After He Forgot Me, I Buried Our Daughter

To hold on to Stanley, I abandoned my daughter.

Three years ago, Stanley Sanchez was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's.

Once his memories were gone, he fell in love at first sight with my stepsister.

I told myself that if I just kept chasing him, one day he'd turn around.

When I handed him Desiree Sanchez's medical file, he didn't even look up. He was sliding a diamond ring onto my stepsister's finger, his voice faintly disappointed. 「Oh. Just allergies.」

「That little pest would be better off dead.」

Brenda Delgado hooked her arm through his and thrust her belly forward. 「Even if Desiree's gone, the baby I'm carrying can take her place.」

Whatever light was left in my eyes shattered.

I stopped begging. I was going to celebrate Desiree's birthday alone with her. But when I got back to the curb where she'd been waiting for me, she was gone.

The cake hit the ground and broke apart.

What waited for me was a body. Small and cold.

The crime scene was cordoned off. Voices drifted in from the crowd.

「God, that poor child. She ran into a killer. Had her bones broken and didn't make a sound.」

「Wasn't she wearing one of those kids' smartwatches? Why didn't she call for help?」

「No idea. All I heard was she kept saying she couldn't bother Mommy and Daddy. That if she died, she wouldn't be a bother anymore.」

……

The urn in my arms was so light. Lighter than Desiree had been the day she was born.

Back then, Stanley had wanted to hold her but didn't know how.

So I guided his hands. 「Don't be scared. Support the head, brace the back.」

「Just like this.」

Just like the way I was holding her urn now.

This cold block of wood was the only weight I had left to hold.

The white walls of the police precinct stung my eyes.

On the wall-mounted screen, two images were playing side by side.

The left screen showed surveillance footage from the crime scene.

Today was Desiree's birthday. Brenda had tricked her into eating a cookie laced with peanuts.

Hives had erupted across Desiree's skin the moment she swallowed it. She tugged at the hem of my shirt.

「Mommy, I ate the cookie, so Daddy won't leave me, right? Desi was good. Can Daddy come to Desi's birthday?」

Before Stanley's Alzheimer's, he'd stayed up all night every time Desiree got sick.

She depended on him by instinct. Whenever she was hurting, she cried for her father first.

I took her to find Stanley, then left her alone on the sidewalk.

I couldn't let a five-year-old watch her mother beg, voice low and small, before her father and another woman.

I pushed Desiree's medical file at Stanley. He never looked up. He slid the ring onto Brenda's finger, his voice faintly disappointed. 「Oh. Just allergies.」

「That little pest would be better off dead.」

The glass door hadn't shut all the way. The air conditioning and every word leaked out onto the street.

At some point Desiree had followed me there, and every one of those words fell straight into her ears.

Her small body swayed once, and she turned and ran.

The footage flickered. A fugitive dragged her into an alley.

The smartwatch on her wrist glowed faintly in the dark.

She could have escaped. One scream, one step—just run.

She didn't. She pulled the watch off and threw it in the opposite direction. Even as they broke her bones, she wouldn't cry out. She just kept whispering, 「Can't bother Mommy and Daddy. If I die, I won't be a bother anymore.」

The recording ran to the end and dissolved into static.

I turned my head, stiff, and looked at the right screen.

Stanley had his arm around Brenda, giving an interview.

「Any questions, direct them to me. Keep the cameras off Brenda.」