The Unraveling

by Vi Keeland

He’s angry. Probably needs therapy. Most of us do. Myself included.

Maybe I’d have taken a year off. Maybe I’d have paid more attention and noticed how bad things with you really were.

I wonder who is narrating

“Meredith?

The narrator

It can’t be him. Can it?

Who?

Gabriel Wright.

Man that Meredith starts following

To feel joy, after what you did.

Did what? Who is Meredith talking to here?

We just went through hell together, several rooms apart. You in one room. His wife and child in another.

M about Gabriel and whoever she is talking to

These days, the idea of happiness is like a fable or a fairy tale. A dream every little girl growing up in a screwed-up house wants to be a part of, but knows deep in her heart is just make-believe.

Connor

M's husband?

Jake

M's brother

Keith Alexander, PhD.

M's new therapist

How am I supposed to talk to him about the crushing guilt I feel or how much I miss my husband while simultaneously wishing I’d never met him?

Did her husband leave her?

“It’s for the Office of Professional Misconduct. You enter the date I’ve started therapy and sign. I’m required to start by next week, so I guess this just tells them I’ve complied with their punishment.”

Why is she being punished

My tragedy. Like my life is a Shakespeare tale instead of the train wreck it is.

And lying is half of what got me into this mess in the first place, isn’t it?

“A dead woman’s husband.”

Hmmmm

“His name is Gabriel Wright. He’s the husband of the woman that was killed, the father of the child killed.”

You knew the Wright family before the accident?” “No. We’d never met.” “Then how do you know how Mr. Wright proposed?”

“If you’ve never met, how did you know who Mr. Wright was when you ran into him yesterday?” “I’ve seen him before. The night of the accident, I was in the hall at the hospital when the doctor told him his wife and child had died. He crumpled to the floor, sobbing. The memory of his face isn’t something I could ever forget. Though last night when I followed him home, I also checked the names on the mailboxes inside the lobby of his building just to be sure. It was him.”

I think you’re playing with fire by becoming emotionally invested in the happiness of the survivor of your husband’s victims.” “Gabriel Wright is not only one of my husband’s victims.” Dr. Alexander’s brows puckered. “Who is he, then?” “He’s the husband of my victims, too.”

Irina.”

Meredith's friend

Her husband was Ivan Lenkov, one of Connor’s teammates and closest friends, and Irina and Ivan had recently moved into an apartment in our building.

I suddenly feel eyes on me, a steady gaze, and I look up, searching for its source.

Rose.

Gabriel's daughter

“Someone requested a copy of the entire case file under the Freedom of Information Act.”

“But who would request a copy of my file?”

Dr. Alexander? Gabriel?

No one has bothered with me since the story about Connor fizzled from the headlines. It has been months now.

I wonder where Conner is now

Ellen

Gabriel's wife who died

Brimley Franklin was filling in as center, the position my husband played.

Dr. Gallo?”

Team doctor

Didn’t have a place nearby to be buried. Or maybe he had them cremated?

What if their bodies are in that storage unit?

I’ve lost my apartment key. Not my key, actually. My husband’s.

I bet Gabriel stole them when they collided with each other

It still smells of Connor.

So is M talking to Connor or someone else?

Too much thinking, too much stressing, causes potentially toxic by-products to build up in the prefrontal cortex.

But I still can’t shake it. The need to see it. The need to see Gabriel Wright’s pain. Which I caused.

“Oh, wait. Did you leave the prescription for Mr. Mankin?

Oh shit Connor probably stole the Rx pad

An ominous feeling washed over me as I remembered my husband sitting within arm’s reach just hours earlier. “Umm… Yeah, that must be it.”

Yup

Dr. Gerald Rodgers—maybe

A psychiatrist

Mr. Hank

Meredith's neighbor

“This is Dr. Bruner at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.”

Detective Green.

Your husband died, Mrs. Fitzgerald.”

My husband had been driving under the influence.

To bounce back and forth between hating you for what you’d done and hating myself for not finding a way to stop you.

Meredith holds a lot of guilt

Aunt Francine

M's aunt

Raylene

Jake's wife

Detective Owens.

You, by Caroline Kepnes.

“Amazon must’ve made a mistake. But did you see the show? The book was made into a series.” “No.” She smiled. “It’s so good. Creepy as hell, but addicting. It’s about a guy who stalks women.”

Lol

Mrs. Amsterdam

Patient of Mer's