Run Out of Road
This is a good place to stop.
You've been super. Really; you've done everything you could for this family. Too bad our faith is exhausted. Too bad it can't be easier than this.
Oh well; you always liked buzzards. Under the palmetto, you may find the happiness I didn't get to give you.
You will seek the company of someone more loving, more timely. The one who won't leave you out in the desert and ignore your pleas, your screaming.
But I can't turn around. Won't take you back.
Know what that final betrayal was? That little whore you fell for. What was his name? Did you like watching him disappear?
I can do that, you know.
But it's time to let you go; open up the car and let you loose. There's enough water in that canteen to keep you alive for another four days.
If you keep following the cacti, you should get to civilization in a week.
I'm not sad: It's time to walk your own path, not mine.
But watching you walk is harder than anything I had anticipated. Leaving you alone is a price that's payable for my freedom.
Whatever freedom is worth, these days.