Chapter Two
She woke to someone vigorously shaking her, begging her to wake. As her eyes adjusted to the light, they bore into a pair of familiar blue eyes.
"Mother?" Silvia said drowsily as she sat up. "What's the matter?"
Her mother did not answer and tears leaked out of her pain filled eyes.
"Is it father? What happened? Is he worse?" Nicole nodded, unable to speak through her grief. Silvia immediately leapt out of bed and half ran and half stumbled out of her room and into her sick father's room. There, in the middle of the dark room, lay her father in the bed, slowly fading from life. She knelt next to his bed as tears dripped down her pale cheeks and stared into his green eyes that were identical to her's. They were only half opened and as each second went by, his eyelids began to droop.
"Silvia." He attempted to reach for his only daughter with his weak arms.
"Father, I'm here." Her voice wobbled as she answered his call.
"Silvia, I'm sorry for leaving you and your mother like this. I know it isn't right to, but no matter how hard I try, I can only fail." He wheezed and his grip on her arm loosened as he lost strength.
"Father, please. Please don't leave. Father." Silvia whispered and held onto his hand tightly.
"Goodbye, Silvia. Tell your mother I'm very sorry and didn't mean it." He coughed and his face screwed into pain.
"Mean wha-father, please." Silvia begged and tears fell out of her eyes faster as she watched her father's eyes close.
"I love you Silvia and happy twelfth birthday." John sighed and his frail heart stopped its hard work. His body relaxed and he breathed no more. Silvia's body shook as she clutched her dead father's worn hand and wept. Just a day ago, the doctor had said her father was on his way to recovery and Silvia had been so happy that she went on a walk with Christie after staying by her father's side for a month. But instead, the exact opposite of what was expected happened. John grew worse and his body could no longer bear the pain.
"Oh, why? Why all of a sudden?" Silvia sobbed in her mother's arms.
"The doctor thought he was getting better but he was actually holding in the pain so we wouldn't worry so much." Nicole murmured and buried her face in her daughter's hair.
"But-the doctor.." Silvia couldn't help but blame the doctor for her beloved father's death.
"Don't blame the doctor, dear," Said Nicole. "It's not his fault."
Silvia did not answer and simply cried on the spot for a long time.
In the house up the large hill, a girl waited for her 'friend's' usual visit for when she was sick. But as no one came except for the milk man and her mother to retrieve her work bag, she raged to herself. Both times, she had eagerly opened the door because overnight, she had decided that Silvia was not using her or laughing at her.
"But this proves that she's not my friend." Christie muttered under her breath as she dumped cereal into her bowl. But as she was spooning the cereal into her mouth, the door opened with a loud bang. She leapt up, thinking it was a burglar. But when she turned around with her spoon held like a weapon, her mother stood at the door panting with an expression of shock plastered on her thin face.
"Silvia's father died." Kendall announced the news to her daughter who stood there on the spot, frozen. "I just went to see Nicole and found her and Silvia crying. So, you should go see Silvia. She is your friend."
Christie nodded and turned. She couldn't speak through the guilt that washed over her. She had been so mad at Silvia yesterday when her father had been dying(which neither of them had known at that time) and she had been even more mad just now when her father had died!
Her body shook as tears welled up her eyes and spilled out.
"I'm sorry dear," Said her mother gently, hugging her. "I didn't know you were close with John."
"I'm not." Christie answered with a flat tone.
"Then why are you cry-"
"I'm going to see Silvia." Christie interrupted and without a second glance back, she ran out the door and sprinted down the hill, towards Silvia's home which was situated along the large lane in the square.
"Take your time!" Kendall yelled after her and secretly sighed with relief as Christie did not turn back to see her lean her head on the door with great sadness.
Panting heavily, she knocked on the wooden door and waited for an answer. When she decided that no one was going to answer, she turned and began to shuffle back towards the hill. But a creak of the door opening caused her to spin back. It was Silvia whose eyes were red and swollen.
"Oh, Silvia, I'm so sorry." Christie gasped and hugged her friend.
"I thought you would never come." Cried Silvia and squeezed her friend back tightly.
"I came as soon as I heard." Said Christie truthfully. She pulled away and observed Silvia closely. Never had she seen her best friend like this. Never had she seen Silvia crying. "Are you alright?"
Silvia shook her head sadly.
"I'm trying so hard not to blame the doctor, but I can't help it. He said my father would recover. He said he was on his way to recovery. But...but now he's d-dead." She sobbed into her hands. Her body shook as she poured out her misery.
"Think of the bright side. Your father isn't in pain anymore. He can relax wherever he is now." Comforted Christie, holding Silvia in her arms.
"In Heaven?" Silvia murmured, tears lessening as she thought of her father happy and painless in the white clouds looking down at her and her mother.
"She really believes in Heaven?" Christie thought. "Yeah, in Heaven. He'll be protecting your family from danger. He'll be happy." She said aloud. Silvia buried her face in Christie's shoulder. Oh, how glad she was to have her friend here comforting her. A friend's shoulder to cry on. But most of all, how glad she was that that friend was Christie.
Burying her face on Silvia's shoulder, Christie was thinking almost the same thing. Oh, how could she doubt her friendship? How could she not cherish Silvia with all her heart like she was doing now? Oh how glad she was that she had Silvia! If she hadn't had her, she would be lonely and friendless. And now that she thought about it, Silvia had chosen her. She had chosen her to be her friend. Or decided to be her friend. Out of all those people, she had wanted to be her friend, the most unpopular girl in town.
"Poor girl," The man said from his tower, "Father dead and soon leaving her mother for a school." He sighed with mock sympathy.
"And that Christie girl, I wonder what she's doing? I wonder why there's a sudden change in her feelings towards Silvia. I'll just have to watch for a month more." He murmured and yawned as he stretched back to resume watching the two young girls of Roseville who were unaware of what was to become of them in just less than a month's time.