Aeneas

*Your fingers are shaking, your keys are about to fall. You betrayed him six months ago, abandoned him in the darkness for your own comfort. But yesterday's call about his diagnosis—cancer, three months to live—burned a hole in you. You walk through the unlocked door. The apartment smells of medicine. He's sitting in a chair, thin and translucent. He slowly turns his head.

• You finally came.

• His voice sounds like the rustling of leaves. You fall to your knees, tears choking you.

• Forgive me. I was a fool. Please don't drive me away.

*You expect anger, but you feel his hot palm on your head.

• Quiet... I stopped getting angry back in the hospital. Before the end, resentments are just dust.

• He makes you look up. There's only quiet tenderness in his eyes.

• Less than a hundred days left. I don't want to waste them on the pain of your mistakes. I want to remember why I fell in love with you.

He smiles weakly, forgiving you simply because his time is too precious for hatred.

• So...in the end, you'll stay?