It's Still Life

Elena found the letter tucked behind Dad’s war medal.

“When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth,” she read aloud.

Inside was her mother’s handwriting …thin, slanting, frightened.

To my beloved Elena,
I did not leave you.

There were pages after that: signatures, witnesses, the legal theft of a child. At the bottom, her mother had written one last line.

He said you were better off without me.

Elena folded the letter and slipped it into her coat. Tomorrow she would visit the grave her father had taken her to every year.

And for the first time, speak the name on the stone.

Written for Violet’s Phraseology, including the literary quote ““when you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth.” by Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner ©Misky 2006-2026.