Sylvie's story

A day to remember

{Flash back}

~Sylvie's father's point of view~

I dress and get ready for work like usual. I pray in the back of my mind I won't be sent out on any calls. I work as an officer, but I only get sent out on Amber alerts or children kidnappings. I kiss my wife on the cheek as I grab my lunch. "Be safe" is what my wife always says. "I will don't worry" I look down and chuckle to see my twelve year old daughter hugging my leg. "There's my sweet little siren. Who's your number one man?" She beams up at me "you are and always will be daddy" this always melts my heart to hear her say this. "Can I count on you?" I ask like always "of course you can daddy. I'm your strong siren" I chuckle "your gonna make boys faint and girls run for their money once they see you" I kiss the top of her head. "We will go somewhere special when I get back I promise" she squeezes my leg in a hug before going to her usual seat at the window to watch me come and go.

{Later}

I sit at my desk. It's almost the end of my shift when a call comes in. It's a little boy having been taken from his home. I suit up and go. I mumble an apology as I pass the picture on my desk of the three of us. I get in my car and radio in that I am taking the call. I pause before asking if they could call my wife and tell her I might be home late.

{Few days later}

I find the kid. I look up in horror at his captor. This scrawny man is holding a gun toward the boy "give him back to me" the man croaks. "Sir, put the gun down" it goes on for what feels like an eternity with him demanding to have the boy back as I try to convince him to put the gun down til....................I'm shot. The boy's scream as I fall to the side is the last thing I hear. The last thing I see is the man point the gun at the boy still in my arms, his finger on the trigger.

{Later the next day}

~little Sylvie's point of view~

I sit in my window seat waiting for daddy. We got a call almost a week ago saying my dad might be a little late that day. Every morning I asked "is daddy home yet?" My mother would look down at me "not yet sweetheart, get ready for school" I did. When I returned from school. "Is daddy home yet?" I call from the door. "Not yet baby, do your homework" which I sat and did before going to my seat. But today......today was different. I leave for school still with no sign of dad. It's about a week before Christmas. I walk in the door "is daddy-" my mother is clutching the phone, her eyes red and puffy. "Come here darling" she chokes out before I run into her arms. She kisses my head and rubs my back. "Where's daddy?" I dare ask. "He's up in the sky. Watching over us especially you" I look up to see her.....crying.

~Sylvie's mother's point of view~

My little girl is now looking up at me as I burst at the seams. "Don't cry momma" I hear as I feel little arms hug me "don't cry" I don't think she fully understands that her father is never coming home again. I don't know if I should be thankful or worried. I coo to her more to relax myself then then anything else. "Why don't you go do your homework while I make dinner" I say after having calmed enough to see her through clear eyes.

{At dinner}

It hits her right in the middle of dinner. She drops her silverware, looks at her father's seat and cries. It pains me to see my little girl crying. All I can offer her is a hug and a watered down version of what happened. As I hug her she cries and yells and screams. I soon join her in tears knowing this man has forever changed our lives.