Published in Human Parts
November 3, 2020
Blood Is Thicker Than Your Obsession: A Letter to My Brother’s Kidnapper
You thought you knew him. You were wrong.
By Victoria Reed
I read your book, Crystal.
I read all 347 pages of your self-aggrandizing manifesto about how my brother “never saw you” and how you “made him remember.” I read your kicked-puppy account of those five days in the silo, your faux intellectual observations about power and recognition, your desperate need for him to finally, finally see who you really were.
Here’s what you never understood: I’ve seen Jackson Reed every day of his life for thirty-four years. I’ve seen him at his absolute worst and his questionable best. And you? You got five days with a man who never thought of you at all.
Let me tell you what you missed.
August 1, 2017 - Mercy General Hospital, Memphis
I stood outside his hospital room for twenty minutes before going in. Not because I was scared of his reaction at the sight of me—though I should have been—but …