Blood coated his trembling fingers. He looked me in the eyes.

“You made me do this.” His breathing came out in ragged spurts. “Why?”

I crossed my legs in hopes that the pain would disappear, and along with it, my guilt. But the pain radiated through my body, starting in my abdomen, and ending . . . nowhere. This was never-ending agony, a swirl of pain forever racing through my veins.

The tree b...