Make Believe

2.

It was a wonderful sunny summer day. Hardly any clouds could be seen in the sky. Every person walking outside that day wore a smile on their face. The white walls of St. John's Hospital glistened in the sun. If one inspected the building carefully, they would notice that all blinds were pulled and occasionally a nurse opened a window. However, one of the windows was dark, with closed blinds. Only the blurred shadows of the doctors would quicky rush by it.

Garrick Baldwin's family stood around his hospital bed in the stuffy room. None of them had left the building in days, their hearts beating in sync with the man's as he tried to pull through his injuries. He was one of the many victims of a shooting, which had occured just a week prior. Unlike the others, however, Garrick didn't die immediately. His death was slow, painful and, as much as the doctors tried to deny it, inevitable. It was that day, the eleventh of March, that the Baldwin family celebrated life and death.

Garrick's wife, Alyssa, held her husband's hand as she watched their now six year old daughter Daleigha put a party hat on his head. The man smiled and stroke the little girl's hair.

"Happy birthday my sweetheart." he said. "I'm sorry it has to be this way."

The girl kissed her father's cheek and hugged him."Do you have to go daddy?" she asked when she pulled away. "I know you are in pain and I know you're going to a better place but..."

The church's clock striked one o'clock as a sheet covered a man's last smile. The flat beeping of a machine and heart-wrenching cries filled the dimly lit hospital room. The blinds finally opened and a spirit headed to the heavens, embracing the beatiful world outside.

Garrick Baldwin had passed.