Smile.

"Open your eyes, Vick."

"I don't want to,anymore."

His hands were cupped to his face, his elbows clanked on the resting table.He was digging himself deeper into his own abyss,seeking refuge in the darkness that evaded him.

Doctor Brown was evidently not pleased.He kept tapping on the table, a sign of impatience.He could have very well pried his tiny hands out - but it was something he had to do on his own. "Accept reality" he reminded himself "He has to do it all on his own."

"Now Vick, I want to talk you through this." he said.

"There is nothing to talk about!"

"Listen to me,Vick." The doctor said - his voice growing stern. "You bludgeoned your landlady with a baseball bat." he said , leafing over the clipboard. ", The police found the body two days ago."

"She was a nice old woman." Vick said, in between gasps of air.

The doctor went on "According to your psychiatrist, you seem to have been in a depressive state ever since the accident two months ago."

"It wasn't after the accident." he murmured.

"Excuse me?"

"IT WASN'T AFTER THE ACCIDENT!" he shouted.

"What wasn't? talk to me,Vick."

"It started six days after the accident.I had lost everything , everyone I loved." he said "I was lying on the hospital bed, I barely made it alive."

"Then what happened, VIck?"

"For six days I mourned, I cursed fate - I cursed god, I cursed everything.I wanted to kill myself - but I stopped."

"Why?"

"Because it's not what they would have wanted.I was left alive,to suffer my misery."

"So is that why you killed your Landlady, Vick?"

"No" he said, shaking his head inside his hands. "I would never do such a thing, transfer my guilt onto others."

"Then why did you do it, Vick?"

"After six days I decided to live my life again, to work again - to live again.This is what they would have wanted." he went on. "I would sometimes see people on the street, walking with their loved ones.How happy they were.If I stared at them long enough,they would smile- and I would smile back."

Doctor Brown was writing this all down - "Please, continue."

"I would go to the store - they would smile,I would go to to work - my colleagues smiled.I went to church - the priest smiled."

"Sounds like you were happy, Vick."

"It was bliss" he said "To see so much joy in the world, on the streets, in homes , inside the hearts and minds of each and everyone I ever met.I never met a sad person again.It made me sick."

"It was only the Landlady who saw my sorrow, her eyes pierced into me.She saw me sad, doctor.That made her sad too."

"Then she made her last mistake,doc - she interfered"

"I killed her, doc - I admit it, those were my bloody hands on her coat - and my footprints near her grave.I feel guilty, pathetic , my dark days had come back again.I thought it would be all normal again..but it isn't"

The doctor noted all of this down "Listen here, Vick." he said "You are suffering from a post - traumatic disorder.In your case, the shock must have triggered a twisted sort of optimism."

"Well I've had enough of that.Doc. I want to see the bad in the world again."

"Vick, Listen to me- you are suspected of homicide, and the police wants me to decide whether or not to put you in a mental correction facility.If there was ever a bad situation for you, it is this.You have let your family down, you have let them all down - do you hear me?"

"Yes, doc."

"This is the worst that can happen, Vick - and I want you to open your eyes, accept the sorrow that is all around you.Accept reality, Vick."

Vick opened his eyes. He saw the blue table, he saw his elbows , the glare of the light above him.

"Now, " he saw the doctor say through the wide grin on his face "Do you see what I mean?"