What Happened to Cormac Li? ✔

/ 5 /

  "Emily...." Cormac's mother, Mary, sighed as she opened the door to her hotel room.

  She embraced me in a tight hug. Her tears bled through the thin blue and green fabric on my shoulder. Her body shook gently and her soft sobs were faint yet they resonated through me. I didn't know what to do or how to comfort her. I hadn't cried yet. The longer my tear drought went on, the more it became clear to me that I was a heartless psychopath. I didn't even cry when I saw my best friend's lifeless body so I was certain there was something wrong with me.

I didn't know whether to call her by her maiden name or by her married name or by her first name. So instead I stayed quiet, hugging her back gently but not emphatically enough because I was the tin-man lacking a heart.

"I'm sorry...." I eventually decided to say after giving it too much thought and nearly letting the moment to pass.

"Come in, honey. Sit down. Sorry the room is such a mess but I'm just busy packing."

"Are you leaving?"

She nodded. "I'm going back to Ireland to see my father. He's sick and Cormac's death really impacted him."

  "I hope he gets better soon."

  "Me too."

I wedged myself on a free space on her bed between her bag and a pile of clothes. Mary sat down on the chair of her dressing table and turned to face me. Her eyes were bright red and I had never seen her look so exhausted. She was young but the grief had aged her years in the span of a few days.

  She had been the 'cool mom' during our childhood, unlike my helicopter mom. She used to let Cormac do anything he wanted and bought him all his heart's desires. Jealousy obviously sprouted in me as I watched him flourish in freedom while I was literally locked away in the eating disorder clinic. But then she left abruptly after the divorce the previous year to travel the world. I once overheard my mom gossiping with the other moms in the PTA about how they believed she was going through some midlife crisis but she had always seemed so put together so I didn't think that was likely.

"I just wanted to ask you a few questions about Cormac."

"Of course. But I really don't know why he did it if that's what you want to ask."

I nodded. "Did he ever hint anything? Or... or say something that seemed off? I'm just trying to put some pieces together..."

  "I'm sorry, Emily. I just..." She looked around uncomfortably. "I don't know..."

  My eyes fell on a clear plastic bag peeping out of her luggage. In it were what seemed to be a bunch of pill bottles. My mouth dropped slightly as I peered at the bag, trying to make sense of the drug names on the bottle. Why did she have so many pills?

  Clearing her throat, she quickly stuffed the plastic bag back into her carry-on after noticing my staring.

  "Can I ask one thing?"

  "You can but I can't promise answers..." She sighed, eyeing the bag as if warning me not to ask about the pills.

  "Why did you and Mr Li get a divorce?"

  That was the question everyone in our town wanted to ask. Mr and Mrs Li were the town's 'it-couple'. Walking through the local park, you were bound to see them kissing or laughing together. They were so in love and love like that couldn't just disappear. Everyone had their theories but in the end no one really knew the truth. I didn't know but maybe it was linked to Cormac's suicide.