Love after Death (S1) [Completed]

Chapter 44: Carrying Her in Here

Liam's POV

The dining room smelled of roast chicken and fresh bread, but the warmth of the food couldn't reach the hollow inside me. Mom had set the table carefully, her eyes fixed on the small, empty chair at the head of the table.

Mom finally pushed her plate away, the ceramic scraping harshly against the wood.

"I was looking at her old medical records today," she whispered, her voice tight. "The doctors... they always said the stress of those early years didn't help. The neglect. Moving around."

"Mom, don't go there," Michael said, his voice low and warning. "We gave her a home. We gave her the best doctors."

"And it wasn't enough!" Mom snapped, her grief finally boiling over into a sharp, jagged anger. "I think about Maze and Rudolph rotting in that warehouse explosion, and I feel... I feel robbed. They got a quick end. A flash of fire and then nothing. But Monique? Our sweet girl had to fight for every breath in that hospital bed. She had to fade away bit by bit while we watched her light go out."

Dad reached out to touch her hand, but she pulled away, pacing the small dining room.

"Maze abandoned her in a park like she was an inconvenient piece of luggage," Mom continued, her voice trembling with fury. "By the time we got her, the damage was done. Maze and Rudolph took her childhood, and then the tumor took the rest. They died together in some warehouse drama, leaving us to remember the pain of a broken little girl who deserved a lifetime, not a decade."

Michael leaned back, his face darkening.

"We did what we could, Mom. We gave her a safe life. She died knowing she was loved, not huddled in some corner wondering when Maze was coming back. That has to count for something."

"It counts for everything," Dad said quietly. "She died in a home filled with memories, not in some cold warehouse. You gave her that."

I sat frozen, the secret of Miguel-of Monique's soul-burning in my chest. I remembered the way her head used to rest on my shoulder when she got tired toward the end. I remembered the silence of the house after the funeral.

"She was so brave," I murmured, finally speaking. "Even when she couldn't remember our names, she still smiled when we walked into the room."

Mom stopped pacing and looked at me, her eyes red-rimmed.

"She shouldn't have had to be brave, Liam. She was a child. If Maze had just been a mother... if she hadn't been so selfish... maybe we would have caught it sooner. Maybe she'd be sitting in that chair right now, complaining about the carrots."

"She's not in that chair, Mom," Michael said, his voice cracking. "She's gone."

She's not, I wanted to scream. She's out there. Different face, different name, but the same soul Maze tried to throw away.

"I just hate that they got the easy way out," Mom whispered, returning to her seat and staring at the empty space. "Maze and Rudolph... they don't have to feel this. Only we do."

I looked down at my plate, the "truth" everyone agreed upon feeling like a lie I was forced to live. They were mourning a girl who had died in a bedroom down the hall, while I was protecting a girl who was currently walking through the city streets.

"We'll always keep her memory alive," Mom said softly, her anger ebbing into a hollow exhaustion. "In our hearts, and in the stories we tell."

I stayed silent. I would keep more than her memory alive. I would keep her alive.

~