The Beauty of Death

Chapter 2- Running

Oh my god am I late. All I could do was get Kizzy moving out the door. She was moving extremely slow today and she knew Daddy needed to get going to get papers done so he could get this job.

"I don't wata go." she said as I got her buckled into her car seat.

"Firstly, it's want and you know Aunt Nikki is excited to see you." I tried to comfort her.

"Okay. But I WANT a new fuzzy." she compromised with me.

"I can work with that. But it will have to be small this time."

She got real jumpy at that shouting "Yay!" at the top of her voice. She is so much like her mother that it's not even funny. Just thinking of her brought tears to my eyes. 'Funny how even crying for seven years you can still manage to cry again. Come on, not in front of Kizzy.' I ran back to the kitchen and grabbed my leather satchel and sprinted back to the driver's side and started the car. I worked my way through the 7:30 traffic as I made my way to my sister's. I pulled into the drive just as my phone rang. I yanked it from the charger and saw that it was Joe Ryner. Mr. Ryner was a principal at the school that I was trying to get a job at and hence why I'm at my sister's. Kizzy didn't go back to school for a few days and I needed this job. I slid the screen and answered the call very formally.

"Mr. Ryner. Good morning. Yes, I am still planning on the meeting this morning. I'm just dropping off my daughter and I will be right there. No, I didn't know the it was changed. It's in twenty minutes? Yes, I will try and get there as soon as I can. Thank you for the update." Shit, I wasn't going to make the time limit.

"Luke!"

"Oh, hey Nikki. How are you this morning?"

"I'm fine. You look like you just got hit by a semi."

"I wish. I need to get going. My meeting was changed and now I need to be there in fifteen minutes."

"Well, I got Kizzy. You get going and I'll see you later tonight."

"Thank you so much sis! Don't know what I would do without you."

"You'd fall apart."

She went to the back of my Camry and undid Kizzy and walked my baby to the house. But not before I got my hug and a very wet and sloppy kiss. I smiled like I was on the moon. God I was wrapped and I didn't care. I glanced at my watch and just about shit my pants. I get back in my car and nearly speed to the high school. I get there with maybe three minutes to spare. I'm walking down the hall when I feel like someone's watching me and I whirl around and see no one. 'Huh.' I continue to the office and Sindy says hi and that I can go in. I knock on the doorframe and Joe yanks his head up from the papers that he was working on.

"Lucus. You made it good. So your interview from last week was a success. This is a meeting for you to get all the credentials finished and we'll get your room set up in time for school to start. Is this all good and understood?"

"Yes! Yes, sir, it is. Thank you. So, what all do I need for this to be complete?"

"Ah, yes. Here you are."

He gave me a stack of papers and told me that I could fill them out here or out in the office. I started to fill them out there and finished before lunch. He got them to Sindy to file and get my staff card and information set up.

"Lucus. Want to go to lunch with me?" Joe offered.

"Um, sure. Why not."

"Good. Meet me out front in five. I need to run to the bathroom and I'll be right there."

I nodded and left for his truck. I stood there as he walked out, wiping his hands with a sanitized towel he pulled from his suitcase pocket. After he threw away the used towel, he grabbed his keys and unlocked the doors and climbed in. I joined him and he drove off to a restaurant there in town and we grabbed a few sandwiches as he filled me in on the ins and outs of being a teacher. One thing he commented on was the fact that I wasn't married and I told him that I don't mind kids being kids. I was okay with them testing the water and I would deal with anything that went too far. He smiled at my response.

"Well, now that we're clear on things and we've been fed, let's head back.", he said glancing at his watch, "Gracious me. Is it that late?!"

I glanced at mine and realized that it was nearly 7:00 and I knew Kizzy couldn't stand Nikki for too much longer.

"Wow. I need to be getting back. My daughter is with her aunt and she doesn't like being too far from me for too long."

"Really? I didn't know you had a daughter. How old is she and what's her name?"

"She's four and her name's Kizzy."

"Oh, how sweet. My kids are all out in the world already."

He chuckled to himself and we headed back to the school. He pulled up to my car and bid me a farewell and headed for his house. I sped to Nikki's and arrived just in time. I walked in on them and heard, "Ha! I sunk your ship!" I knew that was my baby girl. No one sounded anything like that to me.

"Hey! I'm back. Where y'all at?"

"We're in there living room, Luke!"

I walked into the living room and saw Kizzy doing her victory dance on the table and Nikki shaking her head.

"What have I told you about not doing that on the table."

"Daddy!"

"Hey, pumpkin. How was your day?"

"Good. we watched tv and played outside and did a lot of games." she informed me, very energetically.

"That's great, baby girl. Thanks for watching her. You really are a life saver."

"No problem. Anytime. I don't get to see my niece too often. You two need to come over for dinner once in awhile."

I nodded and started to walk to the door with Kizzy in my arms. We both said bye and I walked to the car and strapped Kizzy in and jogged to my door and got in. I pulled out and started towards home. It was getting really dark out and even started to rain a little. Great, I don't need this. I'm bad at driving at night, let alone with rain. I glanced at Kizzy in the back and saw that she was asleep. I must have looked for a second too long, because the next thing I knew there was a screech of metal and the car went flipped into the ditch. I hit my head and was knocked unconscious. I came to after a few minutes from hearing Kizzy crying and yelling. I scrambled out of the door and pulled her out and cradled her in my arms and turned around just in time to see a car had been flung through the air. It would have hit us if something hadn't hit it a little further. I thanked my lucky stars and looked up to see someone standing on a balcony staring down at the wreak. They walked away back into the building and I continued with the crowd and got to an ambulance. They took Kizzy at my order and then one paramedic checked on me. While I kept asking if my daughter was alright, if she was okay, was she hurt. On and on and on I went. They had to give me a mild sedative to calm me down from my panic attack. I walked away from the paramedic with a small concussion and a large cut on the side of my head. Kizzy was wide awake and sitting calmly with paramedics all over her making sure she was fine.

"Daddy! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, baby girl. Just a scratch. How is she?"

"She's fine. Just a little freaked that's it. Is she your's?"

"Yes."

I watched as they finished up and she was fine until they started to walk away and she tilted one way then the other and would have face planted on the cement if I hadn't caught her in time.

"Medic!"