As you could bear in mind, I’m an solely baby, and my childhood was lonely. My mother and father had been typically absent; there have been at all times events to attend, tennis matches to play, and work conferences that stretched late into the night. Nonetheless, I did have associates — good associates — the type I’d drag the lengthy extension wire of our landline telephone into my bed room to speak with for hours. I’d share my secrets and techniques with them — who I had a crush on, and sometimes, the contents of the latest letter I obtained from you.
They described me as “gullible” for believing in your innocence, however their opinions made no distinction to me, maybe as a result of I used to be drawn to attach with you for causes that went past the loneliness I felt at house.
Someplace throughout my childhood, I found out that I used to be supposed to paint contained in the traces, regardless of the enjoyment I discovered in being messy. I liked getting soiled beneath the recent Arizona solar, constructing forts, driving my bike for hours, and spending complete days swimming in chlorinated swimming pools. I typically acquired in bother for speaking an excessive amount of. Considered one of my lecturers even yanked me by the ponytail to get me to be quiet. My mother and father got here house from parent-teacher conferences extraordinarily disenchanted in me.
By the point I reached highschool — and after quite a few door-slamming fights with my mother and father — I finished pushing boundaries… till I adopted the impulse to jot down to you.
Lower than two weeks later, I used to be retrieving the mail, which I at all times did earlier than my mother and father returned house, and noticed your return letter addressed to me, written in pencil with the sender marked as Erik Menendez. I used to be surprised. A mixture of pleasure and mischief surged via me. I hurried inside and tore open the letter.
The primary line learn, My title is spelled E-R-I-Ok. 90% of the time individuals spell it with a “C” so don’t fear about it.
In fact, I used to be mortified that I had misspelled your title.
The letter continued, The press has coated nearly each a part of our lives pretty extensively, however I do know little or no about your life. When is your birthday? What sports activities do you want? What are your hobbies? What sort of music do you take pleasure in?
Your consideration and curiosity about my life made me really feel essential. The man on the duvet of Folks wished to find out about my obsession with Def Leppard.
I solely have just a few of our many letters. Throughout my sophomore 12 months of school, a 12 months after we stopped speaking, detectives from Beverly Hills interviewed me at my house, kindly permitting my boyfriend to sit down with me.
The officers had found our ongoing correspondence and requested when you had shared any info with me concerning the homicide of your mother and father. They appeared disenchanted once I instructed them that you simply and I not often mentioned the case past your occasional replace on vital rulings, equivalent to when the choose determined to permit your psychologist’s tapes in courtroom. That was the primary time you had expressed frustration. You wrote, Thanks for being optimistic concerning the tape challenge for me, nevertheless it didn’t work. We misplaced. No, we acquired screwed. Royally screwed. I’m so fed up with all of the lies. I bear in mind feeling frightened for you.
For probably the most half, nonetheless, our letters targeted on teenage life (mine is the current, yours pre-arrest) — events, love pursuits, faculty functions, and locations we wished to go to, like Hawaii.
When it got here to your case, I used to be afraid to ask questions. What if I upset you? Wanting again, I believe I used to be scared you’ll inform me the reality, which tells me I will need to have recognized deep down that you simply had been responsible.