Every visit, Levi and his cousin Tanner played quietly in the same gravel spot. I thought it was innocent—until I noticed missing items from the house.
One night, I found Levi hiding in a hole behind the shed. Tanner said he couldn’t come out until he told “the truth about you.” Levi finally confessed: I had once told him his mom left because she didn’t love us. The truth was, I was hurt and angry—and I lied.
I told him the real reason. She left me, not him.
We built a box together to “keep the truth safe.” Inside, Levi placed a notebook full of things he couldn’t say out loud.
Later, I learned Tanner had been seeing a counselor. He invented a “game” to get people to confess by hiding and digging. He wasn’t trying to hurt—just to understand control and truth.
Now, the boys still dig—but to plant seeds and bury fears.
And every time, they say,
“Now it grows into something better.”
