Guess what? Life happened.

Chapter 14

“Go faster,” I shouted at Jill as she halted in front of a red light. “What the hell are you doing? We could have pass it if you weren’t so easy on the gas.”

“Nicole, can you please stop shouting? You’re giving me a headache. I already have enough on my plate right now.” Jill replied with her broken voice.

“Then go faster.”

“I’m trying but I can’t exactly go speeding in the streets with cars everywhere. I know you’re anxious to see how your dad is doing so am I but I’m not running a red light. One love one at the hospital is my limit.” She stared straight ahead, her grip tight on the steering wheel, her feet twitched of impatience as we waited for the green light.

When the first responders had arrived at our doors, they didn’t waste time. They hastily performed CPR before loading him in the ambulance. It was strange seeing all those people fussed about my dad, he was always the stronger one. He practically raised me by himself but never once complained about it. He was the only family I had left. I needed to be with my dad but I wasn’t allowed to go in with him in the ambulance so Jill and I followed them in her truck. The ride was excruciatingly painful and tensed. We were both overemotional women mourning over a possible lost but still with hope in our hearts.

My soul was breaking but I knew it wouldn’t be anything compared to what Jill must have been feeling. He was my dad but he was more for her. He was her friend, and confidence. They’ve been together for so long that I think they forgot how to live without each other in their life. It wasn’t an enigma to see that Jill was in love with my father. She never married or had a family of her own. She dated but they never lasted. I used to wonder why until I became aware of the way she looked at my father. Even when my mother was here, Jill never said anything. I guessed she was one of those true love cases who were happy when their love was happy even if it was with someone else.

But she was about to lose the love of her life and I was about to lose my only living parent. Karma caught up to both my dad and me. He pretended to be dying, I wished for him to die, and we were both about to get what we never truly wanted.

My head was ready to burst by the time Jill pulled up in front of the hospital. As a defense mechanism, my mind had already set itself on the worst case scenario. I jumped out of the car and sprinted through the snow, towards the automatic doors. I immediately went to the nurse station in the emergency wing.

“I need to see my dad. He came here in an ambulance about twenty minutes ago. Where is he?” I rambled hectically to the elderly woman behind the counter.

“Last name, please” answered the woman in a calm and professional manner.

“Craig.”

She typed on her keyboard a few times before speaking again, “Oh yes, Mr. Jimmy Craig. He’s in surgery so you guys going to have to wait.”

“But is he going to be okay?” asked a distraught Jill.

“I can’t really tell you anything. You ladies going to have to wait till the doctor is finish. The waiting room for surgical patients’ family members is through this hallway the first door on your right.”

We followed where she was pointed at and ended up in a room with only three white couches and a small coffee table in the middle with magazines. There was a young couple cuddling by the window. I could hear the soft cry of the girl. They didn’t spare us a glance as we took a sit in the couch nearest to the door. We sat in silent, each of us lost in our own thoughts.

 I had no idea what I was going to do without my father. I’ve imagined leaving home to explore the outside world but in the back of my mind, my dad was always waiting for me to come back at home. If he leaves now, where will I come back to?  Who will I come back to? I had nothing left.