The Devil's Mate

Do you want to know what one of the hardest things ever is?

I woke up in the morning to the sound of my mother's heavy sobs. I didn't know what was going on, so I got out of bed and ran towards her bedroom.

Her phone was on the floor and she was too, tears streaming down her face in waves.

"Mom!" I cry, falling to my knees next to her, "Mom? What's wrong?"

"He's gone!" She sobs, "He's gone!"

My father has had cancer for the past year, many rounds of chemo and other treatments.

He's gone?

He can't be gone.

He can't be.

I shake my head, "No. No. No..."

"He's gone." She sobs, "He's dead." I try to give my mother a hug, but she shoves me away from her.

"GO!" She screams at me, "GO!"

I stand up, "But-"

"GO!" She shrieks, "GO NOW!" I leave the room, tears running down my cheeks as I walk into my room and fall to my knees on the carpet.

I put my head in my hands, sobbing and sobbing.

I will never be the same again. My dad is gone. He's gone, and he's never coming back.

I look at our pictures on the wall. He's been with me for eighteen years, and now he's gone.

He just left. I didn't even get to say goodbye to him, I didn't say I love him or that I was going to miss him.

He doesn't know how much I love him.

I can't believe he's gone. He can't be gone, he can't. My father would have fought with the devil for his life.

He wouldn't just die on me.

But he did.

He did.

And my mother was never the same after that day.