33-Her Chest

"I think you know what I'm going to say, don't you?" Ms Simona looked at Hermosa and said sincerely, "Perhaps you remember Brent getting a delivery on his birthday that was actually a gift we sent him."

"He never accepted anything from us before, let alone contacted us. But now he's changed and he's even reaching out to friends and colleagues from the past, and the news has kept me awake for nights. You are his saviour as far as I'm concerned, Hermosa."

"Hermosa, please, bring our son out of his despair. I will give you anything you want if Brent gets better."

Simona's words were more earnest and more like a knife in Hermosa's heart than any other. She didn't respond to her request in the end, but Ms Simona no doubt took her silence as a tacit acknowledgement and left in relief.

Hermosa watched her fading back, feeling nothing but numbness in her hands and feet and, with them, a numbing pain in her chest.

Most of the world's events were like the mockery and irony of creation, but none