Thursday, October 30, 2008

Dear Simon 4

“Matthew? Are you in here?” Simon called. “ I want to talk to you.” Simon ducked into Matthew’s dugout, and looked around. At first he didn’t see anything, but at a second glance around he saw Matthew standing in the corner. Not just standing, he had a coarse rope looped around his neck. The other end was tied to one of the rafters supporting the wall. “Matthew, what are you doing?”
“I’m ending it! No more! I can’t go through this another day!”
“Just take the rope off and we… we’ll talk about it. Ok?”
“No! That’s not going to happen! I’m done! Done with this whole fucking war!”
“Just come down. It’s going to be fine. Just come down.”
“No… I’m not… I’m done with… this!” Matthew sobbed.
“It’s ok. Let me help you down.” Simon lifted the rope from around Matthew’s neck. He sat the sobbing form on the cot. He tried to calm Matthew down, but it just made it worse. So they just sat down together for a time, only the muffled whimpers breaking the silence. After a long time Matthew suddenly spoke, “You know, Simon. I used to think you were like a brother to me. It was like I had two brothers, one in blood, one in spirit. Now I only have one left. You. And now you are acting like my worst enemy. I never meant to sleep with Amanda. Really. And I’m so sorry that I did. But we can’t change what happened in the past. But we can shape the future. Our future. I would like you to came to the funeral with me. Can you do that for me? Be my brother for one more day? Just one day.”
Stunned, Simon just nodded.

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