8
00
“He was killed by him and my mom.” She
laughed, and cried. “It was my mom’s
birthday. My dad was working as a taxi driver,
and said he couldn’t come home, he had to
drive someone to another state.”
<
She looked at me. “My mom believed him,
and he has never missed one of her birthday
parties. So she called Stanley.
“She asked me to lie to my dad, to cover for
her affair. I actually said yes.” She cried, then
said, “My dad must have thought everyone
betrayed him. He must have hated us before
he died.”
I knew Carrie’s parents loved each other. After her dad died, her mom killed herself.
She looked at me and said, “I didn’t want to hurt you, but I wanted to live. Stanley owes it to me, my parents died because of him. He has to fix me.”
L
I had a strange feeling. I used to hate Carrie,
now…I hated Stanley more.
“What do you want?”
She looked lost. “I want to say I’m sorry.”
“You’ve said it a lot.” I sighed. “But I won’t
forgive you, you can go.”
Carrie stood up, and said, “I’m sorry” again.
After that day, I didn’t see Carrie again.
She went back and yelled at Stanley, telling
him everything.
<
Stanley thought a seven–year–old wouldn’t
remember, and he got angry, and hit her.
Carrie left.
After college, I came home for a few days to burn paper money for my mom, then went to
Uncle’s.
I pulled back the curtains and saw a thin figure standing outside.
Stanley had lost weight. He was sick.
“He comes every year.” Aunt said, pointing to Stanley. “But he doesn’t come up. Uncle beat
him up.”
<
I finished college and got a Masters. Uncle
had a party.
I raised my drink to Uncle, and saw the
familiar figure.
Uncle saw him and sighed. “Go talk to him,
he’s dying.”
After the party, I went to see Stanley.
He gave me a crumpled red envelope. “This is
from Dad, it’s all I have. I haven’t done
anything for you.”
“Carrie’s alright.”
<
“She thinks of you and is disgusted by you,
how can she worry about you?”
He started shaking, crouching down, covering
his heart.
“We had a good family, Mom would have
been happy to come to my graduation
ceremony. You destroyed it. You destroyed
her, destroyed our family.”
“I’m sorry.” He kept saying that, but I didn’t
want to hear it.
“I don’t have a dad, and I don’t want to see
you. Don’t bother me.”
L
That was the last time I saw Stanley.
Uncle said he had died in his apartment.
Uncle helped plan his funeral.
“Come back for the funeral.”
“He has nothing to do with me.”
Aunt grabbed the phone. “Come back for the funeral, people will talk about you.”
“I don’t care.”
Uncle and Aunt looked at each other.
<
After getting my Masters, I got a job at a
company I liked.
I heard a new leader was coming from
headquarters.
We decorated the office.
Then, we heard a voice. “Did you get those
flowers from the trash?”
I stood up.
The man smiled. “You still have bad taste.”
No matter how much time passed, he was still
a jerk.
<
We decorated the office.
Then, we heard a voice. “Did you get those
flowers from the trash?”
I stood up.
The man smiled. “You still have bad taste.”
No matter how much time passed, he was still
a jerk.
No matter how much time passed, we could
still find each other.
(The End.)
