A request

I had a dream the other night, in it
my mom called me and asked me for a favor
She asked
Can you die before your dad
that would save him
Save him from what?
She wouldn’t answer
and started crying
I was too frightened to verbalize it
a vague idea
to her, to myself
But eventually I had to say it
Is he about to die
She couldn’t speak
being out of breath
But this is not possible, I thought
I can’t save him
because I can’t die
I started crying
and asked her again
Is he about to die
then I asked her again
Is he about to die
We were both out of breath
from crying
What I can’t say, however
to her
or to myself
was that then and there
I felt relieved