Hey Michel.

“Hey, how’ve you been?” Sam asked

“You know it’s been a while” Michel said

“Yeah, 10 years is a while”

“Are you still mad at me?”

“I have too much going on to think about you anymore”

“Then, why did you agree to meet?”

“Force of habit, I still can’t say no”

“To me? “

“To anyone.”

“You can leave if you want.”

“You haven’t changed a bit.”

“What do you mean?”

“This is what you do. You try to tell everyone what to do, and when they do it, you act like I am the bad guy”

“You know in our story no one is the bad guy. We both screwed up equally”

“Yeah, that makes one of us”

“You seriously think it was my fault”

“No, I think the problem is you think it was your fault. You kept making yourself a big deal, forgetting there were other people around you”

And the waiter enters

“Are you ready to order?”

“No thanks, I think we are done here” Sam replied while standing up for leaving

“I don’t think we are. Wait, I have to tell you something.”

He held Sam’s hand and her mind went straight to the time when the touch of his hand comforted her, and now she felt nothing but cold and bitter. She pulled her hand back and sat back down.

“I think I am not going to make it”

“What?”

“I have time till Christmas, if I am lucky”

Sam sighed and looked him in the eyes and asked “What is it?”

“Cerebral cancer”

“And there is…”

“There is no chance. It’s a done deal.”

“But, I just….I just wanted to tell you something before…you know.”

“What?” Sam asked with her eyes tearing up trying very hard to not show it in her face

“That night when it happened, I could not remember exactly, but with time, I think as I think more about it, I remember a few details that I didn’t before”

“Wait…what…what details?

“I remember I was sick, and had to go out for medications, and then I came back and you were sitting and Anna was sleeping on the couch, you gave me some coffee, and right after that you said I fell asleep. Except, I didn’t, I was just unconscious because you drugged me. You had already killed our daughter, and you just wanted time to think about how you were going to cover it.

“Wh…what are you talking about? Sam said while sweating

“You know for so many years, I was so guilty, I was so ashamed that I couldn’t save my little Anna, my little girl. My grief took over my judgment, and all I could think of was how sorry I was that my Annie was suffering and I didn’t know.”

“You are crazy you know that right. I think you are having your fit again.”

“Yeah, you have blamed it every time on me, not anymore. What did you do to our daughter? Why did you do it? Tell me?” Michel started screaming

“I did us both a favor. If it were up to me, I would have done it a long time ago. That child you call our daughter, she ruined our life, and she destroyed me, which is why I had to.”

“You are sick, you know that right.”

“This is why I had to do it all alone. You would have never understood”

“So, this is how you remember it then. You don’t know what really happened.”

“What?”

“Memory gets worse over time, it does not get better, you sick old man”

“What are you talking about?”

“I am not here…….”

Voice blanks out

“Sam….Anna……” Michel breathes heavily

“What is happening?” Michel tries to catch his breath

A few minutes pass, and Michel opens his eyes “Food, here is your food” says a man.

 Michel sees a blurry vision of a man standing in front of him looking at him with a tray in his hand

“But, I haven’t ordered yet.”

“Ordered? Yeah, you didn’t order French toast and cinnamon latte but here it is” the man kept a plate full of sludgy mess in front of him

“Wait” Michel said with all the energy he had

“Yeah, you okay? Should I call the medic?”

“Where am I?”

“Again? I don’t have time today”

“I can’t remember, I was just sitting with my wife”

“You are always sitting with your wife”

“Can you help me? Just tell me where I am”

“Fine, but this is the last time. You are in the psych ward of New Hampton’s Prison.”

“Prison, why? What have I done?”

“You did. 10 years ago.”

“What?”

“You killed your family. Your wife and your daughter and then you were brought here. Everyone hated you, but now no one gives a shit about you. You are just a sick old criminal in an old prison cell who will die soon”

“No, no, Anna was already dead. She killed her, my wife, she killed my Anna”

“You say this everyday Michel. It’s over long ago. You eat your food and take your meds.”

And the attendant left handing him the plate.

Just when Michel looked at the plate, he heard a voice behind him.

“Don’t you remember Michel? It was you all along. We tried to run away but you were not going to stop until you killed your little Anna and your wife. Your memory is trying to make it up to your conscience and I will never let it happen”

“No….no….you are lying…go away” Michel screamed.

“I will never go away. I will come to you everyday till you are dead. I will tell you how you did it every single day.”

“You came back home. You were angry that day because you were out of job and had no money. Anna was sleeping on the couch. I came in and gave you some coffee, you hated the coffee, so much that you screamed, and threw the cup at me, and Anna woke up, and hid behind me. You screamed at me and dragged me to the wall trying to choke me saying that we were the reason for your failure, that we ruined your life and you were going to end us. And you did. We kept screaming, but no one heard. You slit my daughter’s throat in the same couch she was sleeping, and when I ran towards you to stop you, you already did, and then you came for me. Could you still hear those screams Michel? I will make you hear them every day, till you die.”

Michel fell down on the floor and kept sobbing till his eyes shut and he felt unconscious and just when he woke up he was sitting in the café when he heard the voice of the women sitting in front of him

“Hey, how’ve you been?” Sam asked