Chapter 5
The clock hit 6:31 P.M., Hannah’s parents should be arriving home any minute now. Hannah sat alone in the spacious living room, preparing herself for the diminishing figure known as her father. She remembered when she was younger; he was so strong and full of life. What had happened to those days?
Suddenly the sound of the garage door broke her trance, they were home. Her mother walked her pale father into the house. His face withdrawn, his eyes completely empty. It was as though he was no longer there, only his body remained.
Hannah and her mother got her father situated in bed and stepped in the hall. Immediately Hannah’s mother gripped on to her and broke into tears. Hannah did not need to hear the news to know what was happening, and she too held onto her mother and began to sob.
* * * *
A few weeks passed. Hannah’s home had become a 24 hour infirmary for her father. Hannah continued her job waiting tables in the day, and by night was a round the clock nurse. The cancer had taken so much of her father, that he couldn’t even manage to speak to her as she sat there watching the clock tick, waiting for his next round of medicine. When Hannah was at work her mother took over the nursing duties, and as soon as Hannah arrived home...headed to sleep. Hannah was lucky to get even hour each night. She was exhausted and empty. Her father’s illness had left her emotionally drained, to the point where she could not even shed a single tear.
* * * *
Time drew to an end, and her father’s ashes were scattered to the winds. Hannah and her mother stepped out of the funeral home, the sun shined brightly and stung Hannah’s eyes. The two drove back to the house in silence. Hannah watched the world pass by as she sat in the passenger seat shielding herself from the cold air conditioning, and the truth of what was happening. She remembered the still peaceful look her father had on his face as his body was rolled away. She hadn’t seen him so happy in over a year, and though it broke her heart to be without him, it warmed her to know he was in a better place beyond.
* * * *
Hannah crawled into her bed and pulled the covers tightly around her. She glanced at the old photograph of her and her father at Walt Disney World. Slowly she reached over, touched it, and placed it face down on the table beside her. Her chest ached from the hollowness. Hannah struggled to breath, like her ribs were closing in on her lungs. She clenched her teeth, pushing back the pain, closed her eyes, and slowly drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 6
Crossing Paths Main
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