Her Last Words

It is a beautiful, sunny Monday here at Villebrumeuse, a city just outside of Brussels, Belgium. Monsieur Val walks into his office like any other morning to read his patients’ files then begins his round of visits to each patient. Monsieur Val specializes in mental illness, insanity to be more specific. Insanity is not out of the ordinary for Monsieur Val to treat, but he has a particular patient, Madame Taylor, who is just plainly untreatable. Can that even be possible, to have an untreatable patient? Monsieur Val has had Madame Taylor for some time now with very meager progress, and he’s not surprised….with her past.

Monsieur Val steps into Madame Taylor’s room for her therapy session. It is always on the same day and time, Monday at 10 am. Madame Taylor asks “Good Morning, Monsieur Val. It’s such a beautiful morning, too beautiful to be stuck between these four walls. May we go out to the park and absorb some sunny rays?” Monsieur Val says “We may go out to our garden if you like. But you know that going out to the park is totally out of the question.” She answers “The garden would be sufficed then” with such despair in her tone.

Monsieur Val wants to try a new approach to Madame Taylor’s remedy. He asks her to write down anything she has thought about from her previous life before arriving to Belgium. It made Madame Taylor very pensive, but she responded in “Monsieur Val, I rather not go to that place. Although with this beautiful garden, I am still in a dark place, just as dark as the previous life I had before Belgium.” Monsieur Val asked, “But isn’t there anyone or anything you wish to have seen our touched”, and Madame Taylor asked for a piece of paper and pen and said “Will this letter be delivered?” in which he responded “If you wish.”

My Dear Little Georgie,
Do I even have the right to call you such a thing? No I don’t. You probably have no recollection of me, being that I was too consumed in my own world to have even bothered to let you into it. I would love to say that I did the best I could with you, after being left by your father. But you and I know that isn’t true either.
I would really love to say that all of my previous actions were for your benefit but I cannot. I was and continue to be consumed with myself and my own world. It may be hereditary, my selfishness, or it may not. The possibility for you to catch this inferior trait is very minimal, now that I am away from your existence, which in a way makes me very happy and relieved. The possibility for you to become a gentleman has far more greater chances and I would like to believe that my departure has something to do with it. For that I can only thank your Uncle Robert. This will be the only time will ever thank Robert, or any other Audley at that.
Your memories, awful ones, may come to haunt you from time to time. My only suggestion is that you try to remove all awful memories I have caused. Your life is now full of pristine position and opportunities. I only ask that you do not have ill feelings for me but rather thank me for how your destiny is now and will continue to be. I am Madame Taylor now, Helen Talboys died when your father disappeared and Lucy Audley died when brought to Brussels. Take care now and take advantage of your privilege.
Always,
Madame Taylor

Monsieur Val never sent the letter to little Georgie Talboys for his best interest. Madame Taylor suspected that the letter wasn’t sent. She didn’t want reconciliation from her son, only recognition. Recognition that thanks to her, little Georgie Talboys life is now privileged.