was the one photograph of me, which he rubbed with his fingers. His face was haggard, pale as a ghost. I feared he might die right there.
Since he arrived, he hadn’t uttered a single word. He hadn’t even opened the curtains, leaving the room shrouded in darkness.
I watched him for a long time until finally, I heard his first words since coming here.
“Alexis, you must’ve been terrified.”
But my heart felt completely numb, devoid of any response.
On the fourth day, he finally stepped outside. I floated beside him, following him to the funeral home.
Scott was standing in front of the hall, his eyes swollen and red. I saw two coffins laid out there. I knew they contained the bodies of my mother and me.
I floated closer, wanting to take another look at my mother. But as soon as I caught sight of her lifeless face, tears streamed down my cheeks like a broken dam.
“Mom, it’s all my fault! I caused your death, so you don’t want to see me, right?”
She had worked so hard to raise me for over twenty years. How could she not resent me for bringing death upon her?
“Ryan, how dare you show your face here!”
Scott blocked Ryan from entering, preventing him from getting any closer. But to my surprise, Ryan bowed, his voice hoarse as he pleaded, “Please, just let me see her one last time! I want to see her! Just once!”
“Alexis doesn’t want to see you! Get out of here, and stay away!”
2/3
Scott had Ryan dragged away before returning to the hall.
Scott had lost so much weight, and gray hairs were beginning to show. If it weren’t for him, my mother’s body might not have been claimed at all.
I floated in front of him and softly said, “Scott, thank you!”
I knew he couldn’t hear me, but he would surely understand my gratitude.
I drifted back to my own body. As I reached out to touch it, I felt my form beginning to fade
away.
In those final moments of disappearing, I heard a voice from outside.
“Somebody’s committed suicide!”
