Fairy Tale

The now twenty-one-year-old rushed through the doors of the emergency room in a panic, feeling as if her life was slowly deteriorating by each day that passed. Tears blurred her eyes as she ran a hand through her messy locks of hair. She searched over the waiting room before finally noticing Brian who was waiting for her.

“Uncle Brian!” She shouted as she ran over to him.

His head shot up from starring down at the ground, and he gave her a small, forced smile. “Vanessa,”

“What happened? Where is he?” She demanded to know, her voice in distress.

“He was in a car accident, Nessa. We have to go up stairs to the third floor, he’s in the ICU,” Brian explained as he threw his arm over her shoulder and led her to the elevators. “I’m not sure how he is yet.”

“Okay,” Vanessa nodded as she swallowed back the lump in her throat.

So much had already happened within the past year that she wasn’t prepared for, and she was afraid that her father’s accident was going to break her. She had practically failed out of college, escaped from an abusive relationship with her ex-boyfriend David, and had found out she was pregnant before having a miscarriage a week and half later. Now her father was in the ICU after a bad car accident, and she had never been more terrified in her entire life.

The elevator ride took less than two minutes, and before Vanessa knew it, Brian was leading her down the hallway where another small waiting room was. She spotted her mother pacing back in forth with tears rolling down her face, while the others around her tried to calm her down.

Courtney looked up just as she heard Vanessa’s footsteps in front of her. “It’s bad, honey,” Was all she said before wrapping her arms around Vanessa tightly to comfort her.

Just then, the doctor stepped out, and Brian tugged on Courtney’s arm to make her notice. She jerked away from Vanessa immediately and stepped closer to Dr. Fallon.

“Sanders family?” He questioned, a small sigh falling from his lips.

Courtney nodded. “Is he okay? Can we see him?”

With sympathetic eyes, Dr. Fallon shook his slowly. “I’m sorry Mrs. Sanders. We did all we could. His lungs were punctured, and there’s a lot of internal bleeding that we can’t stop. He’ll be lucky if he makes it through the night.”

Vanessa covered her mouth to muffle the sob that fell from her lips as tears rolled down her cheeks. She shook her furiously back in forth just not believing it. Her father was only fifty-two. He was supposed to grow old and then die after he watched her grow up, get married, and have children. Destiny or not, as far as Vanessa was concerned, it wasn’t time for him to leave her and the rest of the family behind. But if there’s one thing that Vanessa had learned that year, it was that fate and destiny don’t care about your life and your plans. It just is what it is, and there’s no changing it.

“Oh God,” Courtney murmured as she sat down in the closet chair and buried her face in her hands, sobs escaping past her lips.

“He’s asking to see his daughter,” Dr. Fallon said.

Vanessa looked up, not sure if she heard him right. “Me?” She asked.

His eyes locked with hers before he nodded. “You can go on in if you want. It’s the second door to the right,” He said, pointing down the hallway.

“Go ahead, Vanessa,” Brian said to her as he walked past her to comfort Courtney.

Vanessa nodded as she wiped her face of tears with the sleeve of her jacket. She stepped past Dr. Fallon, and slowly rounded the hallway corner. She walked towards the door that led to where her father was, and with every step she took, her heart not only felt like it was going to burst out of her chest, but it also felt as if it was being ripped apart. She was devastated, angry, and hurt that this was happening.

She gripped onto the door handle before pushing it open and stepping into the hospital room. Her father was lying on the hospital bed peacefully with a ton of IV’s and tubes sticking out of him from all different places. She nearly collapsed to the floor in tears at that very moment, but she held herself together and stayed strong for her father.

“Nessa,” Matt muttered to his daughter as he watched her slowly sit down on the edge of the bed beside him.

Nessa took a hold of his hand and starred into his hazel eyes. She could see the pain behind them, and that alone broke her heart all over again. She didn’t want him to suffer from the pain he was feeling, but she couldn’t fix it. No matter how badly she wished, she couldn’t fix him.

“Daddy,” She whispered.

It didn’t matter how much pain he was in, a small smile still tugged at his lips when he heard her say that. She hadn’t called him daddy in almost a year, and he had missed it.

“Don’t cry,” He told her as felt her tears hitting against his skin on the hand she was gripping tightly. “You know I hate it when you cry, especially when I can’t help you this time.”

A small, bitter laugh erupted from the back of her throat as she nodded. “I know. I’m sorry,” She apologized, knowing that he couldn’t fix what she was crying over this time.

