He Came Back Ten Years Too Late Chapter 10

He Came Back Ten Years Too Late Chapter 10

After everything was settled, Ethan took Aiden’s ashes

to the little house where rd lived for ten years.

A bed made from two rough boards and a crooked table

were almost the entire contents of the room

I didn’t know whether he, like me, remembered the year we got married.

Ethan had decorated our entire home around my tastes.

He’d told me that whenever I grew tired of drifting across the ocean,

our home would always be my harbor.

But now, his fingers brushed over the rough, uneven wall.

His eyes slowly reddened.

He sank onto the bed and buried his fingers in his hair.

Suddenly, a yellowed notebook slid out from beneath the ragged pillow.

I stared at it, stunned.

Ethan had already picked it up and was turning through the pages one by one.

[I dreamed about Aiden again. He said he isn’t hurting anymore and told me not to cry.]

[The waves were too rough today, so I couldn’t dive. I have to leave earlier tomorrow. I’m still far short of

the boat fare to see Aiden.]

[My stomach started hurting this morning. Aunt Rosa said it’s because I haven’t eaten breakfast in too long. But if I eat less, I can save more money, right, Aiden?]

[I hit a reef. There was a lot of blood. Tomorrow I need to wrap another layer of waterproof cloth around myself before I go into the water.]

[Everything hurts. I bought painkillers for ten dollars, which means I have to make one more dive to cover

it.]

[I threw up blood before bed. The pain kept me awake, so I got up to watch the stars instead. Aiden, are you looking down at Mom too?]

Ethan’s hand shook harder and harder where it rested on the notebook.

His face grew paler and paler.

He turned to the last page.

[I passed out, and Aunt Rósa took me to a doctor. He said I’m close to dying, but I’m still one hundred dollars short on the boat fake. If I stay careful, I should be able to hold on for a few more days, right?]

Ethan couldn’t turn another page.

He stared at his hands, his face twisted between laughter and tears.

At last, he seemed to understand

that his shove had destroyed the body that had already been hanging on by a thread.

He grabbed his collar and sucked in breath after breath,

as if the pain were choking him.

“So you weren’t trying to spite me when you offered to sell the ring.”

“Jazz, how could I push you? If I hadn’t, would I have had time to get you to a doctor?” N

“Would I have had a chance to make up for what I’d done?”

After breaking down, he carefully set Aiden’s ashes beside him.

Then he slowly pulled a pill bottle from inside his coat.

He poured the entire bottle into his mouth at once.

He swallowed with difficulty, then smiled at the empty air and said it tasted bitter.

It was just like the first time we’d met, years ago,

when he’d sobbed in a hospital bed because his medicine tasted awful.

But this time, no one would ever come to his bedside again,

set a piece of candy in his hand, and smile as they said,

“Have a piece of candy. It won’t taste so bad then.”

His eyes slowly closed.

The butterflyfish diamond ring slipped from his palm and rolled across the floor.

At last, the force binding me there disappeared completely.

Floating above the room, I saw my mother smiling and reaching out to me.

I saw Aiden in a tiny white shitt, standing beside her.

I drifted toward them without looking back once.

When the tide of my life ebbed away, love and hate were washed clean.