- 13.
Tristan eventually went to the hospital where I had been treated. From the doctor, he obtained my medical report from years ago.
“Severe myocarditis caused by prolonged exposure to rain.”
That one sentence was like a knife, stabbing into Tristan’s eyes.
He recalled that night
When he found out Rachel had gotten a new boyfriend abroad, he drank himself into oblivion.
I had braved the storm to bring him home.
That night was when I caught the cold that would lead to my illness.
But he had left for Rachel, abandoning me for her once again.
Tristan stumbled out of the hospital, his eyes red and his hand clenched tightly around the medical report. He hailed a cab and headed back to
Gull Cove.
By coincidence, he ended up in the same taxi that had taken me there.
The driver, bored and chatty, began to tell him about that night:
Man, that girl was in a sorry state–still in her wedding dress, eyes all swollen from crying…
“You know, what kind of scumbag would leave such a sweet girl like that?
The driver rambled on, but Tristan didn’t respond.
Finally, noticing Tristan’s silence, the driver turned around and saw his tear–streaked face in the rearview mirror.
When Tristan arrived at Gull Cove, he knocked on Mrs. Hattie Greene’s door, trying to find out what I had done during my last days there.
But Mrs. Greene took one look at him, her face twisted with anger and slammed the door in his face.
From behind the door, he heard her voice:
“Scum!
Tristan stood there, dumbfounded.
He then unlocked the door to our old apartment, room 203. He laid on the small bed we used to share, staring blankly at the moon outside the window.
He hugged the stuffed panda tight, but it was cold, lifeless.
In the dark, the panda’s mechanical voice echoed faintly:
“Lona, don’t cry. Tristan was wrong
“Lana, don’t cry. Tristan was wrong
Tears fell from Tristan’s eyes, soaking into the stuffed animal.
“Lana Brooks! Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you tell me!”
That night, Tristan snapped.
He tore the panda apart, smashing everything in the room in a fit of rage, as if breaking everything would somehow lessen his guilt.
