TEAR


Why did this happen? What happened? I don’t know. I can’t feel anything. My heart is numb. Was this it, pain; true pain that now filled up inside me? The very thing I had prayed I would not come across? How would I know? My heart is gone, and my soul depressed. I stand there staring into oblivion…

THAT MORNING

“Okay, I think I have everything.” I said to myself as I was packing up for school.
“Come on, you’re going to be late,” my mother called out to me from the garage. Moments later I was in the car and headed for school.

After that, the day droned on as usual. Until math when I got, the slip. The office assistant held it out in front of me like something sacred. I gave it a terrorized look and swept it out of her hands. As I walked tensely down the hall towards the office, I thought about why they might have called me down. What did I do? Did I say something offensive to some one? I don’t know, but what ever it is, I am dead.

When I stepped into the office I saw my mom in a chair, crouched over, her hands over her face.
“Mom?” I said blankly. She looked up at me with glassy eyes. Her whole face was red and puffy. When I got closer she pulled me in and hugged me tight. Over my shoulder she wept and shook.
“Mom, what is going on?” I searched her eyes for a sign of what had happened, but got nothing.

After a few deep breaths she was able to say, “Your father is in the hospital, and he’s- been shot!”

“WHAT!” I screamed. “HOW?”

“I’ll explain later, right now we need to go.” At that we got in the car and headed for the hospital.

I felt sick. My head hurt as though someone had hit me with a rock. I just didn’t understand. How could this happen? My eyes welled with tears. For a while my mother and I drove silently, but eventually she told me what happened. Though she spoke shakily, I understood this much. A gang had come over to where my dad worked as an assistant principle at a middle school. They came around lunch time, probably trying to recruit new members. When he saw them, he called the cops and joined in the chase. He was unarmed but those he was pursuing were. When he chased them around the corner, one of the gang members turned around and shot him three times in the chest.

It wasn’t right. He was just doing his job. How could someone do that? How could someone take another’s life without any hesitance or second thoughts? Vengeance suddenly draped over me and cloaked me in hatred. What they did was utterly cruel. When we arrived at the hospital several emotions toiled with me. They tore and twisted me in each direction. I was so mad, so sad, so desperate, and so lost. However, it did not matter. All that mattered was my dad’s life. So I rapidly rushed into the hospital and to the information desk. “Where is Edward Daniel’s room?” I questioned sternly.

The lady at the front desk looked up at me and replied, “Um, I am sorry who darling?”

“My dad! Edward Daniel!” I spat.

“Oh, the doctors are quite busy with him right now, please take a seat.”

“What? Oh no, look here lady, I want to see my dad! Where the heck is he?” I slammed my fist down on the desk and clenched my teeth.

“I will let you know when you can see him- miss,” she said rudely. I stomped away and took a seat.
After my frustration faded, deep grief fell over me. I leaned back in my seat and wept. Was he okay? Would he live? The thought of losing my father was absolutely unbearable.

Suddenly, I got a tap on my shoulder. I gazed up at a tall man wearing a white jacket. “Miss, I am Dr. Web. I am your father’s doctor.”

“How is he?”

“He is in room 328-” he paused, and looked at me with tears in his eyes.
“I- I am so sorry, we did all that we could.”

“WHAT? NO!” The room spun violently around me. I got up from my seat and sped for his room. As I ran the room slowed. With each leap a tear poured down my face and crashed to the floor.

I fell at his bedside, grieving. This wasn’t happening, my dad couldn’t die, he was invincible. I grasped his hand and let out desperate cries of, “NO! NO! NO!” I shook my head vigorously, and looked around frantically for help, but tears clouded my vision. I couldn’t breath. I shook, I cried, I screamed, wishing with all my soul that he would come back.

When the doctors came into take him away, I grabbed onto him, unwilling to let him go. When they finally fought me off of him, I watched with a shattered heart and a defeated spirit as they wheeled him out of my life forever.

NOW:
Why did this happen? What happened? I don’t know. I can’t feel anything. My heart is numb. Was this it, pain; true pain that now filled up inside me? The very thing I had prayed I would not come across? How would I know? My heart is gone, and my soul depressed. I stand there staring into oblivion and watching, a tear streaming down my cheek.