Page 122 - The Houseguest

DAY THREE
This morning I greeted my guest with breakfast and new sheets for her to clean her bed. That was done for my sake as I couldn’t bear any odors emanating from her body. I unlocked the chains on her wrists to enable her to sit upright and reach the corners of the mattress. When she was done, I discarded the sheets in a medical waste container I’d purchased and sat down in my chair beside her bed.
“What do you want with me?” she asked. It was time for me to explain some of my plan to her, withholding the finale, of course.
“So, you know who I am and the reason you are here. This room was my wife’s Inspiration Room, where she wrote about all that was good about life. She and my little girl were everything to me...everything. As you know, you took them away from me, forever. Why? Why, Rachel?” She responded immediately, without any emotion: “Sir, I have been tortured by the accident every day of my life. If only I would have died with them...instead of them. I say to you now that whatever your plans are for me, just do them. Get them over with. If you want to kill me, go ahead and do it. I’ve tried myself and failed thus far.” She nodded her head toward the scars on her wrist, “They found me...again and again. I’ve been in confinement on suicide watch, living like a caged animal. They released me last year and I got a job at that miserable coffee house. The night you took me, I was going to try again, but this time, I wasn’t going to fail.”
Shock and disappointment ran through my body like electricity. The fear I thought she’d been expressing was just spontaneous and
122
The Houseguest by Linda Ellis www.LindaEllis.life