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"Even now, what can I say to you? It all happened so long ago. Yes, I remember it clearly, but they are my memories, and mine to choose to share. I know I've never told anyone about this - the less said the better."
She stopped talking and stared down at her hands. Moments of silence passed which seemed long and strained the quiet.
After a while, she started talking again.
"I promised myself never to speak about this to anyone. I hate breaking that promise, even for you, but...I suppose I must."
We just sat there again without speaking, the silence creeping back into the room and slipping over the last echoes of sound. I regretted this visit, the question asked, and my making her feel so painfully uncomfortable. Yet, I knew that from this moment on, we would think of nothing else.
Her cat tip-toed into the room. Cats always seem to be able to find comfort even in the most awkward of times. It licked its paws and curled up on a chair in the corner acting like we were the intruders.
After another eternity she began again, "You know, he wasn't really a bad person; we all loved him so."
"He could make us laugh until we ached."
I watched a hint of a smile pass across her face.
"Mother loved him the way you love your firstborn, and she hated him too. Once, she damned him to hell."
I just looked at her now and never said a word. This was hers to share if she wanted to. My part in this whole affair was over. I listened now whether I wanted to or not. I set something in motion, and now it had to find its own time to stop.
