[color=f7941d]”Thank you, Michelle. I guess I’ll see you soon. Be safe”[/color]

That is all Piero could say. He escorted her to the door, and then closed it as soon as she was out, resting his sweaty head against the door, lightly banging it against it. All around was quiet, and nothing could distract him from what he had to do, sadly. 

[color=f7941d][i]That’s how it goes then. I need to get this done fast, while I still can’t think properly. Here goes nothing.[/i][/color]

Piero slowly paced himself towards his mother’s room, without esitation and without thoughts, completely blanked out, playing with the medicine bottle that Michelle gave him. As he got to Chiara’s door, he opened it, expecting his mother to sleep as usual, but not this time: the room, slightly brightened by what was left of the sun in that awful day from the only window, was pretty barebones, only a drawer with all of Chiara’s clothes, a dirty and faded red rug, and the bed in the far right side of the room, opposite to the window. Sitting on of the bed, Chiara was waiting for him to come in. 

“I heard what the doctor told you, and I know what you’re going to say.” She said with a low voice, taking pauses to breathe and cough. 

Piero was definitely surprised and taken aback, but he instantly began talking:
[color=f7941d]”Then you know I won’t try to sugarcoat it. Listen mom, I’m not liking this one bit, I hate this, but your only option to spare yourself a miserable rest of your life is to drink this bottle and then wait for the doctor to give you the death you painfully avoid.”[/color] 

“Son, I won’t make this hard for you, I agree with my death. But I’m using all my strenghts here to tell you this last thing.”
 Chiara was making more and more efforts to continue talking, and she was visibly tired already, breathing through every word, which just made the whole thing even more unnerving.
“When I’m gone, look at yourself in the mirror, and look at what you are becoming. If you see nothing wrong, then you might as well come with me, because you’ll keep suffering.” 
A long pause followed this last sentence, lingering heavily in the room as it became a phantom ready to haunt Piero for a long time.
“But if you don’t see yourself, do something with the guilt you’ll feel about me, because I’m not gonna give you closure. Maybe you’ll come to thank me for it.”

[color=f7941d][i]This is insane, this can’t be happening. She shouldn’t talk, I shouldn’t feel, and I shouldn’t be here.[/i][/color]
Two minutes passed, Chiara trying to catch her breath and Piero in the opposite side of the room staring at his mother with dead eyes, unable to do anything or say anything. Chiara broke this tense silence with her feeble voice:
“At least remember that you’re my son, and that I loved and love you dearly, and I hope you can say that too, even though you grew to hate me in these last times. I’m ready to go, but it’s not me you should be worried about. Now please, I can’t keep this going anymore, I need to lie down and rest. Go, and live something or someone.”

Piero didn’t react immediately, but he slowly came near his mother, gave her the medicine bottle, and reached for a kiss on the forehead, moving almost mechanically, as possessed by some kind of force. He turned around, walked out unable to think or say anything, and closed the door behind him, without looking back once. 
[color=f7941d][i]Shit.[/i][/color]

He began to lose his sight as his eyes grew more and more full of tears, until he just couldn’t hold them back anymore and began to cry a disgusting and painful cry. He couldn’t take it anymore, and he began walking, out of the apartment first, then out of the neighbourhood, heading to the only place where he could try to drown all of this.