A Night Never to be Forgotten

The snow blows from the rooftops and the moon glows overhead. No one would ever have guessed the world of a fifteen-year-old girl could come crashing down while the moon shines joyously on her face.

She travels with her mother and step-dad, half asleep, over the winding roads of the Interstate, coming closer and closer to their destination with every moment that passes. No one knows what’s happening. They’re just driving over the familiar hills and cracks in the pavement as if to pass the time. There is no speeding across the wet pavement, no honking horns coming from at the few cars on the road at 11:30 on a Sunday night in the middle of December. The world is silent to her ears. There are no tires screeching, no sirens from police cars or ambulances, no nothing. The world is dark and unreal.

The trio arrives at the local hospital, tears heavy in the young girl’s eyes. She doesn’t know what’s ahead. It feels like a horrendous dream that she will eventually wake up from. But she can’t wake. She feels the pain, emotionally and even physically as she pinches herself in an attempt to stir awake from this nightmare.

The family is ushered into a claustrophobic white-walled room, where they are told to sit and wait. The young, naïve girl doesn’t know how cruel this night really was how terrible it was about to become.

The black haired doctor walks into the diminutive room and tells the family they have to go to a different hospital. The family piles back into the car and the girl tries to sleep. Thoughts rage through her head, her eyes unable to stay closed long enough to get some rest. The street lamp overhead flickers and she jumps. “Mom?” she asks, “What’s going on?” No response. The eerie silence bothers her, and she shakes in fright.

The family arrives at the new hospital, oblivious to what is waiting for them inside. “Do you want to see him?” the doctor asks calmly. The young girl nods her head and is lead to the back of the hospital. The doctor leaves her then, and she hugs her mother and cries.

She stares down at the ghostly white corpse of the one she used to know so well. She never thought this would happen to someone she loved. Her daddy is gone, and he’s never coming back.