Right Uppercut

Chapter 18

It wasn’t even a full week after that before my dad died. Five days, to be exact. I remembered those five days clearer than anything as both familiar and unfamiliar people patted my back with their condolences at his funeral.

“You doing okay?” Mitch sidled up next to me, passing me a glass of water.

I took a small sip and shrugged, not making eye contact.

“I know, that’s a stupid question,” he said.

Ever since I agreed to let Dad come home, I felt numb. I remembered everything, but felt nothing. I remember that as soon as the nurses helped him into the house, he plopped into his favorite chair with a contented sigh. He had lost so much weight; he didn’t look like my dad anymore.

Although the doctor cleared him to go home, he needed to have nurses caring for him around the clock. They were there mostly to make sure he was taking his medications, help him to the bathroom and to his bed, keep him stable in case of an emergency, etc.

Heidi had temporarily moved into our house. She slept on the lumpy couch with no complaints and she was always there when I came home from school while my dad slept in his chair. Aside from her presence and the cancer, things appeared to be back to normal, but my heart knew my life was no longer normal.

I kept replaying the night he passed. It still didn’t feel real; I was living some slow-motion nightmare.

“Hey, maybe we should do something later, to take your mind off things a bit?” Mitch suggested one day. Neither of us knew it would be the last few moments of my dad’s life.

“That sounds like a nice idea, Mitch,” Heidi agreed. “A little distraction might lighten your spirits a bit, Daphne.”

Even in the short time I had known Heidi, I could tell that the cancer had taken its toll on her as well. The wrinkles around her eyes were more prominent than before and when she smiled, it no longer looked natural. Her eyes looked tired and I knew her spirits were low.

I disagreed that any time away from my dad was a good thing; I wanted to be there for him no matter what. It didn’t seem right to part from him for anything besides school. But, after much convincing, I was at Tyson’s, chilling in his finished basement with Mitch and Nick.

As a group, those boys never fail to make me laugh, so there were times when I felt like my old self; like the length of my father’s life or the rocky relationships I tend to create with straight boys who might be interested in me.

I felt like a normal teenage girl.

“I’m gonna run upstairs and grab some drinks. Any special requests?” Tyson asked, standing up from his spot on the tan loveseat that he was sharing with Nick.

“Cranberry juice, please!” I smiled.

He gave me a look and laughed. “Going straight for the hard stuff tonight, I see.”

“You know what, make that a double,” Mitch said, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and pulling me close. “That tart juice will give me the buzz I need.”

I playfully slapped him and giggled as Tyson bounded up the stairs.

“So what’s been going on, Daph? I feel like I haven’t talked to you in forever,” Nick commented.

I shrugged. “Not much, ya know besides what I’ve already told you guys.”

He gave me that sad, pity-filled look, but I tried to ignore it. Tonight was my night to just chill.

Silence filled the room after that. I mean, what could really follow it? It would only get more awkward.

“Do you guys feel like watching a movie or something?” Tyson suggested as he returned with our drinks.