Day 11

The bedroom door waved silently, the gusts of wind from the balcony doors pushing and pulling them to their own rhythm. Sam sat silently in a chair backwards, a cigarette between his lips and as he pushed the chair onto it's back legs. Alicia sat on the bed, silent. This was going to be a talk out of necessity. A life needed to be saved.

Holding the cigarette between his index and middle fingers, he scratched his eyebrow with his thumb. He needed to choose his words carefully. Very carefully.

"I'm assuming what I'm about to hear will not be very good for me," Alicia almost whispered.

Sam's eyes met hers, "Why are you assuming that?"

Alicia shook her head, sighing silently, "It's a natural assumption. I've done nothing but hurt her."

Sam took a drag on his cigarette, nodding, "Good enough."

A silence fell between the two and seemed to drag on longer than the three minutes it actually took. "Look," Alicia said, "If it's related to me somehow, I'm alright with going away if it'll fix it."

"No. She needs you right now, but if you want to go we wont stop you," Sam took another drag on the cigarette. It was almost time for him to light another one.

"I don't want to go," tears began to gather in her eyes.

"If you stay, she wont be around for awhile," he slid the pack out of his pocket, smacking it two times on his left palm before pulling another cigarette out.

Alicia closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "I feel my presence is making her worse."

"In all honesty, this was bound to happen. We were just waiting," Sam watched the trail of smoke rise slowly.

"Why?" Alicia watched him.

"Because she wants to die," he said matter-of-factly before sticking the cigarette between his lips again.

"Nothing can stop that. Not you. Not me," Alicia said. "The fact that you're there is making her worse. She feels like she's losing control."

Sam sat up and narrowed his eyes at Alicia, "So we're supposed to let her kill herself?"

"No, of course not," Alicia almost screamed the words.

"She needs time. To face herself, to find herself, to get past her fears," he stood walking to the balcony doors and looking out, taking another drag on the cigarette.

She watched silently, "Time she'll get."

"Oh?" he turned to her, "When?"

"When she leaves. Listen," she watched him as he turned back to the balcony doors, "If what she needs is time, she needs to cut out distractions."

He nodded, tossing the cigarette out of the doors, "We have cut out distractions. All of them, except you."

"Why?"

"Because with you comes an overwhelming feeling of happiness and love. And she needs that," he turned and walked back to the seat. "You're the only person she can get it from."

"Why?" Alicia's brows furrowed as she tried to understand.

"She trusts you," Sam took the pack out of his pocket again, going through the same routine before placing the cigarette between his lips and lighting it.

"I want to talk to her, but I'll do it when she's ready," there was a cry of pain in her voice.

Sam took a long drag on the cigarette, blowing the smoke out his nose, "She's ready."

"Are you sure? She might need more time," Alicia studied his face.

"You don't want to speak to her?" he tapped his shoe on the floor.

"I want her to be ready. Positively ready," she said quietly.

He took another drag on the cigarette, "I'm telling you, she's ready."

Alicia took a deep breath as the room got very quiet. Sam stopped moving, the cigarette limp in his mouth. His eyes closed, and the shoulders slumped.

Seconds felt like an eternity before the eyes slowly opened and fixed on Alicia. Tears streamed down the face before she got up and ran to hug Alicia, "I love you."