Chapter 10 - The First Morning of the Rest of Her Life
Three months later, the autumn leaves had given way to the crisp, clean snow of early winter.
Madison sat at a small oak desk in her aunt Sarah’s sunlit guest room two towns over. The room smelled of lavender and old books, and outside the window, blue jays were darting between snow-dusted pine branches.
The trial—or rather, the swift, inescapable plea negotiations that followed the presentation of the digital evidence—had concluded the week before. Douglas Kensington had accepted a plea bargain to avoid a lengthy trial that would have exposed his entire professional life: two years of probation, mandatory anger management, and the permanent loss of custody. Aaron was currently serving a six-month sentence in a youth detention facility, followed by mandatory community service and probation.
The house on Elmwood Terrace was up for sale. Douglas had moved into a small, sterile apartment on the other side of town, where there were no smoke detectors with hidden lenses, and no one left to listen to his excuses.
Madison’s phone buzzed on the desk. It was a text message from Detective Miller, who still checked in on her every Tuesday just to see how her college applications were going.
Hey Madison, just checking in. Hope you're having a good week. Let me know if you need help with anything.
Madison smiled, her fingers flying across the screen.
May you like
Everything is great, Sergeant Miller. Writing my college essay today. It’s about acoustics.
She set the phone down, turned back to her blank laptop screen, and began to type the first sentence of her future—freely, loudly, and without a single shadow left in the room.
