Prologue

Dear Maria,

I doubt that you expected this journal to amount to much when you gave it to me, but here it is. I wrote it for you. When you gave it to me, you said that you wanted to understand me. I’m still not sure you’ll understand what I’ve done but I have hope.

You’re a big part of this story now, bigger than I expected when I started. I just kept on writing. So here it is. Here I am on a few hundred ratty pages.

I don’t know if I’ve sinned or if sin even exists. If it does, then I guess I’ve committed more than my share. Maybe I should care, but I don’t. All that I care about now is that you and Christopher are safe. Everything else will take care of itself.

I love you.

Love,
Joe