"Why, Mamie? Why would you do this to me?"
"You were the one who abandoned me to go study abroad. I finally found someone who genuinely loved me, and you couldn't stand it. You had to destroy everything."
Oliver's eyes were bloodshot, veins bulging along his forearms. As his grip tightened, Mamie's eyes rolled back. Her tongue jutted out, and her body convulsed with violent, choking coughs.
Seconds later, her face turned a mottled purple. Tears streamed from the corners of her eyes as she wheezed out a desperate plea.
"Oliver... I... I love you... truly... please..."
The instant her eyes fluttered shut and her body went limp, Oliver released her. He flung her away like something rotten, and she crumpled to the floor. He collapsed onto the sofa, all the fury draining out of him, replaced by something raw and wretched.
"Bernice, I'm sorry. I swear I didn't know."
