Sweet Country Life

Goodbye

1993
The room broke down in tears. The sounds of sniffles and cries echoed through the hospital room. Mom was holding Dads hand, with her head placed on the white fabric sheets. If you looked close enough you could see her chest moving in and out faster than normal.
Ri tapped Raven's shoulder, "What's going on?" she asked.
"I think Daddy died," Raven answered with confusion in her voice. This was to much for a 4 year old to absorb. Looking around she could see all her siblings in tears, holding each other they all cried. Even Arthur, he's old he's not supposed to cry.. Raven thought to herself. Maia, Ri, Echo and Raven stood by the door of the hospital room. Standing in silence they were to unsure of the situation to be able to react.
Callie walked over to the girls and knelt down next to them, tears falling down her face.
"Hi babies," she sniffled reaching her arms out to hug all four of them.
"Is Daddy okay?" Echo asked
Pulling away from the hug Callie left her hands on Echo and Maia's shoulders.
"Daddy just went to heaven, he isn't in pain anymore." Callie tried to explain to the girls.
"When is he coming back?" Raven asked
"Oh babies, Daddy isn't coming back," Callie cried, "Dad is dead."

Callie hugged them all, crying. None of them knew what to do. When Raven started crying, all three of them followed in her footsteps. Mom's fave was still pressed against the bed, but no one dared to try and pull her away. Elsa and Patrick stood behind her running her back. Raven just looked around the room at all of her siblings, that's when Arthur started gathering everyone up.
"Come on guys, let's give Mom some space." he said, walking towards the door and grabbing Echos hand. As the older kids started coming out, some of them grabbed the hands of the little ones. Evvie and Micheal just barely understood what was happening, but the quads were very much so confused. Raven held Adrianna's hand as they walked out to the waiting room.
They all stayed in that waiting room for a long time that day. All the kids tried to be strong, but when the oldest one is only 15 it's kind of hard. Raven fell asleep on one of the chairs, and that's the last thing she remembers from that day.

Dad died of Pancreatic Cancer on that day, and Mom now had 14 kids to take care of on her own.

That's the day Raven learned what death is.