58 “He was still ten years old.”

Says:

“He was still ten years old.” The man’s smile faded as he realized what he had just said. It was true, and he hated himself for it.

“Maybe I pushed him too hard. Maybe my expectations were too high,” the man continued. His eyes moistened and began to form tears, but he held them back.

“I just wanted him to be everything that he could be.”

He shifted awkwardly in his chair and was silent. Eventually the tears dried and he just sat. The smile eventually creeped back onto his face and he began again, “I loved my boy. Best thing that ever happened to me. If only he hadn’t died. He was still ten years old.”

As he repeated the same things over and over he only made it worse. He lived in the past and he didn’t change. His life was the same thing over and over. A record skipping back through the same section of a song.