Close to Nothing

I stared out the window as we passed by familiar buildings. Here’s the school I used to attend, there’s the hospital I was born in. I might’ve been happy if this was under different circumstances. I let out a loud sigh. Christopher took my hand and squeezed it lightly. He didn’t take his eyes off the road.

I twisted around and looked at Emmett. He was staring out the window, taking everything new in. He must’ve felt my gaze for he looked at me and gave me a tight smile. I returned it. I was so thankful that Emmett was here with me. I was so thankful he was with me that day..
The phone dropped from my hand. Dying. My father, my dad was dying. I was acutely aware of Emmett next to me. I was seething. No one was able to save my mother form what Christopher said and now my father was dying.
I felt myself tremble from anger. I was seeing red. I kicked the nearest thing next to me; the bookshelf fell over with a thunderous crash. I was ready to destroy everything in my path but Emmett grabbed me by the arms. I snarled at him.
“Let me go,” I growled but Emmett didn’t listen. He just pulled me into his arms. I struggled for maybe about two seconds before I gave up and relaxed into him. That was when the tearless sobs started ripping through my chest.

I shook my head to get rid of the awful memory. There was still so much to endure. Tonight we would visit my father for the last time. Christopher insisted on a good-bye.

The next few hours passed quickly. I barely noticed the hotel room we were in. I barely noticed the sun set and the moon come to take its’ place. However I never failed to notice the growing tension as the hour hand crept closer to eleven..

“You are ready?” Christopher asked me as he glanced up at the three story building. I shook my head.
“Of course not but what choice do I have?” I asked in frustration. The anger dripping from my voice was unmistakable. Emmett laid a hand on my shoulder.
“Take it easy, Ella,” he mumbled. I saw Christopher’s eyes shift from my face to Emmett’s and back.
Without another word he walked backwards a few feet and then jumped toward the building. I always marveled at how Christopher climbed. It was almost like watching Spiderman. I took a deep breath and climbed up behind him. Behind me, I could hear Emmett closely following.

We climbed quietly into a window on the second floor. I wrinkled my nose at the familiar medicine and chlorine smell of the hospital. Christopher took my hand and pulled me out into the hall, past the sleeping night nurse. We walked silently to a door with the number 49 on it.
“Calm down,” Christopher muttered to me when he felt me tremble a little. He turned opened the door and we walked in.

The room was dark except for the moonlight that was streaming into the room. A bed was pushed to the far left corner of the room. And on that bed was our father. I stifled a small sob.
He was so thin. There was almost nothing left of him. There were small tufts of white hair on his mostly bald head. There were tubes stuck into his veins on his arm that were connected to a beeping machine. It was quite a pitiful sight.

I walked over to the bed and sat down softly on the side. I hesitated, not knowing whether to or not to take his hand. I risked it and took it gently. Almost immediately my father’s eyelids fluttered open. His old, wrinkled face broke into a smile.
“Eleanora,” he mumbled. I smiled back at him. “Hi dad.”
Christopher stepped up beside me and also smiled at him.
“Eleanora and Christopher, my children,” He said happily. I didn’t know what to say so I glanced up at Christopher. He was staring intently at our father with a pained expression on his face.
“Say something,” Emmett hissed quietly to me. He was standing by the doorway. I looked at him, feeling completely lost. What could I say? ‘Hey dad, you’re going to die within the next few hours’? That’s ridiculous.
“God’s been good to me,” my father said all of a sudden. I turned to him, puzzled. “He’s letting me know that my family will meet me when I die.” I gave him a weak smile. I wasn’t about to tell him that Christopher and I quite possibly would never ‘meet him’.
“My darling Eleanora, God knows how much your mother and I grieved over your death, and yours too, Christopher,” he added. “I’m so glad we all shall be together again, I just wish it comes sooner.”
I shook my head in horror.
“N-no,” I managed to stutter out. “It’s not your ti-“, I started to say but Christopher cut me off.
“Yes father, we shall meet you there,” he said in a gruff voice and I saw his eyes flicker to a medical machine. It was showing his heart rate and I noticed it get slower and slower. With his heart beat, my father’s breath was getting shallower and shallower.
“Thank you, son,” he muttered and took one last breath. I gasped. The machine gave out a long steady beep. I heard a nurse’s faint footsteps rushing to this room. I grabbed my father by the shoulders.
“Wake up dad, wake up!” I muttered frantically. I shook him vigorously. Christopher put a hand on my shoulder.
“He’s gone Eleanora, he was supposed to go,” he explained. I shook my head.
“It’s too soon, we could still save him,” I growled and looked around frantically..but for what?

The nurse was even closer but I refused to leave. I wanted to do something to help my father. I saw Christopher look at Emmett meaningfully. Emmett nodded.
“Ella, we’ve got to go,” He said to me. I shook my head. “Ella, there’s nothing you can do.”
“I won’t leave,” I growled at him. Emmett wouldn’t leave me alone. He took my hand gently and tugged on it.
“Let’s go Ella,” he said. I tried to remove my hand from his grip. I hissed at him. Emmett would have none of it.
Without a second thought he lifted me into his arms and jumped out into the night.