She looked into his eyes, which she believed were empty windows to nowhere. She smoothed his hair, tears streaming down her face. And then, she whispered the words that would haunt Martin for the next decade.
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“I hope you die.”
She didn’t mean it out of malice. She was a mother watching her child suffer endlessly, and she wanted him to be at peace. She thought she was speaking to a shell. But Martin heard her. He felt her pain, and he wanted to scream, “I’m alive!” But he couldn’t.
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