Rock Paper Scissors

by Alice Feeney

“What now?” I ask. But Adam doesn’t answer. I look up, shielding my eyes from the snow, and see that he is staring at the front of the chapel. The huge wooden doors are now wide open.

Sign number one, we are not alone in the desolate wilderness

Life is all about choices, and learning how to put ourselves back together when we fall apart.

My wife didn’t want anyone else to know that we were having problems, but I suspect some might have noticed. Most people can see the writing on the wall, even if they can’t always read what it says.

my theory - adam wants a divorce, amelia wants adam dead

“I think it’s best to make all important life decisions with a game of rock paper scissors,” I teased,

That’s it. The final act. If I wasn’t sure before I am now, and I’m counting down the hours until this is over once and for all.

I was taught to always be polite: you can’t cross a bridge if you burn it.

I didn’t tell you that your favorite author had been staring in our direction, constantly following us around the party, desperately trying to get your attention. Three years and so many secrets.

Why was she trying so hard to keep Adam and Henry apart? So many secrets

Nobody in their right mind would come here at this time of year. Unless they wanted to get cut off from the rest of the world.

She wonders about that a lot: why people only learn to live in the moment when the moment has passed.

We are truly alone here, which was what Amelia wanted. People should be more careful what they wish for.

I wasn’t the only one who slept with someone they shouldn’t have. So did Saint Amelia.

She almost let me fall. I know Amelia was scared too, but she almost let me fall. That isn’t something I can just forget. Or forgive.

Lots of miscommunication and misunderstanding

I know exactly why and when our marriage started to unravel. Life is unpredictable at best, unforgivable at worst.

Robin reaches their snow-covered car and stops for a moment. She recognized the man as soon as he got out, and the memory of it winds her. She didn’t know if she’d ever see him again. Wasn’t even sure she wanted to. He’s older now, but she rarely forgets a face, and could never forget his. Her mind wanders back in time, and she thinks about what happened when he was a boy. What he saw and what he didn’t. The story is as tragic now as it was then, and Robin wonders if he still has the nightmares about the woman in red. She thinks the time has come for him to be told the truth, but he isn’t going to like it. People rarely do.

first big curve - who is Robin really? Is she the one resonsible for Adam's mom dying? or is she really Adam's mom? if so, why'd she leave?

Some people stay pawns their whole lives because they never learned to make the right moves. This is just the beginning. Nobody has played their cards yet because they didn’t know they were being dealt.

There are so many things I can’t tell her; a bit like the sleeping pills I sometimes pop into her hot drinks before bedtime. Things she doesn’t need to know. It was me who turned the power off when she was down in the crypt earlier. She doesn’t understand fuse boxes—all I had to do was flick a switch and drop the trapdoor. I forgot about the generator outside, but I’ve turned that off now too, and we won’t be getting power back any time soon.

i'm so confused. i've decided they're both the bad guys with their own agendas. idk if they'll both make it out alive though

Life can start to feel full of holes when the love has nowhere to go.

Secrets are only secrets for the people who don’t know them yet. They can morph into lies when shared, and like caterpillars turning into butterflies, beautiful lies can fly far, far away.

She remembers the first time she used it: it rained that night and she got badly hurt. But it reinforced the importance of not trusting anyone except herself.

another clue that Robin might be Adam's (not-so) dead mother?

The best lessons are often the ones we don’t realize we’re being taught.

Too many people think the world owes them something, and blame others for their own poor life choices. And everyone thinks they can just run away if things don’t go according to their plans. That won’t be happening here.

The reason why a person lies is almost always more interesting than the lie itself. My husband shouldn’t tell them; he isn’t very good at it.

Married couples always think they know their partners better than anyone else—especially when they have a couple of years under their belts—but that doesn’t mean it is true. Robin knows things about both of them that she is certain they do not know about each other.

They might not know who she is, but Robin knows who they are. She invited them here after all, even if they don’t realize it yet. They will soon enough.

I saw one woman crossing the channel with a rabbit in the passenger seat of her car. It wore a tiny red harness and walked on a lead, I’d never seen anything like it!

robin perhaps?

She seems to have caught the renovation bug, and already has her eye on another abandoned property she wants to transform, according to you. Somewhere a little more remote.

the chapel?

I gave you that iron key because I want to tell you the truth about everything. All of it. We’re so happy at the moment, and I don’t want there to be secrets between us anymore. But when you unwrapped it, and held the key to everything in your hand, something felt wrong. Why ruin our present or jeopardize our future with my past? Better to let us live this happy version of us a little while longer.

I’m sure I must have imagined it—though it’s hard to be certain of anything from this distance—but it looked like they might have been wearing a red kimono. Just like the one my mother used to wear when she invited … friends to stay.

another clue that robin is the mom - but if she is, why'd she fake her death?

There are residents in our lives, the ones who stay for years, and then there are the tourists just passing through. Sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference. We can’t, and don’t, and shouldn’t try to hold on to everyone that we meet,

She wants the visitors out of the chapel, but not yet. There is still too much to say and do before this unpleasant chapter in her life can come to an end.

“What are you talking about, Adam? Who owns this property?” “Henry Winter.”

i'm so freaking confused now. is henry adam's dad ???

Silence cannot be misquoted.

“It’s a photo of your first wedding. When you married Robin.”

WTF???

“I know you can’t see it for yourself, so you’re going to have to trust me,” Amelia says. After seducing me, her best friend’s husband, trusting her is something I’ve never been great at.

Omg amelia is the work friend not the wife writing the letters

People confuse what they want with what they need, but I’ve realized now how different those things are.

If you never give up on something you can’t ever fail.

Nothing you think you know about Amelia is true. Your wife was to blame for your mother’s death when you were a child, and I think it’s only right that you know that, before making a decision.

Tiny violins always sound loudest to those playing them.

Sometimes I think it’s the fear of falling down that makes people trip up. We’re not born afraid. When we’re young, we don’t hesitate to run, or climb, or jump, and we don’t worry about getting hurt or fret about failure. Rejection and real life teach us to fear, but if you want something badly enough, you have to take the leap.

Books can be mirrors for whoever holds them and people don’t always like what they see.

Sometimes a lie is the kindest truth you can tell a person, including yourself.