The Loss Of A Father

Cathy and Jason stood by their father's grave in silence. It had been three weeks since that horrible motorbike accident had taken him. Neither of them could accept that he was gone, and the grief felt like they were constantly falling into a black void with no light. They had no words for each other, only the silent tears of their hearts which were consumed with the stabbing pain of loss, anger, darkness, and sadness.

They were consumed by the long ghost roads from the past which were going to haunt their minds forever.

Cathy looked into Jason's eyes, with her own blurry, tearful eyes. She shook her head and leaned onto his shoulder. Jason felt a long flood of tears fall down his cheeks, and his heart filled with a dark, painful emotion of sadness that he couldn't explain in words.

Their minds flashed back to their childhoods.

Mum and Dad were laughing and joking about making tea in the kitchen, Dad lighting the barbecue on holiday and getting annoyed when he couldn't get it lit, playing on the swings and asking Dad to push them higher so they could see the mountains, Dad's pride when they first passed their driving test, Happy birthdays and Christmases where they would have parties, and Dad's hugs when they were upset.

Dad's hugs...they knew they were going to miss them.

Dad was the only parent they could talk about relationships with. Mum would freak out if they told her, they were dating, whereas Dad would tell them that if they were happy, they should go for it; though he would add,

"I'm not ready to be a Grandparent before I reach 60!"

Jason held Cathy as they both cried. He held his head away from her because he didn't want her to see his sadness. Jason felt bad for Cathy. He remembered how proud his Mum and Dad were when they adopted her as a baby, and he knew that Cathy loved them both as much as he did.

Cathy never knew her birth parents. She had been abandoned because she was a girl. Her birth parents had wanted a boy, so they wrapped her in a pink blanket and left her on his parent's doorstep with a note that said,

"Please take care of my baby."

Jason remembered that his dad had cried when he opened the door, and they had waited over six months for the birth parents to change their minds and collect their beautiful daughter,

but they didn't come back, so his mum and dad decided to adopt her, and bring her up as their own daughter.

He shuddered at the thought of seeing Cathy heartbroken. He didn't like seeing her cry, and he felt extreme sorrow at the loss of his father, and the loss of the only loving father, Cathy had ever known.

Both Cathy and Jason felt numb inside. Their eyes wandered around the graveyard with the hope that this might turn out to be a bad dream and that their dad might come to comfort them and take them home.

They knew it would never happen, but they couldn't accept that he was gone.

Cathy lay a red rose on her Dad's grave. The pain she felt was like no other pain she had ever experienced before.

She had lost the only dad she had ever known.

The grief became too much, and she landed on her knees as she fully broke down. She clawed at the soil and sobbed hard. She wanted to dig him up just so she could see whether he was really dead.

She wanted her dad back.

Jason put his arm on her. He gently lifted her hands from the soil. Her knuckles were red and grazed from digging hard into the soil. He observed them, kissed them gently, and then placed them on his heart.

He pulled her close, and the two of them stood there crying loudly and painfully.

When it came to going home, they both found it difficult to leave the grave. It also brought the reality that their Dad was gone forever. Cathy slowly took Jason by the hand, and attempted to lead him out of the graveyard; but Jason let out a sharp, painful scream, and pulled back.

Cathy felt her heart break into a million pieces, her soul was shrouded in darkness when she heard that scream. Her feelings overwhelmed her, and she couldn't handle the pain of losing the only Dad in her life while trying to help Jason cope with the loss of his Dad. They both fell to the floor and lay there together, sobbing until morning broke.

They fell asleep together, and when they woke; they were still sobbing, but they knew they had to leave.

They took one last look at their Dad's grave, and they each placed a bluebell there because their Dad had told them it was a sign of love.

They said their goodbyes and headed home.

When they reached home, they were still in tears. Their Mum greeted them at the door, and they told her where they had been. Their Mum took one look at their faces, she could read their pain because their expression was pale, and there was no smile on their lips; only a grave, solemn, thin line where their smile used to be. They all hugged together and remained on the doorstep where they cried hard until the sun went down.