That day

The night was calm, the stars were bright, everything was perfect, well maybe not everything. The house was peaceful and could hear the sound of the clock ticking. On the white couch horizontally stretched, eyelids closed and her breathing deep and relaxed, not a twitch, not a spasm, barely any movement laid mum. A nurturing and faithful mother, unfortunately now a widow. I love and appreciate my mum. She's the best at what she does. Even though her better half is gone, the one person she relied on, we henceforth have each other. There's nothing greater than the love of a father. The relaxed ambience was no longer the same without father. He was the source of light amongst us, but I for sure knows he is still within us. Mum and I definitely cognize the idea of our lifestyle no longer been the same without dad. We are determined to move on with our life though it wouldn't be easy.

That day was memorable.

It hurted so badly that I woke up and found out that my hero was gone. Immediately, burial plans were to be made.

Firstly, we had to change all of the curtains in our house to white, and rented extra chairs from a family friend for people to sit in. By midday, the sad news had been passed around like the wind. Our phones vibrated every second, cars rolling up and leaving the driveway each minute and some parked in the street. Sympathizers were nice enough to bring along flowers, food or cards. That was so sweet of them. The entire house was occupied with people. Family and friends were all there. The snacks people brought in were carefully placed on platters and neatly set on a table for anyone who would care for some. It was pretty busy and noisy in the house. There were people crying and Kleenex was like smart phones as everyone had it in their hands. That moment, the shock was real. I felt completely alone which made me sad. I looked over at mum, she buried her head in her hands and rocked back and forth, sobbing as she did so, tears streaming down her face. A tear streamed down my face. I couldn't bare it anymore. I instantly left the living room and went into my bedroom. In there I shed the most tears. It felt better in there than in any other room or someone else's presence. I didn't like crying in mom's presence because I understood how badly that hurted her. Dad was a good man with positive thoughts. He cared for his family and friends and was always ready to assist the needy. Few days passed and on Tuesday the thirteenth of January was father's burial. At the church, on the projector screen it read The Late Mr Chris Alex Hills. The words that hit me the most was, "The Late". I have never felt that way before. Reading it, considering the fact that dad is late made me understand how it really feels to lose someone. Everyone was dressed in black and the church was packed. I noticed some board members of the Charity Organisation he had, his former colleagues at work and college, and some of his friends at the course he took in France. They were sitting a few rows behind us. The service was great and on behalf of family, dad's younger sister auntie Mabel gave the tribute and on behalf of the charity organisation one of the board members did. After the service, we proceeded to the cemetery and finally laid him to rest. It was tearful to see him go down. Mum left back and said a few words to him. It was a tradition in my family. After being at the cemetery, we went to a nearby hall where food was served. Couple of hours later, we left for home. Mum and I felt loved and appreciated in every single way we were sympathized by during our time of loss. It was a gracious moment for us. Auntie Mabel came along with us that night to ensure that we were okay. We went home, said a few prayers, drank tea and went to bed. Our day was busy, sad and memorable so all we had to do was to sleep over it. The next day was officially the day everything started afresh for us. All three of us sat at the breakfast bar and there we chatted about the funeral and our night. Throughout the night it was raining cats and dogs and auntie Mabel explained about her terrific night.

She said, "I couldn't breathe, my heart beat faster and sweat poured down my body as I stayed still as possible."

I felt sad for my auntie as I never heard her complain about being scared before. It was a devastating moment for me. I wish I was able to help her. Just a few minutes after our discussion, at that time we were now in the living room watching Family Feud when aunt Mabel's phone started vibrating. It was her job. They needed her badly. One of the special needs kids that loved auntie Mabel so much refused to take the vaccine without her being there. She had to rush out urgently. While she was gone, mum and I relaxed and discussed about my future. We never had this sort of conversation before so it was an amazing discussion. We talked about colleges, boys, health and basketball. She appreciated the fact that I love basketball as that's one way to keep my mind off dad. It was a long but a very good talk. We spent the entire morning bonding together and it was the greatest feeling ever. Even though we both missed dad, we tried our best to continue with our lives. In the afternoon around two, auntie Mabel was back and met us eating lunch. For lunch, we had a turkey sandwich. It was so good! After lunch the three of us went for a walk and we spent so much time together than before and acted as if we haven't seen each other in years. It seemed as if the death of dad united us. Surprisingly we were so energetic that day. We were so happy. Ever since dad died, I never saw mum's face glow like today; and that was a great relief for me though I think she's pretending to be happy just for me. I know that deep within herself, she was sad that her husband is dead. In the evening, we just had dinner and rest. We were so tired. We had a fun day. The next couple of days I had basketball practice, so during the day I was busy. We had a big game in a few weeks and we were striving for success. Mum had been busy too lately. Our week was pretty busy and different.

A week later, I coughed a lot and had severe shortness of breath quite a lot that mum decided we must go see my Doctor. It was on tuesday the twentieth of January exactly a week from the burial of father that I had an appointment. I hated going to the doctors but I love them. Mine was pretty cool. I didn't know what to expect from him though. Mum and I sat at the quiet waiting room. I was calm but mum looked so nervous that I thought she'll have an anxiety. The past week was busy, fun but also sad as dad was laid to rest. All I wanted was for this day was to be a great outcome. Out from the staff section came Dr Russell. A young and classic man. He was probably in his thirties. We walked down this long hallway with tan color on the walls, there was a frame on the wall that said: You'll be OK! It was so cute. I read it and felt so good. I even showed it to mum so that she could calm herself as she was nervous than I am. Like about three feet distance more was Dr Russell's office. It was so pretty in there. It actually felt welcoming and I had never felt that way in a hospital before. The carpet, the wall paintings, his desk was all color coated and best part of it all, was that it was neutral. My favorite! The chairs were so comfy. I almost slept in them. I was at a very comforting situation. Dr Russell kept on smiling at me. I wondered why. It was sort of like he was reading my mind.

He then said, "I know you're wondering why I'm smiling at you."

"I was," I replied. "What might be the reason?"

"You seem very warm and pleasant, and that I love about my patients."

"Very please to hear that."

"Now let's start the check up," Dr Russell said.

I told him how I felt exactly the past couple of days. He conducted some tests on me, had an x-ray and gave me a vaccine. I had to lay down for about ten minutes to ensure that I was fine before leaving. He told us that we will receive the test results in three to four working days. He also advised me to take at least a thirty minutes nap everyday because I was overworking myself and I needed some rest. That was all he told me; but he talked to mum privately. I didn't hear what they discussed about though. I just prayed in my heart that it was something positive. They came back into the room, said our goodbyes and left. Leaving the room, I felt good. We got out of the building and the hospital was extremely busy. Cars were parked everywhere in the parking lot. Surprisingly, the other half of the building which was the Emergency, was fully parked. There were ambulances and cops all around the building and that got patients very worried including mum. I desperately wanted to know what was going on, but I couldn't go there because it was clustered. Mum and I hopped in the car and drove off. I thought we were heading home; but apparently we were not. We headed to Target to grab mum's hair products and after to Walgreens to grab my medication. On our way to Walgreens, we saw a white Nissan truck flipped over and there were some cops at the site. That might be the reason why the Emergency was full. It caused so much traffic on the road and it was really scary to watch. It snowed in the morning and the roads were all very slippery causing accidents. We reached at Walgreens, got my medications and went home. I set the table for dinner immediately because we got home around dinner time. We had some chicken strips, dinner rolls and some green peas. It was so delicious. Afterwards, mum did a couple of office stuff and I watched a movie. Our evening was quiet but good.