Difficult Conversations
A Story Every Day in 2024 Sept 29th 273/366
Luke's heart leapt at Matt's serious tone. Out of them all, Matt was the least one likely to be fazed. Luke tried to laugh it off.
"Destroy? That's a bit dramatic, isn't it?"
Matt drew his eyes away from where he'd tapped on the table and said, "You think?"
Luke had been thinking that so many years had gone by, they couldn't be questioned again, could they? And they'd just been kids! They hadn't done anything wrong other than not telling adults at the time about Laney's accident. He supposed that there was doubt: whether she fell, whether she was dead in the water, whether she could have been saved.
But Mark...Luke couldn't have subjected him to more pain. He'd already run the gauntlet of it every day. If Laney was dead, then there was nothing more that could be done. Mark had had to be protected.
Luke stated what he thought: "We couldn't do anything. We made the right decision. For Mark..."
Matt was quiet. "Yeah. For Mark," and the way he said it made Luke feel there was more to it than just agreement with him.
*
Bethan
"Hello?"
"Hello?"
"Dave? It's me."
"Bethan?"
"Yeah."
Pause.
"How've you been?"
Pause.
"Okay."
Pause.
"Right."
Pause.
Bethan's heart was racing as she tried to form the words. She should probably exchange some pleasantries but she really didn't want to know about his life, the life he chose over her. She took a deep breath and dived in.
"Look, I know it's weird me phoning you and all but something odd has happened and I needed to talk to you because there is no-one else..." Shit! She didn't mean to say that! Regroup! "...what I mean is..." Here goes the grenade! "...something weird's happened and it's to do with our Laney." She was proud that her voice didn't crack on the name.
Silence.
"Beth...you know...ah...look, I don't want to go down this road again."
Bethan's hackles rose. Down what road? The road where their daughter went missing and was never found? She thought, I've never been off that road.
She contained her rage. "I've had a photo. Three boys."
Silence.
"I don't want to do this."
Call ended.
***
366 words
Dave doesn't want to engage. But is there more to him than meets the eye?
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273/366
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Comments (35)
Sorry I had to get something to eat lol 😂 I am proud that Beth’s voice didn’t crack too. Things are getting deeper and darker. Especially since Matt and Luke are now using mark as a crutch. I see my comment below of when I was reading this in the wrong order lol Beth better find someone quick so they could be even 😈 Dave the… dude. I don’t want to be rude to him lol 👌🏽👏🏽♥️
Hmmmmmm…. I’ve no clue where this is going now! 😄
Belated congrats on Top Story! Another intriguing entry! in some ways, with the liminted info, I dont necessarily blame Dave!
The plot thickens. Maybe I'll just read one or twelve more today.
I wait and wait for these installments and then find myself catching up with them again and again. You never seem to miss a beat, Rachel, in this very suspenseful drama.
great work
As I was reading I was like wait a minute, the same characters from the previous story I read of yours (Dave) came back to haunt me. You know how to create suspense and to use the characters body language to add layers to the story. This was another fantastic read.
Well done Rachel!! Well deserved.
Back to say 'congratulations' for placing on this week's leaderboard for Most Discussed Stories with this piece. Well done.
Rachel!!!!! Congrats on second place for most discussed story!! 🎉
Congrats on the leader board selection, Rachel!
Congratulations, Rachel! I definitely think there’s a lot of confused emotions and exhaustion from the messiness for Dave
well done
Back to say congratulations on earning Top Story with this!
https://wafflemenu.com/
Great top story Rachel. Well done!
Back to say congratulations on your Top Story! 🎉💖🎊🎉💖🎊
Complelling, you built the intrigue so well that we just have to know what had happened.
Oh, I'm hooked.
Awesome work, congrats on TS
Your support means the world to me! I'd be grateful if you could follow my journey and read my latest posts. Your feedback is invaluable, as it will help me refine my writing skills and grow as a creator. I look forward to hearing your thoughts!"
Great,post
Congrats on the Top Story! You're doing a phenomenal job with this series.
Congrats on the TS.
I need to catch up but just sticking my oar in all awkwardly to say congrats on Top Story, Ms Deeming, you killer queen of the micros (alongside the other killer queen, LC and the killer king, Gerard, obviously) chumchumcharee - say it in a dick van dyke accent! lmao