Page 120 - It Ends with Us

per fect day.

—Li ly

Dear Ellen,
Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming.
He’s moving to Bo ston.

I do n’t real ly feel like tal king ab out it.
—Li ly

Dear Ellen,
Thi s is going to be a big one for my mothe r to hi de .
My fat he r is usual ly pretty cognizan t of hi tting he r whe re it won’t leav e a
visible bruise. The las t thi ng he probab ly wan ts is for people in the town to

know what he do es to he r. I’ve seen hi m kick he r a few times, cho ke he r, hi t he r
on the bac k an d the stomac h, pull he r hai r. The few times he ’s hi t he r on the
fac e, it’s al way s just been a slap , so the mar ks wouldn ’t stay for long.
Bu t never hav e I seen hi m do what he di d las t night .
It was real ly lat e whe n the y got ho me. It was a weekend, so he an d my mom
went to some community function. My fat he r has a real estat e compan y an d

he ’s al so the town may or, so the y hav e to do thi ngs in the public a lot like go to
char ity di nners. Whi ch is ironic, since my fat he r hat es char ities. Bu t I guess he
has to sav e fac e.
Atlas was al ready in my room whe n the y got ho me. I could hear the m
fight ing as soon as the y wal ked through the front do or. A lot of the conversat ion
was muf fled, but for the most par t, it sounde d like my fat he r was ac cusing he r
of flir ting with some man .

No w I know my mothe r, Ellen. She would never do somethi ng like that . If
an ythi ng, a guy probab ly looked at he r an d it made my fat he r jeal ous. My
mothe r is real ly beau tiful.
I he ard hi m cal l he r a who re an d the n I he ard the first blow. I star ted to
climb out of my bed but Atlas pulled me bac k an d told me not to go in the re,

that I might get hu r t. I told hi m it ac tual ly he lps sometimes. That whe n I go in
the re, my fat he r bac ks of f.
Atlas tried to tal k me out of it, but final ly I got up an d went out into the
living room.
Ellen.
I just . . .