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Before sending the letter, I prepared myself for all kinds of negative responses,
發出信件之前，我設想著各種可能的消極回復，
or what I found likeliest: no response whatsoever.
或者我認為最后可能的是，沒有回復。
The only outcome that I didn't prepare myself for was the one that I then got
我唯一沒能預料到的，是我收到的這封，
a typed confession from Tom, full of disarming regret.
表達懺悔的信，來自Tom，滿是毫無防備的悔恨。
As it turns out, he, too, had been imprisoned by silence.
事實上，他同樣，也一直被“囚禁”于沉默之中。
And this marked the start of an eight-year-long correspondence that God knows was never easy, but always honest.
這成了我們之間隨后一段長達8年時間通信的起點，上帝知道，這并不容易，但我們一直是坦誠的。
I relieved myself of the burdens that I'd wrongfully shouldered,
我卸下了我本不應承擔的重負，
and he, in turn, wholeheartedly owned up to what he'd done.
他，同樣的，由衷地承認他的所作所為。
Our written exchanges became a platform to dissect the consequences of that night,
我們的書面交流成了一個平臺，去剖析那個晚上對我們的影響，
and they were everything from gut-wrenching to healing beyond words.
這些交流有時令人感到極度痛苦，有時卻也帶來超越語言的治愈。
And yet, it didn't bring about closure for me.
但對我而言，一切并未終結。
Perhaps because the email format didn't feel personal enough,
也許，是因為電子郵件的形式并不夠私人化，
perhaps because it's easy to be brave when you're hiding behind a computer screen on the other side of the planet.
也許，是因為躲藏在地球另一邊的電腦屏幕前，勇敢變得容易一些。
But we'd begun a dialogue that I felt was necessary to explore to its fullest.
但我們開始了一個對話，我認為有必要由此來探索所有的可能性。
So, after eight years of writing, and nearly 16 years after that dire night,
所以，在通信8年之后，距離那個可怕的夜晚接近16年之后，
I mustered the courage to propose a wild idea: that we'd meet up in person and face our past once and for all.
我鼓起勇氣提出了一個大膽的想法：我們應該見面，面對我們的過去，一次性解決。
