I STOLE MY BEST FRIEND’S DIARY FROM HER SECRET HIDEAWAY IN THE OLD OAK TREE
I’m standing outside her window, sweating in the cold night air, as she confronts me. “How could you, Emma?” she hisses, her voice barely audible over the creaking of the old tree branches. I can smell the damp earth and the sweet scent of blooming flowers, a stark contrast to the tension between us. The rough bark of the oak tree digs into my back as I lean against it, trying to escape the weight of her gaze. “You had no right,” she spits, her eyes blazing with a mix of hurt and anger. I feel the diary’s worn leather cover in my pocket, a tangible reminder of my betrayal. As she reaches out to grab it, I take a step back, my heart racing with anticipation.
The sound of footsteps crunching on the gravel path behind us makes us both freeze.
Now my other secret is about to be exposed by the one person I’ve been hiding it from.
👇 Full story continued in the comments…The crunching stopped. My breath hitched. It was Liam. He stepped into the faint moonlight filtering through the leaves, his eyes scanning the scene – me, leaning against the oak, my best friend, Ava, facing me, raw with anger, the air thick with unspoken accusations.
My stomach plummeted. This was it. My other secret, the one I’d been desperately hiding from Ava – my feelings for Liam, the quiet stolen moments we’d shared, the hope I’d foolishly clung to that maybe, just maybe, he felt something for me too – it was all about to come crashing down. And Liam, just by being here, by seeing us like this, was going to be the one to expose it.
Ava’s head whipped around, her gaze fixing on Liam. The fury in her eyes faltered for a second, replaced by confusion, then a dawning, terrible understanding. The diary was still clutched in my hand, a flimsy barrier between us. “Liam?” she whispered, her voice laced with a new kind of pain. “What… what are you doing here?”
Liam looked from Ava to me, his expression unreadable at first, then tightening with concern. “I saw your lights on, Ava,” he said, his voice gentle, directed at her. “And heard… yelling? Is everything okay?”
Ava laughed, a brittle, broken sound. Her eyes flicked to the diary, then back to Liam, then finally settled on me with a look of utter devastation. “Okay?” she repeated. “No, Liam, nothing is okay. Emma… Emma stole my diary. From the tree.” She gestured wildly towards the hiding spot. “And now… now you’re here.”
Liam took a step closer, his brow furrowed. “The diary? Why would you do that, Emma?”
The question hung in the air, heavy and accusing. I couldn’t speak. My tongue felt thick. How could I explain? How could I say I was looking for answers about him? About *us*? How could I admit that I suspected the diary held the key to who he truly liked, and that I couldn’t bear the uncertainty?
Ava’s voice cut through my silence, sharp and revealing. “Why do you *think* she stole it, Liam?” Her eyes narrowed at me. “Was it because of what I wrote about you? Was that it, Emma? Were you trying to find out if I knew?”
Liam flinched slightly. “If you knew what?”
Ava looked directly at Liam, her voice trembling but firm. “If I knew you and Emma have been sneaking around. If I knew you’ve been meeting her behind my back.”
The words hung in the silence, echoing the finality of the moment. The secret was out. Not by Liam’s words, but by Ava’s raw accusation, fueled by the double betrayal. Liam’s gaze flickered towards me, a silent question there. My silence was his answer.
Ava took a shaky breath, wrapping her arms around herself. “I… I can’t believe this,” she whispered, tears welling in her eyes. “My best friend. And you, Liam. I thought… I thought you liked me.”
Liam stepped forward, reaching a hand towards Ava, but she recoiled as if burned. “Ava, I… I’m sorry. We didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“Didn’t mean to hurt me?” Ava’s voice rose, pain and anger surging back. “You lied to me, both of you! You stole from me, Emma, then you lied about this! Everything…” She trailed off, shaking her head. “Just… get out. Both of you. Get away from me.”
She turned and ran towards her back door, disappearing inside. The light in her window, which had been on during the confrontation, snapped off, plunging us back into near-total darkness by the tree.
Liam and I stood there in the quiet night, the scent of flowers now just a reminder of the shattered friendship. The diary felt heavy, useless, a symbol of how badly I’d messed things up. The second secret, the one about Liam and me, was out. But it didn’t feel like a victory, or a relief. It just felt like another layer of loss. There was no normal ending here, just a broken one. I slowly pulled the diary from my pocket, its worn leather cover cool in my hand, and placed it gently on the ground by the base of the old oak tree, leaving it there, a silent apology for the unforgivable things done in the dark. Liam didn’t say anything, just stood beside me, the silence between us now filled with the weight of everything we had cost.