Chapter 5: Letters in Blood

Two things kept me standing through those four months. The first was hate. The second came in an envelope. It arrived on week six with no stamp and no return address, and the handwriting inside was crooked and brown because it wasn't written in ink. My girl, They have me washing floors. Don't come. Don't be brave. Be alive. Whatever they say about your blood — remember I chose it. I chose you. I have never once been sorry. — Mama I read it two hundred times. I slept with it under my...