Seeing Death

Diner

             She sat across the table from her dad in a small run down diner that had crimson colored rubber seats and teal marble tables. Opal wore a maroon jacket with light blue strings that she pulled on tirelessly as she waited for her food. Impatiently she sighed and tried kicking the leg of the the table with the toe of her shoe. She missed by an inch and kicked her father in the shin. "OPAL" He warned, though gave off a slight smile as she giggled.

          "When's the food coming?" Opal asked for perhaps the 20th time in that 30 minutes.

         "Relax, it'll come when it's ready. Your barking ain't gonna get it to go any faster." His eyes turned up at the creases as she sighed heavily with recognition. Opal shrugged uncomfortably and shifted is her chair as she suggested,

         "I got my math test back today".

         "Yeah, how did that go?" His eyes glistened as he prepared himself for yet another success. Cheesy but true, he LOVED to brag.

           Opal blushed and then looked down at her lap "Not very well I guess". She looked up quick to see her father's concerned face and then spluttered "I failed it, I FAILED it!" Her arms wailed up in the air in confused positions trying to gain emphasis.

          "It's ok, Everyone fails sometime right?"

          "I guess" Opal replied and dipped a spoon into her soup. But she knew it was worse, WAY WORSE, she had been off on every single problem. And somehow she knew each answer she wrote was wrong, but her head had been pulsing and beating so hard and the pain was inevitable, it seemed to be telling her to write these numbers down. So she did.