Father Dearest

There were lily fields all over the place. The fresh wind slapped me across the face. I didn't let it bother me much because he was there. Harry Miller. My heart raced for his attention. I tried to call his name, but he didn't respond. I yelled again, "Harry Miller!"

"Lillian? Lillian! Réveillez-vous! Parle-moi!" A harsh voice yelled instead of his marvelous voice.

[Lillian? Lillian! Wake up! Talk to me!]

"Ce que le diable?!" I yelled, shaken from the loud voice.

[What the heck?!]

My eyes opened. There I was, lying on my bed. It could only happened in dreams...after all.

"Dad?" I whispered, rubbing my sleepy eyes.

"YES!" He screamed. He ran to my bed and squeezed me into a tight hug.

"What timing...I was having the perfect dream...thanks dad."

"I came back from London for you, darling."

"Let me rephrase that, I left you all alone in the hospital when I didn't even know if you would make it out and just to place the cherry on top, I left your best friend to watch to die slowly."

"No..."

"Harry was-" I stopped myself before I finished the sentence. Harry was crying, and only I saw him cry. I shouldn't tell dad, it's not like he would care about it anyway. He didn't care about his own daughter, so Harry was someone far from his concerns. "Dad..."

"Yes, Lily?"

"How did I fall into this coma?"

"Later, darling." With that said, he rushed out of my room and shut the door close.

I sighed. I forced my weak structure to get out of bed and get dressed. I knew wearing anything fancy was out of my league. I dropped my nightgown on the floor and slipped into a pale blue summer dress. I pulled the zipper up and tightened the waist band. Form-fitting, fit and flare, just the way I like my dresses to fit.

“Fancy much?” I said to myself, patting the wrinkles in my dress. It still hurts but as the saying goes, beauty is pain.

I pulled my long golden curls into a high ponytail, adorning my hairline with a blue-white-pink floral bandana.

I groaned in pain. I knew I’ll have to recover somehow. Maybe use meds or maybe recover naturally. I needed meds. I had to talk to to dad for that.

I grabbed my aching torso and made my way out of my room. The vintage walls didn’t bother me anymore. I didn't care much. I looked at myself this whole time, hoping i won't fall. My feet lost their momentum. I tripped, almost went flying down the stairs. Just perfect.

Someone had a firm grip on my waist. I gasped, holding the hand even tighter. “Woah woah, Lily, are you okay?” The voice said.

“Harry? What are you doing here?” I gasped harder, trying to stabilize my balance.

“I came to check on your health. I didn’t wanna wake up and know that I’ve lost a friend.”

I hugged him with all my might. “Harry, I would hate to lose a friend like you…ever.”

“Let’s go have breakfast, shall we?”

“I’m not hungry, but sure…”

“C’mon, Smith,” he said, picking me off the ground and walking down the long staircase. I chuckled a little. I buried my face in his shoulder, hiding any signing of a blood rush.

Dad walked in front of us. Harry gasped and put on my feet. I grabbed his arm. Both of us were avoiding his gaze.

Dad walked up to Harry. My heart was racing. “Mister Miller.”

“Mi-mister Petit Sir-sir.”

“I think you need to leave now.”

“Oh-”

“Harry go!” I whispered.

“I’ll see you soon,” he said, letting go of me and running out of the front door.

Dad pulled me into the dining hall. I was forced to to sit on the chairs as dad sat across from me. He said, in a serious tone, “Have some soup.”

“Can’t,” I replied, still avoiding his stare.

“You need food. I can’t lose you again…”

“What-what do you mean-”

“This happened before. You randomly fell unconscious on the ground while you were playing on the swing. I picked you up, you weren’t breathing. We took you to the hospital, and the doctors found out you fell into a coma. My heart stopped for a second, I-I-thought I lost another Angel. Took you two years to come out of it.”

“And I knew nothing of it? You kept this big of a thing from me?” I smacked my fork into the table with all my force.

“You were five. I thought I lost you for two whole years.” His eyes were tearing up. I hugged him tightly. I wiped his eyes and said, “Well old man I ain’t going anywhere now.”

I had to hold my emotions in. I had to hold my tears, my sadness, my anger, my pain, my misery. All of it.

“I went to England to find the doctor who had operated on you when you were seven. Sadly, I came to know that she had left this earth. I was returning with the terrible news when the doctors contacted me and I got to know that you were perfectly okay.”

“How did I fall into this coma though?”

“You were having a panic attack, that caused you to lose air supply to the lungs which lead to you falling unconscious and after that you hit your head on the edge of the table and-” He began to endlessly sob.

“I fell into the coma due to the damage to my brain.”

“Indeed…” He stood up, pushing me off back into the chair. He walked to his office. I tried to follow him but my aches stopped me. I fell back in the chair and sighed. This was a lot to take in.

I pushed the bowl of soup away. Slowly, taking one step after the other, I walked to the garden. The beauty of the tulips always made me happy. I went to take a seat on the swing when I saw dad sitting there. I sat beside him. I asked, “Comment allez vous?” I went and sat beside him.

[How are you doing?]

“Content de savoir que tu es en vie. Toujours contrarié que je ne pouvais pas faire plus pour t’aider à sortir du trou de l’enfer. J’espère pouvoir donner une vie meilleure à venir, sans aucune de ces tristesses.”

[Glad to know you’re alive. Still upset that I couldn’t do more to help you out of the hell hole. Hopefully I can give a better life ahead, without any of this sadness.]

“Papa, un jour, je m’assurerai d’être la meilleure fille de tous les temps. Tu sais, je gagne encore beaucoup et je veux que tu-”

[Dad, one day I’ll make sure that I’ll be the best daughter ever. You know, I still earn a lot and I want you to-]

“Lily, enough. You’ll be my darling princess and my little Angel till I die and even after the days of my death.” He patted my head. He chuckled.

“What’s the matter?” I enquired.

“Your tiny little feet still don’t reach the bottom of this swing, do they?”

I nudged him with my arm and said, “Stop!”

“Haha, fine. It’s a pleasant day, right?”

“Right…” I let my head fall onto his shoulder. He slowly patted my head, swinging us back and forth.

“Sleep my darling. The wonderful world of slumber awaits. Your father is here, you have nothing to fear.”

“Stop that drama, papa. Nighty”

I closed my eyes as I fell asleep in his arms. It’s never been like this before. I never fell asleep in his arms in this way. We were never close. This was oddly new to me. It felt nice. I liked it. I had a smile on my face as I went into a slumber. Dad wasn't all that bad after all.