Chapter 8 - Vanessa Starts to Panic
Arthur reached day seven.
Then day eight.
Vanessa stopped pretending patience.
She requested a private meeting with Dr. Reed.
Denied.
Arthur had revoked authorization.
She demanded access to his chart.
Denied.
She called hospital administration.
Denied.
Then she returned to Arthur.
“You’re shutting me out.”
He looked weakly toward her.
“Am I?”
“I’m your wife.”
“Yes.”
“I have a right to know whether you’re dying.”
Arthur almost smiled at the sentence.
“If I die, you’ll know.”
Her face went still.
He regretted the cruelty immediately.
Not because she deserved softness.
Because he did not want to become her.
“I’m sorry.”
Vanessa blinked.
The apology confused her.
Arthur continued.
“I’m tired.”
She sat.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Vanessa did something unexpected.
She began crying.
Real tears.
Arthur could tell.
“I didn’t think it would take this long.”
The sentence almost escaped before she caught it.
Arthur heard.
So did the room recorder authorized for his own safety.
Vanessa changed direction.
“I mean…”
“I didn’t think you’d suffer this long.”
Better.
Not good enough.
Arthur closed his eyes.
She held his hand.
And for one irrational second, he remembered meeting her twelve years earlier.
A museum fundraiser.
Vanessa laughing at a sculpture she did not understand.
Arthur falling in love with how alive she seemed.
Was all of it false?
Probably not.
That was the hardest truth.
Someone can love you once.
Then choose against you later.
The past does not become fake because the ending is ugly.
Vanessa leaned close.
“I want you at peace.”
Arthur whispered:
“Do you?”
She kissed his hand.
“Yes.”
Arthur almost asked when she stopped loving him.
He did not.
May you like
Questions are invitations.
He was done asking Vanessa to explain herself before evidence did.
