Truth and Reconciliation

He was in the garden when I found him, sitting peacefully beside a gurgling stream.

Over the sights of my pistol I saw him raise a hand - not imperiously but gently, as a request. The sunset was near, I knew, and such things are worth appreciating. So I lowered the gun and I, too, looked at the dazzling wash of colour on the horizon. I thought about our journey. The chase had taken us from our quiet hometown to the unbearably beautiful light of an alien sun, and here the odyssey would end.

"I loved you, you know. Then I hated you, and pitied you, and envied you, and loved you all over."

I stayed silent. He was the one who talked.

"I hope you understand my reasons. I was young, then, and foolish, and I knew not how it would hurt you so."

Not that it mattered. The judgement of his innocence was not his right.

"Can you forgive me, after all that we have done to each other?"

I thought long and hard as the light faded from the sky. Then I took a deep breath, and I shot him.

Three times, just to be sure.