There’s a small ripple of laughter from the audience. They’re asking for permission to find humor in the tragedy.

I give them a joke.

“That was meaningless sex,” I quip, even though my soul feels like it’s slipping out through my bare feet. I kicked my shoes off in the last act.

They laugh again, a laugh of relief, but I can tell they’re in this with us.

“Very funny,” says Aimee. “But M—Lola, are you sure someone hit us because they went through the red light? Weren’t we the ones to go through the red light?”

“Of course it—right? Wait, no…”

Aimee, look out—AIMEE!

My own words come screaming back into my head.

I gasp, putting both hands to my chest. I can hear the words as clearly as if they were being screamed in my ear.

AIMEE!

“And I was the one to turn up the music,” she says. “Because I was trying to drown you out. I didn’t want to hear it. Did I?”

My hands are shaking. My body lowers to the ground, my fingers reaching for the plastic grass. My ears are ringing. Everything feels very far away.

No, stop talking, stop—no, I don’t want to hear you speaking right now, I want to—Meg, let go!

Aimee’s voice from the past comes to me as clear as a bell.

She hadn’t let me turn off the music. She had cranked it. That’s why I was yelling. That was why I was screaming at her. I was yelling over the music.

“Oh my God,” I say quietly. I don’t project enough, but the whole theater is so silent that they can hear me.

I remember now, how she slammed through the red light, accelerating as she did. She could get so livid back then. And then the other car had driven straight into her side.

“I’m the only one who knows,” she says, her tone softening. “I’m the only one who was there. And since I haven’t been here to blame, you blamed yourself. But it wasn’t your fault. Neither of us were perfect. We were doing our best.”

There’s a long silence.

It doesn’t make it easier that she had fault in it. It doesn’t make it hurt less. But it’s the truth, and that’s important.

Tears roll down her face and I feel myself burning hot with feelings that have been locked away for years. I let out a sob and then laugh before saying, “I love you so much.”

“I love you too.”