a letter to elise || lrh

chapter 4

August 28, 2015; Saturday

Elisiana stared at the photo in her hands.

It was a photo of a tall, young man, smiling at the camera. He was carrying a child-a little brunette girl, who resembled him, in his arms. It seemed to be a birthday party, with all the balloons surrounding the pair.

Elisiana smiled as tears started to roll down her cheeks, wiping them away before it could stain the photo.

It was her father's birthday today. It was a picture of them eleven years ago on her 5th birthday, when she first heard her dad sing. Her dad took her to one of his performances at some local bar and she remembered being excited that she could barely keep her smiles to herself. On the way there, she kept on bugging him, repeatedly asking him if they were there yet.

He sat her at the table near the platform and went up to the stage, sitting in front of the piano. "This one's dedicated to my little girl, over there." He began to play a very sweet melody as he looked at his daughter who had both of her hands supporting her head as she smiled at him. She waved a little, which made her dad laugh into the microphone.

"Ground control to major tom, commencing countdown, engines on," he sang. She listened to him with a big, goofy smile. She loved hearing her dad's voice.

"Daddy, what was the song you were singing back there?" she asked once he was done with his gig. Her dad led her back to the car, opening the door for her.

"That my dear, is one of the masterpieces of the legendary David Bowie," he smiled, patting her head. "It's called 'Space Oddity'".

From then on, it became her favorite song, always wanting him to sing it to her before she went to sleep. "Major Tom," as she'd like to call him since coincidentally, her dad's name was also Tom.

"Ground control to Major Tom, I repeat, ground control to Major Tom," she'd say in the deepest voice she could muster, "Commencing countdown in 10, 9, 8..." And then her dad would lie down on the sofa with his legs up in the air, pretending to be in a rocket ship. She started to love the space because of him and she'd make him buy different kinds of books about the outer space.

She sighed and took her phone from the bedside table. She turned it on and called the one person she knew she could trust. "Hello, Michael."

• • •

"It's his birthday today," Elisiana reminded him as they stared at her dad's tomb.

In the memory of Tom Clarke, a loving husband and father.

"I know," Michael nodded. Michael had been her best friend for as long as she could remember and no matter how shitty or complicated she gets, he has always stuck with her through thick and thin. They stayed there for a while and Michael held her as Elisiana cried and cried.

Why would God take someone as good as my dad? Why of all the men you could choose, you chose my dad? There are plenty of bad people out there, so why kill the good ones?

Those were the questions she always asked God and she always sought for answers but as the years passed by, she slowly lost faith in God. She stopped praying and she felt her childhood being sucked away from her body and she almost became lifeless if it wasn't for Michael. Michael was always there for her ever since her dad died.

The sky began to darken and Michael looked up, noticing the slight patter of rain against his skin. "It's beginning to rain," he told her. Elisiana looked up and her tear-streaked face broke Michael's heart.