A neon strip light splutters into life as I enter, flooding the room in a sickly artificial glow. It’s a small space, about the size of an average garden shed, and it is stacked from floor to ceiling with white cardboard packing boxes. As I step closer I see that each box has been labelled in black marker pen, but I don’t recognize the handwriting. It is definitely not Sean’s.

The first box is marked Elspeth: Bedroom. I put my hands on the lid. It has been sealed with thick masking tape. I go to pull the tape away then stop. I’m not ready to see what is inside. Not just yet.

I step further into the room. There must be around a hundred boxes of various sizes all piled up. I see Elspeth: Playroom, Elspeth: Bathroom. My heart hurts when I see a box labelled Elspeth: Miscellaneous as I know exactly what that will contain; all of her oddities and precious things, her latest obsessions. ‘Miscellaneous’ is a good word to describe those things, I think to myself, though it is a word Sean would never have used. He was so respectful of Elspeth’s obsessions, much more than I was. Spending every day with Elspeth meant that I grew impatient quickly. After the sixth day in a row of hearing Native American facts I would get frustrated and shout at her. Yet Sean, because he was out at work all day, would come home and give her his undivided attention. Whatever new thing had piqued her interest that particular week he would give as much reverence and attention to as the previous one. He was a better parent than I could ever be.

I step across to the other side of the room where more boxes have been piled up. But when I read the labels I go cold. In the same neat handwriting as the ones on Elspeth’s boxes someone has written:

The Bitch: Bedroom

The Bitch: Kitchen

The Bitch: Bathroom

The Bitch: Office

The words drip with venom and hatred. This can’t be Sean. He has never called me a bitch in his life. And, besides, this isn’t his handwriting. Who could have written this? Who could hate me so much?

I slump down on the floor. I have no idea why someone would have so much hatred for me that they would dismiss me as ‘The Bitch’. Surely it can’t be Sean. But then I think of his last entry in the diary: You killed our daughter. And Freya Nielssen. Could it be her handwriting? After all, hers is the only name, apart from mine, that is linked to this place. Is she behind this? Did she make Sean believe I killed Elspeth so that he would hate me and they could be together? My head hurts from trying to make sense of it all.