A Letter Away From You

Chapter 10

As old-fashioned as it may seem, the marrow of receiving messages from significant people never fails to pound the depths of my heart. If maybe given a once-in-a-lifetime chance of traveling in time, I'd be rolling myself back to the outskirts of the 1900s. 

Do they only see black and white? Is a question I've asked the people around me as a kid. Rattling out the streets of England and London is a setting I definitely want to experience. I build up these images in my mind; saturated vibrant colors surround me as I dip my quill pen in black paint, writing letters, letters to you.

"Uriah has sent you an email."

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A few years ago

Just In: A mining accident right off the shore of the Azula Mines has taken the lives of 10 people, while 16 others in critical condition. According to witnesses, the limestone cave systems housing the miners and prospectors began to plummet after an explosion suddenly went off. The cause of the explosion is yet to be investigated. Listed below are the names of  the ill-fated  men who lost their lives in such an unexpected tragedy:

Isaiah Hill

Jordan Jeck McClaren

Neal Budapest

Namono Adebayo

Aidan Fowler

"Aidan Fowler." Tears falling down my eyes, I read the very line my ten-year-old state couldn't handle. 

"Why is Dad's name there mom?" I shifted my focus to my mother. She was just standing there, muted and silent. Didn't even say a word, written on her face is a sign of no emotion at all. My mom, which at this moment I needed the most, pushed herself to the room upstairs. In the room she shared all the precious memories she made with the person being listed in the news.

"Mom, where are you going?" I called and called for her. An alarm was ringing the entire house, it was from the kitchen. I had no idea boiling water could be burnt, but the recent news took away all of our senses as we broke off one by one. The water at its boiling point or the pace our hearts were beating, I didn't know which one was more agile and disturbing. 

My body longed for breaths, as apparently, I wasn't inhaling enough to support my fragile figure. The perfect scenery of a complete family blurred out to complete dullness. Although this time, literally. 

"Dad?" A dash of misery kicked in. Dad was peeking at me from over the corner just inches away from me. My eyes blinked, and he was nowhere to be seen. 

"Dad, where are you going?" The same question I asked Mom just a few minutes earlier. Where they leaving me? I hurried to our backdoor, in hopes of seeing my father for a second time. The alarm whistled louder than the first ring, while the person I certainly saw back here just vanished in thin air.

I ran.

Knees above my stomach.

I just leaped forward, with no direction of where to go, no particulars of where I might end up. All my mind contained was the desire to see the person who brought me into this world. Like ping pong balls bouncing from drum to drum, shattering them as every spring weighs so much. I couldn't imagine what my life would be without my Dad.

And before I knew it, my vision clapped into pure abyss.

"Faye! Faye!" 

Mom? 

Constant crying flood the bottom of my eardrums. Was all of that just a dream? A certain part of me was clinging into a cable of hope, that all of what happened was just a result of my deep sleep.

"What happened mom?" My worry raised a question for the person sitting beside me, my mother. I slowly opened my eyelids to find out I was inside the four corners of my bedroom. 

"You're finally awake." Mom nervously let out a few words. Her voice was skittish, it was shaking from point to point. Inside the premises of my napping chamber, was the first time I encountered pain. Real pain.

Even a little kid would know enough to understand the emotion behind their own mother's vocal tone. Just one hint of Mom's voice, I knew what happened was too real to be a dream. She rushed me with an embrace, warm enough to cool the grasp of my insides, but not sufficient to mask the agony of Dad's passing.

"I'm sorry dear." Her eyes felt sorry, as well as her trembling body. 

"Why mom?" Drops trickling from the base of my eyeballs, I questioned my mother. Buckets wouldn't be ample to collect the amount. My brittle soul blamed it all on the only person I had in this very time. 

"Why did Dad die?" I bombarded her with questions I couldn't even recognize myself.

"Life is short Faye, it's hard to accept but it is what it is." With a calm tone, Mom assured me.

Short? Do I deserve to go through this?