodded, knowing he was right. “I have to,” I repeated.
Troy remained quiet for several long moments before he finally said, “I’ll let you leave on a couple of terms.”
I looked up into eyes with surprise. That wasn’t the answer I was expecting.
“If you leave, you can never come back. You can never reenter their lives again. Never. I’ll set you up in a house where you will stay and remain hidden from this family. You’ll have a generous allowance and never need another thing. But the children are never to know you exist. I’ll tell them you died. It will be easier that way for them.”
“You’ll let me go?” His words didn’t sound real to me. For years his threats have kept me prisoner, but now he was willing to allow me to leave.
“You’ll die.”
“I’m already dead.”
And just like that, Troy gave me what I had been asking for years. Freedom. I needed to walk out the door of Olympus and never look back. I needed to rid myself from this cancer and set my children free from inheriting my disease.
RIP Freya Godwin.
It was the only way.
I toss the journal on the bed and stare at Ani in disbelief. She’s waiting for me to say something, but I have no words. Instead, I take out my phone and call the only person who will know how to handle this or know what to say.
“Athena,” I say when she answers the phone.
“Is something wrong?” My sister can always pick up on my emotions.
“It’s Mother.” I draw a deep breath as I stare down at the journal cast to the bed. “I don’t think she killed herself.”
Athena releases a heavy sigh. “We’ve discussed this. Does it really matter if she was the one to jump off the cliff or if someone actually pushed her? She’s dead. And this happened a long time ago. It’s long due we let this go.”
There’s ringing in my ears. “Athena… I think our mother is still alive.”