Shadow of the Beast

Two Sides

I sat back from the journal, trying to take in what I'd just read. 

'Aunt Kate!' I shouted from the living room. 

She walked in, fidgeting with the mug in her hands. 

'Heavy stuff, isn't it? You alright honey?' she sat next to me and put her arm around me. 

I was shaking. 'She drugged him! She drugged him and forced herself on him! She was trying to trick him into being with her!' 

Aunt Kate looked confused, and I handed her the journal with the pages that I'd just read. Her face turned pale as she got through it. 

'Oh God!' she whispered. 'I hadn't seen that. This changes everything.' 

'What did you read?' I asked, and she took the book and flipped through the pages to the very last journal entry it was written on the day that Violet had taken her life.

After countless letter and phone calls, William finally came to see me today. He hurt me more than any one person has ever hurt another. For years he has refused to acknowledge our daughter as his own, and will not take any responsibility for his actions. He ripped my soul to shreds, and it is too broken to ever be repaired. 

I told him that what he'd done to me was killing me, and he told me that I had ruined his life and was better off dead. I agree with that sentiment. He said that I was crazy to ever think that he could love me. I have been saving up my medications and hiding them under my mattress. This will be my last entry, as I have just taken them and I can feel the beginning of the effects. It won't take long, and hopefully my death will be less painful than my life was. 

If anyone questions my death, the answer is William. William Victor Wilk. 

I could understand why Aunt Kate had felt so wary of William after reading this. As far as she had read, William had raped Violet, and then tormented her until she couldn't bear it anymore and had felt compelled to take her own life. After reading more, it was clear that Violet had always suffered from mental illness, and William was just as much of a victim as she was. He'd said to me, back at the cabin, that he loved her and never wanted to hurt her. He had felt guilty that he hadn't pushed her parents to get her the help she needed earlier. Yes, he'd been harsh at the end, but she had forced him to unwillingly cheat on his wife, she had violated him, and used his one desire, a child of his own, as a weapon against him. 

'I think I owe William an apology.' said Aunt Kate. 'grab your coat. Let's go and let him say his peace. It's time this was laid to rest, once and for all.'