Chapter 11: The Tape
The lake house still had an old cassette player.
Of course it did.
Everything there seemed preserved from another life.
Robert found it in a cabinet downstairs.
Margaret stood near the front door.
"You're not playing that.""
Nobody answered.
"Daniel.""
I looked at her.
"You don't get to give orders anymore.""
Her face tightened.
Rebecca sat beside me.
Emily stood behind us.
Robert inserted the cassette.
His hand trembled as he pressed play.
Static filled the room.
Then voices.
Helen first.
"Rebecca is coming with me.""
Margaret.
"You can't take my daughter.""
Then another voice.
Young.
Terrified.
Rebecca.
"I want to go.""
The woman sitting beside me closed her eyes.
Robert stared at the cassette player.
On the recording, Margaret shouted.
"After everything I've done for you?""
Young Rebecca was crying.
"You lied about my mom.""
"Elizabeth abandoned you.""
"No, she didn't!""
A crash sounded on the recording.
Then Helen's voice.
"Don't touch her.""
Present-day Margaret turned away.
Robert looked at her.
"What happened?""
"It was thirty years ago.""
"Answer me.""
Rebecca did.
"She grabbed me.""
Margaret snapped, "I was trying to stop you from running away!""
"I was trying to get to Helen.""
The tape continued.
Then I heard something that made every hair on my arms rise.
My own childhood voice.
"Becca?""
Rebecca beside me began crying.
On the tape, I sounded tiny.
"Why are you leaving?""
Young Rebecca answered.
"I have to go, Danny.""
"Did I do something?""
"No!""
Her voice cracked.
"No, Danny. Never.""
I closed my eyes.
There it was.
A memory I'd lost.
Me standing on the stairs.
Rebecca at the front door.
Helen holding her hand.
Margaret between us.
Then my mother's recorded voice:
"Go upstairs, Daniel.""
"I want Becca.""
"Upstairs.""
"Is she coming back?""
A pause.
Then Margaret said:
"No.""
My younger self started crying.
Rebecca gripped my hand in the present.
On the tape, Helen shouted:
"You can't erase her from his life.""
Margaret answered calmly.
"Watch me.""
Robert stopped the cassette.
Nobody moved.
He stared at his wife.
"You said he forgot naturally.""
Margaret crossed her arms.
"He was six.""
"You removed every picture.""
"He needed stability.""
"You told me never to mention her.""
"Because every time you did, he became upset.""
"Of course I became upset!"" I shouted.
Margaret flinched.
"You took my sister away and then punished me for missing her!""
"I protected you.""
"Stop saying that.""
My voice shook.
"Protection doesn't require everyone else to be silent.""
Margaret looked around the room.
"Fine.""
Something in her tone changed.
"You want me to be the villain?""
Rebecca whispered, "This isn't a story, Margaret.""
"It is to all of you.""
She pointed at Rebecca.
"Elizabeth disappeared whenever life became difficult. I fed you. I clothed you. I stayed awake when you were sick.""
Rebecca nodded slowly.
"And you also terrified me.""
"I wasn't perfect.""
"You locked children in rooms.""
"You all survived.""
The sentence landed harder than shouting.
Emily stepped forward.
"That's your defense?""
Margaret looked at her.
"You wouldn't understand.""
Emily's voice went quiet.
"I understand enough to know my daughter will never be alone with you again.""
Margaret's eyes sharpened.
"You're keeping Lily from me?""
"Yes.""
"You can't.""
"I already am.""
Margaret looked at me.
"Daniel.""
I stood beside my wife.
"Emily is right.""
"She's my granddaughter.""
"She is not your property.""
Margaret's face twisted.
"After everything I've done for this family—"
Rebecca interrupted.
"There's more.""
Everyone turned.
Margaret went still.
Rebecca reached into her bag.
She removed a folder.
"I found Helen's notes about Daniel.""
My chest tightened.
"What notes?""
"She kept checking on you after I left.""
I stared at her.
"How?""
"Through Dad's sister, Carol.""
Aunt Carol.
I hadn't seen her in years.
Rebecca opened the folder.
"Helen knew Margaret was still punishing you.""
Robert looked sick.
"Why didn't anyone tell me?""
Rebecca looked at him.
"They tried.""
She handed him a letter.
Robert read it.
Then another.
His face crumpled.
"These were addressed to me.""
"Yes.""
"I never saw them.""
Margaret said nothing.
Robert looked at her.
"You intercepted my mail?""
"I handled the household.""
"You intercepted letters about our son.""
"I knew what Helen wanted.""
"She wanted Daniel safe!""
"He was safe.""
I laughed bitterly.
"You locked me under stairs.""
"For discipline.""
Robert slammed the papers onto the table.
"Stop calling it discipline!""
Margaret stared at him.
For the first time, my father wasn't defending her.
He wasn't explaining.
He wasn't minimizing.
He was finally looking directly at what she'd done.
Rebecca pulled out one final envelope.
"This one wasn't addressed to Robert.""
She handed it to me.
My name was written across the front.
Daniel.
The handwriting was Helen's.
"When did she write this?""
"Twenty-two years ago.""
I opened it.
Inside was a short letter.
Helen wrote that when I became an adult, I deserved to know where Rebecca was.
She included an address.
A phone number.
And a plea.
*Please find your sister. She has never stopped asking about you.*
I couldn't see the page anymore.
My eyes were full of tears.
Twenty-two years.
I could have known Rebecca for twenty-two years.
I looked at Margaret.
"Did you hide this too?""
She didn't answer.
She didn't have to.
Then Emily's phone rang.
She glanced at the screen.
Her expression changed.
"It's Anna.""
She answered.
"Hey, what's wrong?""
I watched the color disappear from her face.
"Anna?""
Emily looked at me.
May you like
Then she whispered:
"What do you mean Lily is gone?""
