Evanescent

25 | R E M E M B E R

A/N - listen to the song above before you read. or you may listen while you read.

love each other first. let it be known. because not everyone realizes at the time that they're loved.

know that you're loved and be good to yourselves 💌

___

Rosalina-mae stood outside the door of her dads hospital room, a solemn, defeated look on her face as she eavesdropped on her dads conversation.

He pushed an envelope back in the doctors hands with a weak hand, shaking his head slowly. "It's a kind gesture. And I appreciate whoever sent that money. But I need to give it to my daughter. Along with some other things. She needs to know she has not been forgotten and neither are the good things she's done through out her life. Trying to bring back someone that will forget her when the surgery is over will hurt her more than me being completely gone. It's better this way. She's loved now. And I want her to remember me this way."

Rosa sank back, feeling her heart sink into her empty stomach. She repeatedly swallowed and hung her head back, trying desperately to keep herself from crying.

She'd done enough crying. Her dad didn't want to see her cry today.

He wanted to see her smile. He wanted to see Rosalina-mae.

But who was she when she wasn't fighting for her family?

Maybe she was just another depressed kid wishing the world would stop crumbling down around them.

Or maybe she was just a toy in a messed up game of pretend.

She didn't know who she was. But she didn't feel like Rosalina-mae.

She was starting to feel like she was watching from a distance. It was all becoming too much.

Things were fading. Memories were being blocked out.

Or maybe she was trying to forget.

She flinched in surprise when someone put their hand on her shoulder. "Rosa.. are you alright dear? I'm surprised your eyes aren't burning with how long you've been staring up at these bright lights."

Rosa blinked a couple of times and then nodded her head slowly, looking up at Katerina's pretty face. How could she keep such a pleasant look on her face in a place like this?

"I'm okay. Just thinking about what i'll say to my dad before I go in," she said, trying to control the shaking in her voice.

"Your dad is a wonderful man. I'm so glad I got to finally meet him. He's full of jokes and personality," Katerina smiled.

"That's my dad for you. He's always been that way," she said with a small shrug and a tired smile. "I'm gonna head in now."

Slowly, Rosa made her way into the room; smiling when her dad's eyes lit up at the sight of her.

"Hi there.." she said with a small wave and she let out a small exhale when he gestured for her to come over.

"Come talk with me. Its been a while."

___

Remember me this way.

Rosa watched her dad sleep, her hand never leaving his. Even when she began to feel the strength of his grip grow weaker.

Even when she began to see the life fade out of him as time passed.

His strength was passed on to her. His words of wisdom. His light. His love. They belonged to her from now on.

She carried them with her, wrapped safely in the blanket of memories only she could hold onto now.

His brain was shutting down. His body was tired. But he was still a strong man in her eyes. A strong man in her memories.

When he was gone; Rosa swore to herself that she wouldn't think of him like that.

She would remember him as the man who made it seem he could walk over water even when he was bedridden. She would remember him as the man who made her smile even on his bad days. She would remember him as the man who gave her love and remembered her even when he couldn't remember the hour before.

He didn't forget her. And she wouldn't let him be forgotten.

She wouldn't just let him be a passing thought.

Her head dropped down onto his shoulder as she pressed one of the working earbuds into her ear, the ethreal start of Frank Ocean's 'Godspeed' begining to play, filling up the empty silence in her ears.

Tears filled her green eyes and stained her caramel colored cheeks. But they didn't stop her from humming the song outloud to her dad.

He had always loved hearing her hum to him. And she loved when he would sing Michael Jackson songs to her anytime of the day.

What she would do just to hear him sing again to her.

'I will always love you. How I do.'

The sound of her humming was momentarily paused when her voice cracked and it was replaced with a small sob. And though she stopped to cry. The song went on.

Things would go on.

'I let go of my claim on you.'

She turned her head so her cheek was now resting on his shoulder and she smiled sadly when she heard the faintest beating of his heart.

Rosalina-mae would always remember her dad as a man so full of love. Never would that change.

"Please remember me this way."