“Before you go, remember one thing. Whatever you hear tonight, you’ve stolen five years from yourself over something that was never your fault.”
I didn’t understand.
I walked into the hallway and opened the front door.
Tom and Lisa were standing behind two police officers.
Tom already had a victorious expression on his face.
“There he is,” he said. “I told you. He wouldn’t even let us inside.”
One of the officers calmly introduced himself.
“We received a report about the possible exploitation of an elderly woman. We need to speak with her privately.”
“Of course.”
I let them in.
When we entered Susan’s room, she was sitting upright against the pillows.
The officer approached her.
“Ma’am, are you staying here voluntarily?”
“Yes.”
“Has Jake forced you to remain here?”
“No.”
“Has he ever asked you for money?”
“No.”
“Has he ever pressured you to sign any documents?”
Susan gave a faint smile.
“That boy won’t even let me reimburse him for groceries.”
Tom interrupted.
“Ask her why he locks himself in here with her every night.”
The room went silent.
Susan looked at Tom.
“Do you really want to know?”
Tom didn’t answer.
Susan turned her eyes toward me.
“Jake comes in here every evening and tells me stories about my son, Mark.”
Lisa’s expression changed.
“Mark?”
“Yes. The same Mark whose funeral ended, after which all of you went back to your own lives and left me alone.”
Nobody said a word.
I sat down on the chair.
Susan continued.
“Mark and Jake were best friends. And the night Mark died, Jake was sitting beside him in the car.”
For the first time, Tom was silent.
I could feel the air in the room becoming heavier.
Five years earlier, Mark and I had been driving home from a friend’s birthday party.
He was driving.
I was sitting beside him.
We argued.
Over something completely stupid.
I wanted him to take another road.
Mark refused.
I got angry and said,
“Just once in your life, listen to me.”
Those were the last words I ever said to him.
A few minutes later, another car cut across our path at an intersection.
I woke up in the hospital.
Mark never did.
The police explained that the accident had been almost impossible to avoid.
But only one thought kept repeating inside my head.
