“I know you did it because you love me. I forgave you long ago.”

Regina’s tears flow. She tells Amy that she hoped this day would never come. She never imagined trying to protect their own privacy; getting rid of the man’s body.

“Seen his kids up that road a few times over the years,” Regina remarks.

As Regina mixes rat poison into a bowl of water, she thinks back to the big fight and how it all started. It was the fall before the last. Back then, Amy barely spoke to Reggie. And when she did it was only one subject.

* * *

“I don’t want to live here for the rest of my life, Reggie. We agreed it was for a few years. Great. Fine, but, babe, that was a dozen years ago. I want to move on.”

Reggie ignored the remark for the longest time.

Amy finally spoke up.

“You are making me do something that I don’t want to do.”

That got Reggie’s attention.

Amy was full of resolve, but she’s crying anyway.

“I don’t love you like I did, babe. I want out. I want a divorce.”

Regina’s eyes bulged and she dove for Amy.

“You can’t leave!”

Amy pushed back hard. Regina was stronger, tougher and equally full of resolve. She wasn’t going to stop until she got what she wanted. “You aren’t going anywhere. You love me. You said so.”

“I did. Really, Regina, but it was a long time ago.”

“You little liar,” Regina growled as she went for Amy’s neck.

In a flash, Amy grabbed a knife from the counter, and swung it wildly, before ramming its tip into Regina’s eye. Blood squirted and Regina screamed at the top of her lungs.

“What did you do to me?”

“Sorry. Sorry.”

“Never leave me. Not ever.”

Somehow, they’d managed to fight their way across from one room to the next. What started in the bedroom had moved them to the kitchen. Blood gushed from the spaces between Regina’s fingers as she pressed over the agony that was her right eye.

However, Regina’s reflexes were sharp. She knocked the knife out of her wife’s hand and threw herself on top of her.

“You said you were mine forever.”

By then, Amy could no longer speak. Her eyes, wide open, began to bloom blood as the capillaries burst. Regina’s hands tightened around her neck. She wanted to stop. It’s impossible. It’s the kind of thing for which there was no turning back.

Regina stared at the ebbing life force. It’s like a beautiful, nearly invisible vapor that curls above before vanishing out the window.

“You’ll never leave me.”

“I would never leave you,” Amy insisted. “I love you, Regina. I’m sorry.”