Chapter 33 - leo found the old phone
Leo was thirteen when he found the phone.
The original phone.
The one he had used at the gala.
It was inside a small box in my office.
He brought it to me.
“Why did you keep this?”
I looked at it.
“I don't know.”
“Can I see it?”
I hesitated.
Then I handed it to him.
The recordings were still there.
Leo listened to the first one.
His face changed.
He remembered.
I watched him carefully.
“Do you want me to turn it off?”
He shook his head.
“No.”
He listened until the end.
Then he said:
“I sound so young.”
“You were.”
“I was scared.”
“I know.”
He looked at me.
“Why didn't I cry?”
“Because you were trying to protect yourself.”
He nodded.
Then he deleted the files.
I stared at him.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because we don't need them anymore.”
He put the phone down.
“That night proved what happened.”
He looked at me.
“But it doesn't have to prove who we are forever.”
I hugged him.
For the first time, I realized my son had moved beyond the story.
He remembered.
May you like
But he wasn't living inside it.
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