He’s my best friend, Jace. Has been since we were kids. He’s a long-haul truck driver, so he only comes around once a month or so. Last time, my girlfriend was out of town, so they never met. This visit, this was supposed to be it. Their first time together, under the same roof. I was excited. I made his favorite dinner, a big roast, and the place smelled incredible. Everything felt right. He got here, they exchanged pleasantries, a little awkward maybe, but nothing concerning. We ate, we laughed. It was good. Just like I’d imagined. Then my phone rang. My mom. A pipe had burst in her kitchen. Water everywhere. I felt a surge of panic. Classic timing. I apologized profusely, told Jace to make himself at home, told my girlfriend I’d be back as soon as I could. It was an emergency. I grabbed my tools and rushed out, promising to be gone for “an hour, tops.”
It was closer to an hour and a half.
When I finally got back, the house was silent. Too silent. I walked into the living room, and Jace and my girlfriend were on opposite ends of the couch, watching TV. Not really watching it, just staring. The volume was low. There was no comfortable chatter, no laughter. Just… stillness.
My stomach dropped. What happened?
As I walked in, she stood up abruptly. “I’m tired,” she said, not meeting my eyes. “Going to bed to read.” Her voice was flat. She didn’t even say goodnight to Jace. She just ascended the stairs like a ghost. I followed her up a minute later, confused, but by the time I entered the bedroom, she was already under the covers, back to me, breathing deeply. Pretending to be asleep. I knew it.
The next day was a blur of evasion. She skipped breakfast, claiming she had an early call for work – a lie, I knew she was off. She made excuses to leave the house, ran errands that could have waited, spent hours at the gym. Anything to avoid being in the same room as Jace. He tried to be friendly, cracking jokes, but she just offered terse smiles, always looking anywhere but at him.
I figured maybe they just didn’t click. Some people don’t, right? It hurt a little, my two favorite people, but I could live with it.
Then Jace went out shopping for a few hours. The moment the door clicked shut behind him, she sat me down. Her eyes were red-rimmed, her hands trembling.
“He has to leave,” she stated, her voice barely a whisper. “Immediately.”
I was honestly shocked. “What? Why?” I couldn’t comprehend it. He’s my best friend. What are you talking about?
That’s when she started crying. A deep, gut-wrenching sob that shook her whole body. She covered her face with her hands, her shoulders heaving.
“It’s because of what he did while you were gone,” she choked out between sobs. “He… he just started talking. About his past. About some of the places he’s driven through. And he mentioned… he mentioned my family.”
My blood ran cold. What? Her family? She rarely spoke about them. Always said they were estranged, lived far away, a difficult topic. I knew almost nothing.
She took a shaky breath, finally looking at me, her eyes wide with terror. “He didn’t mean to. I don’t think he even recognized me at first. But he was talking about a delivery route, years ago, through a small town on the other side of the country. And he started telling me about a certain family there. A family he used to deliver to. Said they were… problematic. Said he saw things. Bad things. Things that never made the news. And then he said my mother’s name. He said her full name. And then he told me about the fire. The fire that burned down their business, the one that everyone suspected wasn’t accidental. The one that disappeared one of their partners. He talked about how he helped clean up afterwards, saw the aftermath, the fear in their eyes. He said he just happened to be there for a few days, waiting for his next haul.”
I just stared, my mind reeling. What was she talking about? This wasn’t the sweet, quiet story she’d always told me.
“He kept talking,” she whispered, her voice cracking. “And I just… I couldn’t breathe. Because he was describing my childhood. My town. My family’s dark secret. The one I ran from. The reason I changed my name years ago. The reason I never look back.”
A cold dread spread through me. Changed her name? I felt like I’d been punched in the gut.
“Then he looked at me, really looked at me, and his eyes widened. He just stopped talking. The recognition in his face… it was clear. He remembered. He knew exactly who I was. He knew everything. All of it. He sat there, silent, and I knew my carefully built life with you, this perfect life… it’s all a lie. He didn’t do anything to me, not directly. He just… he just recognized the monster I’d buried.”
She buried her face in her hands again, sobbing uncontrollably.
“And you have to understand,” she gasped between tears, “it’s not just what he knows. It’s… it’s because he was there. He was there. And he knows I saw it all. And he knows… he knows I did nothing to stop it.”
My world collapsed. My best friend. My girlfriend. A fire. A changed name. A monster. And me, left here, in the rubble of a confession I never saw coming.
