Chapter 14 - Grace’s Hidden Journal
A week later, I found something I wasn’t expecting.
Grace had been quieter than usual after school. When I asked if she wanted to talk, she shook her head and went to her room.
Later that evening, I went in to say goodnight and noticed a small notebook half-hidden under her pillow. It wasn’t her usual drawing book.
I picked it up carefully.
Inside were pages of messy handwriting — Grace’s handwriting.
Most of it was simple drawings and short sentences.
One page had a picture of a house with a big red X over it. Underneath she had written: “Grandma’s house makes my stomach hurt.”
Another page showed stick figures. One small one with glasses was crying while bigger figures stood around laughing.
At the bottom she had written: “I try to be good but they still get mad.”
My throat tightened.
I flipped through more pages. There were dates. Some went back almost a year.
She had been writing things down for a long time.
Things like:
“Aunt Lauren said I’m ugly when I cry.”
“Lucas pushed me and no one cared.”
“Grandma told me to stop being a baby.”
I closed the notebook gently and put it back where I found it.
When I went back to the living room, I sat on the couch and stared at the wall for a long time.
My seven-year-old daughter had been carrying all of this alone.
She hadn’t told me because she thought I wouldn’t believe her — or worse, that I would make her keep going back.
I wiped my eyes and took a deep breath.
Tomorrow, I would talk to her about the notebook. But tonight, I just needed to sit with the weight of what she had been hiding.
And I needed to get stronger.
Because the more I learned, the clearer it became:
May you like
This had never been just one bad night.
It had been years.
