“The Secret We Keep”

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You weren’t supposed to stop here. This story continues inside Bad Bedtime Stories Club. Unlock every confession, full chapters, and the complete after-dark audio library. Join the Club

You weren’t supposed to stop here. This story continues inside Bad Bedtime Stories Club. Unlock every confession, full chapters, and the complete after-dark audio library. Join the Club

We were young. Sounds like an excuse. It’s still true. I was dating Jason for a few months. Three, maybe four. Most of our relationship at that point was logistics. Whose car. Whose place. Which roommate was working. Whether his roommate’s shift ended at ten or eleven, because if it was ten there was barely…

You weren’t supposed to stop here. This story continues inside Bad Bedtime Stories Club. Unlock every confession, full chapters, and the complete after-dark audio library. Join the Club

Kate was still asleep when I came downstairs Saturday morning, which nobody held against her. Jason was digging through a cabinet looking for a coffee filter that didn’t exist, and Danny was standing at the counter with the empty coffee tin, turning it upside down like that might change what was in it. “We have…

The drive out took an hour and forty minutes, and Kate spent the first thirty of them not talking to me. Window cracked, feet up on the dash, sunglasses on even though the sky had gone that flat gray that doesn’t really need them.  Jason drove.  I sat up front because it was his car…

The envelope had no return address. Just my name, typed, like whoever sent it didn’t trust their own handwriting near it. Inside was a photograph. Four of us on the dock. Me. Jason. Danny. Kate. I remembered the picture. Somebody’s disposable camera, probably mine. I remembered standing there. I remembered Jason’s arm around me and…