Chapter 35 - The Confrontation
Against my parents' advice, I visited the hospice facility three days after Doña Carmen was released from prison. I didn't go to offer forgiveness. I went to finalize the burial of my past.
The hospice room smelled of antiseptic and stale air. Doña Carmen lay in a hospital bed, looking incredibly frail. The harsh, imposing matriarch was gone; in her place was a withered, jaundiced old woman hooked up to an IV drip.
She opened her eyes slowly as I walked in and stood at the foot of her bed.
"Valeria," she rasped, her voice weak and reedy. "You came."
"I did," I said, my voice completely devoid of emotion.
"Are you here to gloat?" she coughed, a bitter edge still clinging to her tone. "To watch me die?"
"I am here to show you that I lived," I replied calmly. "You told me it was my duty to endure the pain. You told me I was nothing without Diego. Look at me, Carmen. I am a free woman. I built a sanctuary for women to escape monsters exactly like your son."
She looked away, a tear leaking from her sunken eye. "Diego... he never visits. He blames me for everything."
"He blames you because he is a coward," I said. "And you are dying alone because cruelty is a very lonely inheritance."
I turned toward the door.
"Valeria, wait," she croaked, lifting a trembling hand. "Forgive me. Please."
I stopped in the doorway, looking back at her pathetic, terrified form.
May you like
"I don't forgive you," I said firmly. "But I don't hate you either. You are simply nothing to me anymore."
I walked out of the hospice, stepping into the bright, warm afternoon sun. I took a deep breath of fresh air, leaving the darkness behind forever.
