Sophia ✔

Chapter 3 - Gone

Edited ✔ 

WARNING: Mentions of death.

Chapter 3 - Gone

It's dark, so very dark.

Chris leads Sophia down the dimly-lit halls that seem to haunt her, her body feeling fuzzy after hearing the other nurses' exclamation.

"It's the girl's mom..."

She's dead.

Once the two appear in front of the familiar plain door, Mr. Smith comes out of it looking shaken up. Sophia peaks around her father to catch a glimpse of the room just as the door closes, noticing that the bed was already cleared, new blankets folded neatly atop it.

Her mama is nowhere to be seen.

"Where's mama?" Sophia asks her dad as he walks over to her and thanks Chris for watching after her. "Dad? Where's mama!?"

Her voice raises until he looks down at her. Her throat tightens as she searches his familiar blue eyes, the words being told without saying anything, she can see it in the way tears brimmed the sides.

She's gone.

"No." Sophia chokes out a small whisper as she begins to shake. "No, no, no."

The world started to spin until finally, Sophia fell to the ground, crying. Her father reaches out to comfort her but the little girl slaps his hand away.

"Sophi," He says in a strained whisper. "C'mon now, you have to get up."

"No."

"Sophia, we have to go."

"No!" She screams out before sobbing harder and slapping his hand away once more.

"Sophia!" He scolds her now, mindful of the stares they begin attracting as his daughter avoids his gaze, her tears now beginning to suffocate her. "Get up, now!"

"No, no, no, no, no, no, NO!!!" She burst out, finally breaking down. "She can't leave me, Sh-she, she can't!"

Sophia's father looks around uncomfortably at the odd glances sent his way before abruptly picking her up and carrying her out of the horrible building that gives people false hope. All the way to the car Sophia kicks and screams on his shoulder to let her go, let her go back to her mama.

"She promised!" She finally screams one last time and slumps over in defeat as he continues to carry her, her sobs never quieting. "She promised."

You can't break a promise.

The older man eventually forces Sophia into the car and quickly drives home. Instead of pulling into their driveway, he pulls across the street into the Awrey residence. The twins rush out to greet their best friend, all decked out in their brightly coloured pajamas, but freeze when they notice her tear-stained face and the harsh grip of her father's hand on her wrist.

As Mr. Smith greets Mrs. Awrey, Eithen and Connor take Sophia upstairs to see Alex, but Sophia ignores them all as she runs into the guest bedroom and closes the door behind her with a slam.

Making sure to lock the door, Sophia backs away from her best friend's concerned calls and makes her way over to the window. She sits there, staring helplessly at her father, who doesn't even cast a glance towards his daughter before getting into his car and speeding off in the direction of the hospital once more.

Sophia spends the rest of that night sitting in the window and crying.

July Fourteenth, 2008

A little girl stands in an open graveyard.

Tears slowly stream down her young face as she blearily gazes down towards her feet.

She stands there for what seems like hours, the heat of the sun beating mercilessly against her back, the weather not matching the storm of emotions raging inside of her. She doesn't know what she is feeling, all of it such a mess that the only real thing she can comprehend is pain.

Sophia is in pain.

She was only seven.

Everything happened so fast, in just a few months her mama went from always being around, to being gone. She didn't understand. So she cries as she stares at the bouquet of red roses placed upon the stone.

Red roses.

Her favorite.

A few days after Sophia left the hospital her father sat her down and confirmed the horrible truth.

She was dead.

She had died on July second, 2008 at 12:36 a.m.

Sophia's birthday.

She was with her when she died.

Sophia laid in bed right next to her, listening to her shallow breathing and stuttering heartbeat and didn't even notice either of them stopping.

She promised.

She promised everything was going to be okay. Those kids on the bus would be proven wrong. Their family would go back to normal. They could be happy again. She'd come back home.

She'd live.

She promised.

And she broke her promise.

She left me. 

E.C.