“I don’t, David. Why don’t you explain it to me.”
“You talk to me because you have to, it’s your job. She talks to me because she wants to.”
“And you wouldn’t hurt her? Like your parents? Like the others?”
“You mean, like the phone calls?”
“Yes. Like the phone calls.”
“No. I’d never hurt her.”
“Do you love her?”
Silence.
“David?”
“I’m not sure I know what love is. I only know love from books.”
“Love is caring for someone more than you care for yourself. Think of it this way—if killing me meant you’d get freedom, would you do it?”
Silence.
“You can answer, David. You won’t get in trouble. Would you kill me to get out of this place?”
“You’re deaf. I can’t kill you.”
“But if you could, if I could hear you, would you kill me?”
“For freedom?”
“Yes, for complete freedom.”
“Yes.”
“No hesitation? No remorse? We’ve known each other for a long time.”
“You keep me in a box. I’m only permitted out of my box if I wear a mask. I’m your prisoner, you’re my jailor. I’m nothing more than a lab rat to you.”
“And Stella, would you kill her? If ending her life meant you could taste that exact same freedom?”
“I don’t know.”
“Oh, I think you do. You’ve spent countless hours with her, and shecanhear you, and you’ve never hurt her. You’ve never even tried, not even as a child.”
“And that means I love her?”
“I believe it does, yes.”
David said nothing.
“Let’s take it to another level. If I told you to kill her, instructed you to kill her, and said that if you did, I would guarantee you received that same freedom I mentioned earlier, would you do it?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’d be lying. You’d never let me go.”
