Long Winter

Chapter-1

Kia pov

I was woken up by the ringing of bell at the front door and later the call on my cell phone finally woke me up from my sweet dream.

"Hello"

"Kia open the door your mother has asked me to send all of you to the hospital"

Still on call I rush towards the door to let our neighbor Mrs. Smith inside the house.

"Mrs. Smith what's wrong I thought dads conditions was better, why is mom in the hospital let along calling us their." I asked passing her a glass of water.

I waited for her to reply as she drank the water. "I have no idea about it, I got a call Maria asking me to get all of you up before the car arrives to take to all to the hospital."

"Is every thing ok" I asked as I made my way towards my siblings room to wake them up.

"I don't think so, I have been trying to reach her but she is not picking up the call" Mrs. Smith commented taking out the breakfast she prepared for us from her bag.

"Ray, Samuel get up we need to go to the hospital" Slowly I saw my them get out from their beds.

"K why are you waking us up so early it just seven" Ray growled slowly steeping down from the bed.

"I know sunshine. I won't have woken both of you if it was not important. Now come on get ready the car will be here to pick us up in twenty minutes."

After being sure they are fully awake I moved out of the their room leaving them to get ready while rushing to get ready.
The car arrived just before we got out from our respective rooms. Mrs. Smith handed us our breakfast and we rushed down stairs to go to the hospital after passing her the keys and our dog for care.

It was a twenty minutes ride but the building tension made it seemed like an eternally long ride. The usual chatter and jokes cracked or the songs played have become non existing due to the tension in the car.
May be it was just me but looking at Samuel and Ray I felt that they too could guess something was wrong.
By the time we reached the hospital around a thousand different scenarios and situation had been played in my head.

When we got out of the car the first thing that greeted us was our uncle who looked shaggy with his bed hair and home cloths which for a fact was in contradiction to his rigid and mannered self.

Contrary to his usual self he gave us a small smile filled with sorrow and helplessness.

He guided us, and similar to the quietness in the car all three us could not bring our self to ask questions or talk.

Finally, he came to a halt, in front of a women who seems to be crying with her heads in her hand. I stood rooted while both Ray and Samuel rushed forward to grab our mom. She was devastated, her eyes we're swollen from crying.

I turned and looked at my uncle as if asking if it's true. May be he understood what I meant and replied with a simple nod.
Finding my voice I asked
"Can you take me to see him. "

I grabbed hold of his hand and he took me inside a room where my father, my best friend, my mentor lay life less, unmoved, quite, with his eyes closed.

I just stood their looking at him hoping and praying that what I was seeing was unreal and he was ok.

That in no less then one minute he would open his eyes and aske me to get him a glass of water or ask me about my day.

Still lost in my thoughts I heard footsteps and finally the sound of the door being opened. I didn't have to turn back to know that my mom and siblings were here to see dad for the last time before he gets converted into the five elements of life.

Apart from the cries of my mother their was no other sound in the whole room it seemed like the rest of us were holding our breath. We all in our respective places were fighting back our tears and hoping for this all to be a long nightmare.