Every single time she had a shed a tear and went to him about it, he could help her and he could make it better. But just this once, he couldn’t. He couldn’t do a damn thing, and he felt hopeless about that.

“Vanessa, honey,” He said while he shifted slightly in the hospital bed. When he looked back at her, she was starring at him, waiting for what he was going to say. “You’ve had a lot of ups and downs this year. I know it’s been hard, and I know it’s about to get a lot harder, but remember this, things get worse before they get better. And whether you believe it or not, you’re going to have your fairy tale ending someday. You’re gonna end up marrying Ethan, even though it may not seem like it right now, and you’re gonna be happy, I just know it.”

Vanessa didn’t even try to hold back the tears anymore, she had given up on that, and now they were streaming down her cheeks like a waterfall. She didn’t move though, she didn’t move an inch. She just listened closely to her father and what he was saying to her.

“Your whole life you’ve talked about your perfect fairy tale, and I want to apologize for not being able to participate in it anymore. And even more so, I want to apologize for not being able to walk you down the isle someday like I promised.” Tears welled up in his eyes, realty starting to hit him head on that he was really dying, and he couldn’t change that.

She shook her head. “Don’t be sorry, dad,” She told him softly. “I know that if you could stay, you would. You would never leave me or mom unless you had to.”

He swallowed hard from the intense pain he felt before murmuring, “What is that daddy has always told you?”

As the tears continued falling, she whispered, “No one can touch us.”

“That’s right, baby. When we’re together, no one can touch us. You remember that, okay, Nessa? I’ll always be with you,” He said as he slowly brought up his hand and placed it over her chest. “Right here in your heart.”

Vanessa choked back a sob as she rested her hand over his. “I love you, daddy.”

“And I love you, baby girl.”

It didn’t matter how much it hurt him, he slowly slipped over to give her some room, and without him even telling her to lie down with him, she did. She knew that’s what he was silently asking when he moved over. She laid her head gently down on his hospital gown covered chest, and like so many times before, she traced the outlines of his tattoos on his arm with her fingertips.

“You’ll watch over me, won’t you, daddy?” She whispered, listening to his slow, steady heartbeat.

Matt wrapped his arm around her tightly and nodded. “I’ll always watch over you, Nessa. Always,” He promised.

“Will you sing for me one last time?” She asked softly. “I mean, if you’re up for it, of course.”

He kissed her on her forehead and barely nodded.

“Dear God, the only thing I ask of you is to hold her when I'm not around, when I'm much too far away, We all need that person who can be true to you, but I left her when I found her and now I wish I'd stayed,”

He sung out softly in almost a whisper, before his voice faded out completely. His arm fell limp from around her shoulders and the hand Vanessa was holding slipped from her grasp, all while his chest stopped moving up and down. Vanessa pulled away and sat up, before seeing that his eyes had closed shut.

“Dad,” She said, shaking his shoulder. When he didn’t move, she put her hand over her mouth, muffling the sob that fell past her lips. “Daddy,” She cried, holding his hand tightly.

Through all her crying, Vanessa never heard as Dr. Fallon, her mother, and Brian walked into the room. She didn’t even know they were there until Brian pulled her away from her father’s lifeless body, while Dr. Fallon apologized to her mother for their loss.

“NO! STOP!” Vanessa shouted, trying to hold onto her father.

“He’s gone, Vanessa. You need to let go,” Brian murmured, while he held her closely to his chest, still trying to pull her away.

She gave up, letting go of Matt’s hand, allowing Brian to pick her up. “It’s not fair,” She whispered, burying her face in his shoulder as he carried her out of the room.

“I know, Nessa. I know it’s not,” Brian sat down on a chair in the waiting room beside Zacky and held Vanessa as she cried and cried, begging him to fix her dad and to bring him back.

Ethan, Brian’s son, and Vanessa’s ex boyfriend for the time being, took over for his dad so that Brian could go comfort Courtney, knowing she needed someone as well. Brian shifted Vanessa into Ethan’s arms and gave them one last glance before going to find Courtney.

“It’s gonna be okay, Vanessa. I’m here for you,” Ethan told her as his hand soothed over her hair.

“He’s gone, Ethan. My dad’s gone,” She whispered to him, still not believing that her super hero dad, the one who could fix anything and everything, the one who had given her advice her entire life, was gone and he wasn’t ever coming back.