It was on the porch when I came down the stairs. A box, tightly wrapped in paper. A ribbon hugged it tightly, and a bow on top accentuated the gift that was waiting inside.

I lifted it carefully, the morning coffee already kicking in. It wasn’t my birthday, nor was it Christmas or any other gift-giving holiday. Something sinister lay in this gift, I figured, as I tried to wrap my sleep deprived brain around the box in front of me.

Holding it in my hands, I noted the weight of it. It was light, almost as if the box was empty. I shook it gently and heard something rattle. So, not empty then.

I took the box to my kitchen table and examined it more closely. There was no name tag on it, almost as if the person who sent it had specifically chosen me to give it to.

My wife sat down opposite me.

“Who’s that from?” she asked, innocently looking at the gift.

I shrugged my shoulders. It was all I could do to not tear it open like a kid on Christmas morning after Santa had been to deliver his Christmas cheer.

Tentatively, I pulled at the ribbon, until it came loose and fell around the gift like a python, coiled up for the kill. I then picked at the tape with my chewed fingernails at last I was just left with a bare cardboard box.

I opened it slowly and gently shook out the contents. A note fluttered onto the table in front of me. I took it and read it:

Albie,

I don’t have much time left on this planet. Damn. I wish I had more time to tell you how I really feel about you.

Since the accident that almost killed you all those years ago, I wish it had. You’ve been nothing but a burden to me ever since. You can’t talk. You can’t walk. You can barely use your arms. I have to do everything for you. This isn’t the life I envisioned for myself.

So, basically, what I’m saying is, stop being selfish and drink what I have supplied to you. It’ll make you sleepy, sure, but as far as you’d know, it will only put you to sleep. You just won’t wake up. Everyone else will see it as a suicide, a cripple who has reached his breaking point.

All my love,

The person sat right in front of you

I looked at my wife. She smiled menacingly, as she reached inside the box and pulled out a vial of a mysterious liquid.

“Drink up, my love,” she said, as she forced it down my throat, and my whole world went dark.