Red Bones

Hermit

Key Eleven: Hermit:

She has no name. But she knows things. She has seen things too. This is why she has to die. She knew this as soon as the end hit. Now, she's just waiting. How will they take her? She had been sick for quite some time now. But, she won't go to the hospital. She hasn't trusted them since her beloved died years ago. Those around her have tried to get her to go to see professional help.

"It will make it worse," she would say. They wouldn't listen to her. They ended up driving her away.

Now, she lives alone in a shack in the open fields of Ireland. No one comes to visit her. Only a little black dog comes to see her. Even he knows that her time is coming to an end. Today, she patted him on the head.

"There, there," she said. "You can't stay with me like this. You will be all alone when I die." The dog sat down in front of her bed and whimpered. She smiled and patted him on the head.

Always the same thing.

That was until this afternoon at three.

She looked out into the darkness of her room. "Oh, it's you."

Her visitor stood in the doorway. "Do you know why I am here?"

"Yes." She has no fear.

"You know why I have to do this."

"Yes."

"I'm so sorry."

"Save it."

"What?"

"Spare me the speech of how you are sorry that you have to kill me. We both know that is a lie. You are just their toy to do their bidding."

"That's not true."

"But you know that it is. Why else would you be out here? It's not even my time to die, is it?"

"That's not why I'm here, really."

She lifted her head. "Oh? So why are you here?"

Her visitor closed the door behind them. "I want to know the truth."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes."

"Okay then." She tells them everything she knows. There are no pauses. It all spills out. Word for word, she doesn't stop. How many times has she done this? She's lost count by this point. She doesn't stop until the whole truth is out.

Finally, she closed her mouth.

All of the color drained from her guest's face. They took a step back.

"No... No... You're lying."

"Sorry. I wish that I was."

And just like that, the visitor was gone. She turned over in her bed. She knows that she can't keep this up. There will be one visitor that will take the truth so well. That doesn't scare her. In fact, she welcomes it. She welcomes it as much as she welcomes death. The two have started to blend together in fact.

Today might be the biggest test for that theory. There's another coming her way. She's ready. Then came the knock on the door. She turned her head.

"Come in," she said. She already knows what's coming next. Here comes another round of revealing the truth. Then, the door opened.