Prologue

~12 years before/Prologue~

I find dead eyes boring into my head and quickly look away at my mommy who sits by the table beside me.

She's staring intently at the judge in the far front of the room and talking with persuasion. She's a lawyer, very smart, but not aware that her husband is sitting in a hospital bed slowly dying.

I feel my insides start to crumble as she talks. My whimper goes unheard as I get up and walk up to her, resting my hand on her shoulder. "Mommy," I nearly cry. "Daddy is hurt." I say, staring into her eyes that now look into me with confusion.

"What do you mean honey?" She asks me quietly, her eyes widen and posture stiffens.

"Daddy's hurt, mommy. He got hurt." I say and she frowns as her face pales.

"Honey is he in the hospital?" She asks, her voice quieter than before.

"Yes, mommy." Why wasn't mommy told about what happened to daddy?

She gets up abruptly. "This case will be continued on a later date. I have to go see my husband in the hospital." She says and grabs my little hand as we walk out of the room as mommy picks up her pace. I just rush along behind her as she walks quickly to the car.

She tells me to get into the car and I open the back seat and get in. "How bad is your daddy hurt?" My mommy asks me.

I think for a second. "I think it's pretty bad, mommy. I'm scared." I say and whimper as I pull my seatbelt on.

"It'll be okay, munchkin." She says.

"But what if it's not?" I ask her, whimpering more.

"It will," Mommy promises me.

Little do I know.

~~~~~~~~

"Daddy! I rush through the door into my daddy's arms and he squeezes me until I can't breathe well. "Daddy. Can't. Breathe." I say, learning that from my older brother who sits in a chair next to my daddy's bed.

My brother chuckles from beside my dad's bed and I look up at him. "Brendon be quiet," I say jokingly, acting like I'm angry.

I climb off of my dad's lap and walk over to Brendon. He hauls me up onto his lap and I squeal. "Hi, Brendy," I say, looking up at his face.

"Hi, Londyn." He says back.

I hear a loud thump from behind me and my mom's voice carrying throughout the hospital. "Oh my gosh! Help! Doctor!" I hear her scream and immediately look behind me to see daddy lying limp on the floor.

Brendon sets me down on the floor and we both rush over to daddy. I fall onto my knees beside him. "Daddy wake up! Please daddy!" I plead, but he doesn't move. I hear mommy sob quietly onto daddy, her head bent down.

"Londyn," My dad whispers from in front of me, barely conscious. "Make me proud." He finishes quietly before the line of fast beeping grows dead, leaving us in silence. I immediately know what he meant when he said those three words.

"Mommy, what happened?" I ask her, afraid of her answer,

"Dad- Dad is gonna be asleep for a long time," Brendon says, trembling from beside me.

"Is d-daddy d-dead?" I ask Brendon in almost a whisper, already knowing the answer.

All I can see is his small nod as his lips tremble.

That's when my whole world breaks, and the walls I've built up come crashing down.

I just watched my father die in front of me.