After everyone
has hit the hay,
I am
downstairs
mixing the
overwhelming
amount of
happiness I've felt
in the past
couple days
into some
hot cocoa,
hoping
a little bit
will cook out
so I can sleep.
Jeff
comes down to
make sure
all our phones
are on the shelf
where they're
supposed to be,
and plugs in
Quinn's
when he notices
she's forgotten to.
I smile.
As he
wishes me a
merry Christmas
and is
about to head
back upstairs,
I stop him.
He turns
and steps
back into
the kitchen,
offering me
a smile
that says
he is
worn out
but willing
to try and
be here
for what
I am about to say.
I abandon
my mug on
the counter
and walk toward him.
In the kitchen
of the house
he and Mom
bought to share,
the lights
dimmed
so as to
not disturb
all the
sleeping people,
I start to
tic.
Because it's then
that I give Jeff
our first hug
ever.
And when
he wraps me up
tightly
in his arms
like one of
the presents
that were
nestled safely
under the tree
just last night,
my shoulder tic is
forcibly suppressed
for a second
and I whisper—
so quietly
I think
he misses it,
"Merry Christmas,
Dad."
Jeff hugs me
tighter
and I know
he heard me.
He always
has.
YOU ARE READING
Remember; You Have the Universe
Teen FictionCover by kyromaniak Everyone wants to be different. I just want to be like everybody else. ---- Seventeen-year-old chronically ill Emma has traded dreams of flying into space for, "Support Therapy," aka, "The Dying Kids Group," and Student Council...
