Come Back Home

Bom

She hasn't left us, yet somehow I feel as if there is an empty void inside of me.

As each day passes the more weaker Dara gets. The heartache is too much to bare.

I walked into her room and the sight of the very thin frail woman made me lose my breath.

Her breathing was slow and was helped by a machine. All these tubes and IV's sticking out of her made her less of a person.

I took a seat by her side and lifted her hand into mine. While stroking her hand I felt tears trickling down.

"Dara, I apologize for losing touch with you," I admitted through my tears.

"Trust me when I say that was the last thing I wanted."

It was my worst fear back in our school days. I tried to keep us together like glue. However, life had other plans.

"You know I never stopped thinking about you and the girls," I confess "you all were always in my thoughts."

I was uncertain if Dara could hear me until she gave my hand a slight squeeze.

I looked up at her and squeezed her hand back. She kept her eyes closed, but I saw the tear rolling down her cheeks.

"I know honey, I know," I wiped her tears away as I kept talking.

"You were always the head strong one, always sure of yourself and others around you."

I chuckled "I don't know how you kept such a optimistic outlook on life."

I took her hand to my lips "you always knew what to say Dara."

Before I could finish Dara's hand went limp and the heart rate monitor started making a straight line with a loud buzzing noise.

I dropped her hand and ran for the door screaming for help. As I did doctors were already alerted and the nurse went over the intercom to announce a code blue.

I tried to stay in the room to be by her side, but a nurse grabbed me and gently showed me out.

"I'm sorry, but the doctors can't have any distractions."

I nodded as I took my phone out to call the girls.

Chaerin and Minzy showed up not to long after I called. I heard their speedy footsteps coming from the hall.

"Are they still stabilizing her?" Chaerin asked.

"I believe so, they haven't given me any updates yet," I told them.

Two hours went by before a doctor finally came out. He closed the door gently behind him with a heavy sigh.

"Well, we got her breathing again;however, we don't know how much longer that machine can support her," he said with a sorrowful look.

"I suggest taking my advice and get ready for the worst because she isn't getting any better, I'm sorry."

With that my heart just bursted and I started to hyperventilate. I fell to the ground crying uncontrollably.

Suddenly I woke up in my bed unaware of how I got here. I put my hand to my head to help sooth the headache I somehow received over night.

That's when my door opened to reveal Chaerin with a cup of hot tea.

"Hey there," she said as she handed me the tea.

"Hey," I took the tea and looked back up at her "what happened?"

Chaerin sat next to me "you blacked out yesterday after the news, I believe it's because you have been trying to stay strong and at that point you just broke."

I nodded my head having little flashbacks of what happened last night.

I took a sip of the tea as Chaerin went on "Bom, you know you don't have to hide your feelings from us."

"I know," I admitted.

"It's just easier that way."

"It's not healthy," Chaerin started to scold me.

I gave a slight smile "how is she today?"

"Well, she is hanging in by a thread, but she is still here."

I set the cup down in my table next to me. "He said to prepare for the worst," I said quietly.

"We are," Chaerin said with a pause.

"Minzy and I made arrangements, luckily all we had to do was call for Dara seemed to have prepared everything."

I laughed "leave it to Dara to always have things ready."

Chaerin laughed in a way she never laughed before "remember back in high school when we had that big test in Mr. Carlson's class?"

The memory of that day and his classroom struck me as I nodded. I remember Dara getting so overwhelmed due to that test she could hardly sleep that night.

"She had her pencil bag full and she didn't sleep that entire night because she was making us prep bags," Chaerin fell back with happy tears in her eyes.

"She was so pissed when he pushed the test to the next week," I said.

Our cackles must of been pretty loud for that is when Minzy arrived.

"What's going on in here?" She asked.

"Hey, welcome come in," I said waving her closer.

She sat next to me and I wrapped myself around her. "We are just telling stories that we remember of Dara."

Minzy smiled "in that case let me share my favorite."

We spent the rest of the day telling our favorite Dara moments. It helped the pain for the time being.

But, in the end we couldn't escape reality.