The never ending Chase

Through glass shards

"Hello? May I please speak to Leroy Wilson?"

"Just a moment dear."  an elderly lady picked up the phone." May I know who's speaking?"

"Victoria. Victoria Harrison."

"Oh Victoria dear!", she seemed overjoyed to hear it was me. "Just a moment." In the background I could hear her calling Leroy.

"I got it grandma.", his voice came up through the receiver. "Hello?"

"Hey Leroy, its me, Victoria."

"Oh hey! What's going on?"

"Um....the thing is....... I wont be able to go to the dance with this weekend."

"Oh." I could feel the disappointment in his voice.

"My brother actually..... um..... passed away...... two weeks ago, and uh..... I'm going to have to stay at home for a ....a week, so I'm going to miss the.... uh dance.

"Oh." This time he seemed concerned. "I'm really sorry. I had no idea....."

"Its alright.", I paused.

"I just wanted to let you know, about the dance. I didn't want you to think that I ditched you in the last minute, so...... um.... I should go. I'll see you later OK?"

"OK Victoria. Again, I'm really sorry."

I slowly placed the receiver down. I had enough of everyone telling me how sorry they were for my loss. They could never truly understand my pain, unless they themselves had lost a loved one.

My home now seemed hollow. The whole house seemed to emanate an aura of loneliness and sorrow. The once large house, filled with one or the other noises day in and day out, now seemed as silent as a graveyard.

In the parlour my dad sat on an armchair in front of the fire, his fractured arm, lying in a sling and his plastered ankle resting on a footstool in front of him. My father had always looked much younger than he really was, but seeing his profile in the light of the fire brought out all the years of work and worry. He looked so intently at the flames, as if willing it to remove the pain he was feeling.

He tried to get up from the armchair, but he struggled and finally he gave up, and sat back down on the brown leather seat. I came closer to him. "Dad,do you need any help?"

"It's alright love. I'll be fine."

My dad had been lucky enough to survive the explosion, but he did suffer many broken bones and injured limbs. After making sure that Nathan was fine after his fits attack, he came in search of me. When the left wing of the hospital had exploded, his car had flipped over, leaving him unconscious, and on the verge of death. Had he been in the hospital, he would not have survived.

Though the doctors had persistently insisted, dad had, putting his health in danger, come home for a few days, to take care of things.

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The bell chimes echoed through out the house, which was now completely empty, except for me. I slowly dragged myself away from the window, where  I was seated, and went to answer the door.

I opened the door and was nearly knocked down as my friends entered my house, beer bottles and chip packets in hand. "Hey Vic, true or false, Tyler hasn't lost his virginity yet?", Sean asked, passing me the pack of beer bottles. "Shut up, Sean! Can't you see that Vicky neither knows nor cares?"

"Yeah, Sean! Just shut up...... we are not here to discuss my love life. We are here to stay with Vic and  watch a movie with her as she misses the first dance of her high school, which may socially impair her, for life.", Tyler piped in.