Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 81488 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81488 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
I can’t change the past though, Roman. I’m lucky to have such amazing children. I don’t deserve any of you. Not even the little baby girl, your older sister, Bella, who passed away only a few days after birth. I thought about how you said you asked your mother and girlfriend to pray for me, and you prayed for me, too. That brought tears to my eyes. Son, I finally have something to give to you. Something that can help you. I had a journal too.
It wasn’t written down, but you could see it with the naked eye. When your mama and I bought that house you and your brothers grew up in, and she still lives in with that fucker that stole her from me, one of the floorboards was bad. I fixed it, but not before hiding something beneath it. Something I kept in case I needed it, and as a reminder for myself, a reminder of something horrible that affected my life forever. I told you about the floorboard previously, but here are the final details. It’s in a brown paper bag, and inside of that bag, is a letter that I wrote to myself. That letter is in an envelope and is taped to a VHS tape.
I was planning to use it for my own needs, but you need it far more than I do now. Get the tape and the letter, put the floorboard just as it was, and read the letter after you watch that tape in the privacy of your own home. Tell no one where you got it. Use it at your discretion. You will find it on the fifth board from the left side of the bedroom. A small dark stain shaped like a heart.
I love you,
Daddy
Roman swallowed, slipped the phone back into his pocket, and looked at the green ball sitting there on the floorboard Daddy had described. Fifth board over, small dark stain shaped like a heart. He dropped to his knees, as if in prayer, and began prying at the wood with his bare hands but couldn’t find the weak spot. He pounded, pulled and tugged. He screamed and cursed. After a few minutes of this, he hopped up, ran to the kitchen, and returned with one of the tools he was using for the kitchen sink and pried it little by little until the board popped up just enough for him to see beneath it. There, underneath the wood plank, was an old brown paper sack. The kind used to wrap around a liquor bottle. He grabbed it, and the worn paper rattled in his shaking fingertips.
Toby came over and sat beside him, as if sensing he needed comfort. He removed the old, dusty tape from the bag, and pulled out an unlabeled VHS tape. He ran his hand over it… wondering what in the world could be recorded on it. He flipped the VHS tape over, and there attached to it, was an envelope with what appeared to be a letter, taped to it, too. Just as Daddy had said. He gave everything a onceover, but didn’t open the envelope, per Daddy’s instructions. A few minutes later, he’d placed the floorboard back, grabbed Toby’s ball and he and the dog left Mama’s bedroom, closing the door behind him…
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Rough and Snuff
Roman didn’t own a VHS player. He didn’t own a CD player, either. He realized that with all of his money, he didn’t own a lot of things he used to have when he was younger—things that described his childhood to a ‘T’, held close to his nostalgic heart. He stood in the Target store and perused the electronics section. The sales guy stated that they didn’t have any VHS tapes or players, but he pointed the way to the DVD players. As if that would solve the issue. Roman chalked it up to twenty-two-year-olds who were improperly trained. He considered driving to Best Buy and testing his luck, but figured he’d get the same results there.
Roman didn’t find what he needed, so he headed out of the store after picking up Genesis’ favorite white chocolate covered pretzels. As he drove along, he spotted a small secondhand store in a strip mall. He pulled in and ushered a few slew-wheeled shopping carts that were obviously “borrowed” from other stores out of the way of the front door. When he entered the place, a chime rang. The smell of dust, dampness, and something unpleasantly sweet hit him all at once. He marched up to the counter, where a young lady stood with dark brown wavy hair and a red shawl wrapped around her shoulders. She was holding a creased and worn paperback romance book, the couple on the cover in an over-the-top embrace. Her long, pale fingers flipped through the yellowed pages as if she were speed reading. Perhaps she was just skimming to the sexy parts. Finally, she looked up. Their eyes locked.