Harmless Secrets

by Caetlin Witbrod

Her secret was a small pebble in the palm of my hand, light and harmless. I smiled politely and tucked it away as she'd asked, unaware of the risks. As time passed, she made me her confidant, and the solitary secret grew and multiplied into hundreds of secrets, all festering below the surface. We were laughing and playing at the beach when she revealed another secret to me, begging me to keep it for her once more. I nodded, and the ocean immediately began pulling me deep into the abyss. My screams were held hostage as I thrust my hands upward, flailing wildly, searching for hers so she could pull me to safety, but she just watched—weightless—floating above the water as her secrets dragged me to the depths and devoured me.

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Caetlin Witbrod is a writer and editor from St. Louis, Missouri. Her favorite genres are literary fiction and thriller. Caetlin’s own literary fiction has been published in America’s Emerging Writers, Missouri’s Emerging Writers, Southwinds Literary and Arts Magazine, and online at Every Day Fiction. She earned her B.A. in English from Missouri University of Science and Technology, and in 2014, Caetlin started Words by Witbrod, a freelance editing business that has given her the opportunity to meet clients from all over the world and edit an extensive and diverse portfolio of print and online media. Caetlin can be reached on Twitter @WordsbyWitbrod.