---

The Last Letter

The envelope had no return address—just Ben Keller’s name written in neat, looping script he hadn’t seen in twenty years.

It arrived on a Wednesday, the gray morning when the world felt slightly out of focus. He set it on the kitchen table. He stared at it over his coffee. The handwriting gnawed at a half-buried memory.

When he finally opened it, there were only four words inside: “I forgive you. – M.”

Ben’s mind spun. M had only one reason to forgive him. It was Maggie Lowe, his best friend from the summer of ’98. They were both seventeen then. The girl who vanished after that last night on the lake. The girl everyone assumed had run away.

For the rest of the day, the letter sat in his jacket pocket, a warm weight against his chest. That night, he drove out to the lake. It looked smaller than it had in his memory. The old pier was still there. The boards were warped and groaned under his steps.

Halfway down, he stopped. Someone was standing at the end of the pier, back to him, long hair rippling in the wind.

“Maggie?”

The figure turned. Same face. Same eyes. Not aged a day.

Ben’s breath caught.

“How…?”

She smiled faintly, holding up her hand. A folded sheet of paper slipped from her fingers, catching the wind before it hit the water.

“You always wondered what happened. Now you’ll remember.”

When Ben blinked, she was gone.

And in his pocket, the original letter was gone too.

By Benjamin GroffMedia© | benandsteve.com | 2025