My dad is in the military. I'm proud. Well, maybe I'm not. It's kind of complicated. I mean, I'm proud of my father, but I'm also sad that he's gone. Without a fatherly figure, I'm done. My mother does everything to keep me happy, but it doesn't work. Dad never comes home. I don't want him to come home. Then he'll just leave again, and my heart will be broken once more. I barely call or talk to him, thinking that I'll just burst into tears and hurt him. I don't do that, not after last time.
~Flashback~
I heard laughing in the other room. I knew it was dad and mom. My dad was in the computer while my mom was on her bed.
"I miss you!" mom said.
"I miss you too." dad replied. I peeked into the room, a lump forming inside my throat.
"Oh! Here's Alice." Mom gestures me over. "Wanna say hi to dad?" I nod my head yes. I quietly slink into the room and sit beside my mom.
"Hi dad." I manage to blurt out without sobbing.
"Hi honey." he replied. His voice sounded so weary and tired. He must be working all day and all night for the country. My lump got bigger and it got harder to hold in. "So, how's school?"
"It's good. I met a girl who was new this year. She's my friend now. Her name is Rose."
"That's excellent!" he replied again happily. "I'm so proud of you!"
"I have good grades in all my subjects, and my teacher is really nice!"
"Great!" I smiled. "Alice, you're such a wonderful daughter. I don't know what I could ever do without you!" The lump returned. A tear rolled down.
"Alice? Honey, are you ok?" my mom asked. That made it even worse. The waterworks came. I cried and cried. My mom hugged me. I pushed away and ran into my room. I slammed the door behind me.
~Flashback End~
So, that happened. I really miss him, though. I do.
"Alice! We have to go!" Huh? Where? Mom never told me about this!
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"Somewhere! Just get ready and come down in 15 minutes!" Huh. Mom must have known what I was thinking because, "No! I am not taking you anywhere unsafe! Why would you think that?" I changed, and got into the car. Turns out, we were going to the mall.
"Why are we here? " I asked.
"I just wanted to stretch my legs. That's why we came here! Do you want to go to the food court?" she asked me.
"No stores? We just got here! You said you wanted to stretch your legs, and you won't get any stretching of the legs by sitting and eating!"
"Well, I'm hungry! Let's go!" I walked in defeat along side my mom. We picked a table and sat down. We got Taco Bell, and I was eating a burrito.
"Boo!" someone said behind me. I almost spit the burrito out of my mouth!
"Why did you-" Then, I saw him. I burst into tears and jumped into his arms. "DAD!" I cried. "You're home!" He swung me around in his arms. I held on tight and never let go. I suddenly started crying - happy tears. "Dad." I said in between tears. I rubbed my cheeks on his chest. "I missed you." I stopped rubbing my cheeks and looked up at him. I frowned. "You're going to leave soon." Dad shook his head.
"Nope! I'm staying here. No more departing and no more crying. Your dad will stay with you forever." He pulled my mom and I into a big group hug.
My life was full once again.
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HEY! I hope you liked my first short story! I'll be posting every week. Don't get mad if I don't post one week, because I might be busy. Sorry in advance! If you want, you could write in the comments what theme I should do for my next short story! I hope you liked this story! I was on YouTube, and I saw this little video of a girl's dad from the military surprising her by coming home. It was heart touching, so I decided to write about it.
