Hooked Forever

CHAPTER 1

The day her father died, Kassa-Leigh's heart broke into tiny pieces, never to be mended together again. Jason Williams was the little girl's hero; he wasn't supposed to die. Good people didn't die in real life, right? That only happened in movies, right? That's what the little, red haired girl had thought the whole nine years she had been on this earth.

Then, it happened. The doctor said it was a heart attack; his heart just stopped beating. Kassa-Leigh was at school that day, when her Mom picked her up earlier than usual.

"But, we're going to play basketball in gym, today. I can't miss that!" she complained, as her mom led her out to their car. They climbed into "Henri," the old Ford station wagon, and Kassa-Leigh began to put on her seat belt. "Why are you picking me up early?" she asked for the third time. The belt clicked into place, and she turned to look up at her mom. Immediately, she knew something was wrong. She had never seen her mom cry before. Alarmed, she said, "Mommy, what's wrong?"

Jaclin Williams didn't know how to tell her daughter that her father was gone. How does one do that? It had happened that morning, an hour after Jason had gotten to work. He had collapsed in the middle of a meeting, and was rushed to the hospital. Sarah, his secretary, called Jaclin, and she practically flew to the emergency room, where she was told that her husband of ten years, had passed away from an unexpected heart attack. Feeling light headed, she was led to a chair and given a glass of water. She didn't drink it, but instead stared into the little, disposable cup. Her husband, the man who saved her life, was dead.

"Mommy?" Kassa-Leigh's voice brought Jaclin back to the present. This was it. She had to tell her.

Jaclin cleared her throat. No, she couldn't do it here. Instead, she smiled at her daughter, and said, "Let's go to the park."

The little girl scrunched up her nose in the cute way she did when she was thinking. Jaclin smiled again. Jason did that with his nose, too. She buckled up, wiped her tears with the sleeve of her jacket, and turned the key in the ignition.

Silence filled the car as she drove the short distance to their favourite spot. It was a little park with a couple swings, and a slide. It wasn't much, but Kassa-Leigh loved it there. It was a special place for the little family of three. It was where Jason and Jaclin had met, and it was where Jason had proposed to her. It was this park that they got married in, and it was the same place that she had told him they were expecting a baby. Kassa-Leigh had been going to that park since before she was born, and it was here that her mother felt was appropriate to tell her what had happened to her daddy.

Mother and daughter walked hand in hand to the lone bench. Jaclin stared didn't look at her for a full minute, as she tried to figure out how to say what she had to say. Finally, she looked at her daughter, the spitting image of her father, with bright red hair and eyes that were as green as grass in the summer.

"Baby," she began, becoming frustrated that her eyes, once again, were wet. "Something happened today to Daddy."

Kassa-Leigh saw the tears in her mom's eyes, and knew that something terrible was wrong. "What happened?" she whispered. But, she already knew in her heart that her daddy was gone.

Jaclin tried to swallow the huge lump that had formed in her throat. "H-he had a heart attack, Baby, and h-he died."

Silence.

Then, the most heart-breaking scene occurred, as the little girl's face crumpled up and quiet tears streamed down her face. Jaclin grabbed her and held her in a tight embrace. The two of them sat on that bench for the next ten minutes, and wept.