"She said: 'I know it. I've seem it. I know how I'm gonna die. I know it just as clearly as you can see me, that I guarantee to you. Now the question is just this simple: do YOU want to know how it's gonna be like?' She said it so softly, as if the subject was harmless. And I was afraid, and I wanted to cry, but her cold eyes wouldn't let me. I was surprised: there was no pain there, no shadow overcoming them. They were just bright and clearful, and it was amazing. So I didn't cry - well I did, only to myself, she never saw it. I stood up and smiled, because smiling when I was afraid was something I did well, and she taught me how to. I smiled and said I did want to know how it was going to be. But I didn't.
She continued: 'Don't be scared, it's not ugly or shameful, my death. It's actually beautiful, I liked it myself, you see, and I do have a good taste for those creepy things... Won't you cry now, I won't take seeing you drop tears in the only moment of my life in which I'm being honest: to you and to myself.' She was mad, and that wasn't nice. She had been always a difficult person to handle, so stubborn and bossy, but she did not get mad very easily. I couldn't help myself, though, and a shy single tear escaped from the corner of my left eye.
She wouldn't stop: 'I was in the bathroom, taking a shower. A shower in the dark, you see, because since I was thirteen I've never taken a shower with the lights lit on, unless it was during the day: it has always made me extremely uncomfortable. Well so the water was running through my body, very hot water. My eyes were closed the whole moment, but then I decided to open them, and I was a bit surprised. I could not see anything very clearly and I felt this terrible pain in my head. I lifted my left hand and put it in front of my eyes: the lines were misty. Everything was misty.'
She laughed out loud: 'My whole life I lived very coldly. And showed no heat for nobody except for your father, and he sure was a bit of an amazing exception. Well when he died the only thing warm I had inside myself disappeared, and I was freezing again. But not at this final moment: it was such a hot moment. Everything was hot, everything was so hot I could barely take it. So I turned off the water flow, saw the room spin around me. Sat on the floor, not sad and feeling no pain, yes... such a rare thing. I looked up to the ceiling trying to find God but all I saw was a badly painted roof. I was alone.'
She stood up. Smiled back to me, a fake smile like mine was, and probably the most beautiful smile I've ever seen so far. She held my hand tigh, her face got dark. 'That's how it happened. Beautiful isn't it? Well my hair is really dirty and my skin is dry, now. I must take a shower.'
She went into the bathroom, turned on the water. Never got the chance to turn it off."
