Chasing Evelyn: A Lost Person's Tale from the 1950s (Part 1)

Chapter One: The Letter That Shouldn't Have Been Read

July 14th, 1956, Chicago.

The mail room at Illinois Central Depot was a dull place, filled with rubber stamps, packets, and tired men passing the time. Daniel Whitmore, 33, sat at his desk, sorting through the mail. But his mind wasn’t on his work. It was somewhere else—somewhere that wasn’t easy to reach. There was a nagging feeling in his gut, a sense that something big was about to happen, but he didn’t know what.

Every Thursday, a letter arrived. And that letter was the only spark of life in his otherwise monotonous existence. He had received the first letter when he was just 25 years old. He could still remember it as if it were yesterday—the moment Evelyn’s first letter arrived, bringing a new kind of pace into his life. It was a short, simple note at first, starting with small talk about her travels, her shopping, and then a subtle, almost haunting call for something more, something beyond the surface.

But Daniel never responded. He knew, deep down, that he wasn’t ready for what that connection might mean. Still, every month, a letter would arrive. It felt like a tether he couldn’t sever, no matter how much he tried.

One day, that letter came back. The envelope was marked with big, bold letters: “RETURNED. DECEASED.”

Daniel felt the blood drain from his face. His hands trembled as he held the letter. He stood frozen for a moment, staring at it. His feet felt glued to the ground. For a long moment, he simply breathed, staring at the return address on the envelope, knowing it wasn’t something he ever expected to face.

He had known the woman for just a few months, yet her absence had never left him. She had been the spark that had ignited a fire in him, and now it was as if the flame had been extinguished forever.

But the letter—he had to open it. It was the only connection he had left. The last piece of her.

Chapter Two: Memories Cloaked in Smoke

Evelyn Monroe.

Daniel had never truly forgotten her. They had met on New Year’s Eve, 1953. A chilly evening in Chicago. A delayed train. A shared cigarette. It was as if their lives had collided, and they had only just begun to understand what that collision meant.

“We’re not going anywhere, are we?” Evelyn had asked, her smile holding something almost too deep for their brief exchange. It was a question that cut through the silence between them, making everything feel more intimate. Daniel found himself unable to respond. There was something about the way she spoke, the way she laughed, that made him freeze in place.

Her presence had been magnetic, and before he knew it, their conversation stretched late into the night. She asked him questions no one had ever asked, and before he knew it, he was sharing things he never thought he would. In that moment, it wasn’t just a fleeting romantic encounter. It was something more—a deep, unspoken connection.

But then she had disappeared.

Evelyn had vanished without a trace, leaving Daniel wondering if she had ever really existed at all. She had left only one thing behind: letters. Letters that kept coming, one after another, with each one more urgent, more emotional. She was always distant, yet deeply attached. Each letter seemed to carry an unspoken plea for something that could never be returned.

In one of her letters, she wrote:

“I still remember that train—the smell of coal, the cold metal of your flask in my hands. I can still feel the coldness of your lips. Can you never forget, Daniel?”

The letter had been signed simply:

E.

And now, this final letter, this message that had come back with a chilling note—“Deceased.”

Daniel couldn’t bear it. He had to know why.

Chapter Three: The First Thread

The next day, Daniel stared at the photo he had found in the letter. It was old, faded, and the edges were torn. It was a picture of Evelyn—her radiant smile staring back at him, but with something troubling in her eyes. There was a darkness behind her eyes that unsettled him.

But in the picture, she wasn’t alone. Beside her stood a man—tall, dark-haired, his face unfamiliar, his expression unreadable. Behind them was the faint outline of a ruined church, as if some disaster had already consumed it.

The photo unnerved him. Who was the man? Why had Evelyn never mentioned him? What did he mean to her?

On the back of the photo was a single line written in her hand:

“Daniel, don’t forget me. I’m waiting for you.”

It was the one thing that kept him going, the one thing that made him feel like he hadn’t been left entirely behind. The only thread left to pull.

The next day, he visited the return address on the envelope—the one he had seen a thousand times. It led him to a small boarding house in Albany Park, a neighborhood he had never paid much attention to. The building was old, its paint chipped, and a tired sign hung out front: “Monroe Boarding.”

The landlady opened the door with a distracted glance, barely acknowledging Daniel’s presence.

“Miss Monroe? She left about a year ago,” the woman said. “She left quickly. No forwarding address.”

“Where did she go?” Daniel asked, unable to hide the anxiety in his voice.

The landlady hesitated before answering, “She was traveling with her brother. They were headed somewhere... no one knows exactly where. She left in a hurry.”

Her brother. Bennett Monroe. That was the name she had mentioned only once. He had to find him. Bennett knew something. Something important.

Chapter Four: The Man Behind Bars

It took Daniel the better part of the day to track down Bennett Monroe. He found him in Joliet prison, just as the landlady had mentioned. A man who had lived a life of struggle, a life scarred by the war.

When Daniel walked into the prison, Bennett was waiting in a dimly lit room. His eyes were wild, unfocused.

“What do you want?” Bennett growled, his voice rough.

“I’m looking for Evelyn. Do you know where she went?” Daniel asked, his voice steady despite the pounding in his chest.

Bennett’s eyes flickered, then went cold. “She was looking for something,” he said, his voice almost a whisper. “She found something she shouldn’t have. Something no one should ever find.”

“What was it? Where did she go?” Daniel pressed.

Bennett leaned in closer, his face inches from Daniel’s. “You don’t want to know. We were involved in something after the war... something we shouldn’t have been. Evelyn... she kept digging, asking questions. And then they came for her. She knew too much.”

Daniel’s heart raced. “Who came for her?”

“They don’t let people like Evelyn find out too much,” Bennett whispered, retreating back into the shadows. “You’ll never find her. Don’t even try.”

Chapter Five: The Photograph

That night, Daniel sat in his hotel room, staring at the photograph he had found in Bennett’s locker. It was Evelyn’s picture, but she wasn’t alone. The man in the picture, the one whose face he could barely make out, was someone Daniel had never seen before. Who was he? Why had Evelyn never mentioned him?

The man in the photo stood tall, like a shadow over Evelyn. And behind them, the ruins of what could have been a church, a place of destruction.

The writing on the back of the photo was clear:

“Daniel, come find me. I know you’ll be able to.”

End of Part 1

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