I'm Sorry

Calem raced through the field, kicking up dirt as he rushed toward a lime green house that lay in front of him. He could almost feel its familiar cracking paint under his fingers. He could almost taste his favorite pies that his sister made often. It was almost unreal how close he was to finally coming back home.

The wind made the grass sway as he trampled them under his feet. As he got closer and closer to the house, the long grass thinned out into a patch of dirt in front of the house. He stepped through the patch of dirt, rubbing his feet through it a bit, reassuringly. He had steeped there so many times before. He stepped onto the small set of stairs, skipping the second step like he always used too.

The last time he had been home was seven years ago when he was twelve. But now he was back! He hoped his mother was doing well. The last time he had seen her, she was coughing up blood.

He winced at the thought of her lying in her bed, dying. He had wanted to save her so much.

That was why he had been gone for so long. He had gone on a journey for seven long, lonely years in search of a cure to his mother's disease. And he had found it.

Calem pressed his hand to the front door. It creaked open slowly as he tried to make as little noise as possible. He was hoping to surprise his family with the gift he had gained for his hardships of the journey. He was proud. Now all he had to do was give the medicine to his mother.

The floorboards creaked underneath the soft carpet as he walked through the living room. As he approached the staircase that led up to his mother's room, he heard a soft sobbing coming from the back of the house. His heart broke at the saddening sound.

He followed the sound, walking through the dining room and past the kitchen. He found that the sound was coming from the bathroom. The door to the bathroom was closed, muffling the sobs.

When he opened the door, it revealed a small girl crying over a bathtub, her tears softly splashing into the tub filled with water.

"Layla?" Calem walked towards her slowly so he wouldn't frighten her. He pulled off his bag and placed it on the white, tiled floor as he crouched behind her. "Why are you crying? Where is mother?"

Layla turned around to face. Even though her eyes were filled with tears and her nose was red from crying, she still attempted to give him a small smile.

"B-Brother? I'm so glad your back."

He smiled back at her.

"Yes, I'm finally back. But why are you crying?"

"I-I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what? Theirs nothing to be sorry about."

"I'm sorry brother...but...M-Mother's dead." She said quietly.

No. Not after everything. She couldn't be dead.

"But...Are you sure she's dead?" His voice trembled as he talked. He didn't want to know the truth. She couldn't be dead!

"No. She's dead." Layla said sadly.

"B-But I have the medicine...she can't be...Why couldn't you have waited a little longer, Mother?" he said, clearly in pain.

Layla's red eyes widened in disbelief.

"Y-You have the medicine?"

"Yes, but it doesn't matter now does it?"

Layla started laughing to herself as tears ran down her face.

"Why are you laughing? Mothers dead." he said almost angry she could laugh in a situation like this.

"If I had just waited a little bit longer..." Layla said

"Layla, what are you talking about?"

"I'm sorry, s-she was in so much pain...I couldn't...it was my only choice. It's all my fault."

"Layla, what do you mean! Nothing is your fault. Mother's death is no one's fault."

"Just look. Look at what I've done."

She pointed to the tub.

No...

He had been wondering why it was filled.

She couldn't have...

He looked inside. Her mother lay there under the water, an expression of terror on her face.

"Did you do this...Layla..."

"..."

"Layla! Please don't tell me you killed our mother!"

"She's was in so much pain. She told me it felt like she was dying. She was in too much pain. She couldn't think correctly. She didn't even recognize me. 'Please...Please, make the pain go away! I don't care about anything else! Just...make it go away...' That's what she told me."

"So you drowned her?!"

"You're probably in a lot of pain right now..."

"Of course, I am!" He was crying now, all of his hard work to find a cure for his mother, wasted. And now he finds out his sister had become a murderer? Even worse, she had become a murderer who had taken her own mother's life?

"Finding out your mother is dead...and your only other person you care about has killed her...this is just hilarious...you even had the medicine. If I had just waited another day...this is just hilarious..."

She started sobbing again, laughing through her tears.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry brother! Mother I'm sorry!" Her laughs slowly turning to sobs.

Calem's heart tore in half as he mourned his mother and pitied his sister. She had killed her own mother. He couldn't imagine what she could be feeling right now.

"I don't know what to do. What am I supposed to say to you? You killed our mother!" He was sobbing now too, crying out everything he wanted to say to his mother.

He had been so excited to see his mother and sister again. But now...He turned away from her dead, frightened face under the water.

His sister looked at him sympathetically.

"You're probably in a lot of pain...Do you want me to take the pain away?"

"Yes...I want the pain...to go away..." Calem was too immersed in his own thoughts to realize what he had said and who he was talking too.

"I love you brother...and...I'm...sorry..."

Wait...Calem turned around to see his sister holding a knife above her head.

"Wait! Layla don-"

He had tried to slap the knife out of her hand, but before he could, she had plunged the knife into his heart.

He coughed and sputtered as she tried to make his death faster.

"I'm sorry. I love you brother. I'm sorry. I'm...sorry! Why! I can't...I can't do this anymore...I'm...sorry..."