---- Chapter 8 My mom lay quietly on the hospital bed, the lingering purple and blue bruises from last night still visible around her neck. At the sight of her, I couldn't help but float over and gently tried to embrace her shoulders. "you're so silly, Mom. You have a life ahead of you. Why can't you live it properly?" When my mom noticed Chandler, her fists tightened into balls, and she cast him a look filled with hatred. "What are you doing here?" she demanded, then coughed heavily. Chandler stood in the doorway, and for the first time, he seemed cautious and uncertain. He looked pale and utterly exhausted. "Mother... when did Mariah..?" ---- My mom burst into laughter at his words. " Chandler, oh, Chandler, do you finally believe that Mariah is dead?" "Do you still remember how I begged you that day?" My mom exerted every ounce of strength she had to sit up and glare at him. "T pleaded with you, saying Mariah was dying and wanted to see you one last time, to say a few words to you and what did you do? "you said to let her die quickly, to die far away so you wouldn't have to see her!" Chandler trembled all over, his composure wavering as he stumbled through an explanation. "That's not what I meant... I just thought with the special medicine she was taking, how could she possibly die? So I genuinely believed you were lying to me..." "Then look at me! Am I lying to you?" My mom ---- laughed mockingly. "My foolish daughter, even before she died, still wanted to leave you a few words! But what about you? "T wanted to take her body away, to give her a proper burial. Yet you said I brought two coffins just to mess with you! "Do you even realize those two coffins are the future homes for her and her daughter, the places they will lie in for a very long time?" My mom gasped for breath as she spoke. She pressed her hand fiercely against her chest and began to cry uncontrollably. "Tf it weren't for your so-called medicine, Mariah wouldn't have had to leave this world in such a tragic state! "The biggest mistake of her life was being with you!"