April's POV (Flashback) 8 Years ago continued.

The ambulance finally arrived and stopped in front of the hospital's automatic doors. After the ambulance stopped, the paramedics moved my father's body, taking him out of the ambulance and laying him back onto a moving bed. Immediately after the automatic doors opened, doctors and nurses came rushing to grab hold of the moving bed and pulled him into the hospital. Everyone was running; everyone was in a panic, and in that moment of complete chaos, the world around me went blank.

Everything was moving so fast that it was hard to pay attention to anything around me. It felt like the world was closing in on me, and all I could do was stand there motionless. I stopped and stood in front of the hospital doors, watching everyone go in and out. The blankness surrounding me became dark, and I saw it come closer and closer to me, eating the light. It came so close to me I couldn't focus my vision to look at what was past the dark. I was aware of where I was, but all I could see was complete nothingness.

I tried rubbing my eyes together to fix my vision and stop seeing the darkness, but the attempts failed until I felt someone grab my hands and pull me to them. The shock of being hurt by someone else was enough to clear my vision, and I could see my surroundings as they were.

My mother, while still holding my hand, pulled me into the waiting room, sat me down on the chair, and as she had her knees on the ground, she told me, "April, I need you to stay right here, ok? Mommy will be back real soon, so be good and stay here" she said with an anxious face and uncontrollable amounts of tears falling down her face. "But Mommy, why can't I come with you, and where is Daddy? Is he still awake?" I said back to her with a confused and quivering voice while tears fell down my face.

"Mommy, what's wrong with daddy? Why can't I see him? What did the doctor say?" I was trying so hard to get an answer from my mom. I thought maybe she would know how my dad was doing because when she grabbed me, the doctor was walking in the opposite direction. "Did the doctor say what happened to Daddy?" I asked while wiping the snot that was falling down my face.

"Yes, the doctor told me what happened to your dad," she said while avoiding answering my question. She talked as if something was holding her back and as if she wasn't telling me something important. I wanted to know what she knew, so I asked her again what happened to my dad and how he was doing, but she responded, "Your dad was very sick, it was something severe, and the doctors don't know if he might get better."

This news shocked me because, in all my eight years of life, I had never heard my mom mention my dad was sick. I was trying to understand how he became ill and why I only learned about this now. At that moment, I needed to see my dad with my own eyes. I wanted to see him and talk to him before any of this happened. I felt desperate, and in my desperation, I panicked.

My whole body shook, and I couldn't focus my eyes to see my mother's face. I anxiously look around the hospital, turning my head left and right. I opened my trembling mouth, trying to say something to my mom, but no words came out. Why was I trembling? I wondered. What was I so scared of? Was I reacting out of shock? Maybe it's because I finally realized what was happening around me.

My father might die, and what I did back home didn't help him. Maybe it made it worse. But after that thought, I felt my body shake, and I then realized that it was my mother who was shaking me. "April, wake up!" She said while aggressively shaking my whole body with her somehow strong but delicate hands. "Snap out of it! Here, take this cup of water. Drink it, and you'll feel better" She then grabbed the cup of water she placed on the floor when she came down on her knees to speak to me.

She reached out her hand, holding the cup to my lips as if she wanted to feed me the water, but I quickly took the cup with both my hands and drank it by myself. While drinking the water, I look at my mom and see her scoffing. "I keep forgetting that you're no longer a baby and that I don't have to keep feeding you everything." I give her a faint smile, for a second feeling a sense of relief, then lower my head to face the ground.

"Look at me," she says as she grabs my chin and turns my head to meet her. "I'm so sorry, baby; I know that there are probably a lot of things going on inside your head, and you probably have a lot of questions that I cannot answer, but please know that what's happening right now is not your fault ok," she says as she takes both her hands to wipe the tears they were falling off my face. "I'm sorry I can't tell you everything you want to know right now, but I know you will soon learn those things as you grow up."

"it's going to be ok, baby; everything is going to be ok all right, the doctors are going to take good care of Daddy just promise me you'll stay strong no matter what happens, ok, just promise me that, can you do that for me?!" she said with a determined but anxious voice and with her panicked looking at the two officers that were slowly walking towards her and each grabbing one of her hands turning them to her back and the officer on her right reaching into his pockets and pulling out handcuffs.

Calmly, my mother lifted one of her knees off the ground to stand up with her cuffed hands behind her and the two officers lifting her. "Yes, Mommy, I promise I'll be strong!" I shouted back to her as I watched the officers walk out with my mother, hoping she would have heard; and turned her head to look at me one more time, but I was quickly disappointed because she didn't look back. She just kept facing forward as she walked away from me and past the hospital doors, and back into the police car.

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I watched all of this happening and, a few seconds later, saw the two officers walk back into the hospital. While one of them was heading in my direction, the other was being pulled aside by the doctor that was treating my father. The one coming toward me was strolling and, with a stern but concerned expression on his face, took a turn and walked in front of me to sit next to me. While sitting, he took a moment to adjust himself to the seat and turned his body to face me.

He took out a small notebook and pen from his pocket. He said, "Hi, I'm sorry that I haven't introduced myself. My name is Officer Kim, and from what I last remember, your name is April, if that's correct?" expecting me to respond with an answer, but I didn't respond.

I remained silent the entire time Officer Kim tried to get me to answer his questions. Even though I was quiet, my mind couldn't stop screaming my dad's name. I kept running through what had just happened and where I was, and why I was there, but the one thought that kept interrupting and wouldn't leave my head was how my dad was doing and if he was still alive. My mind kept me busy and made me feel like I'd been sitting there and not talking to Officer Kim for hours when it's only been a few minutes.

I wondered what kind of facial expression I was making because seconds after realizing what I was doing; I heard a SNAP! Coming from in front of me because Officer Kim had just snapped his fingers in front of my face. He then said, "Well, welcome back to the living. Why don't you tell me what I last said to you?" seeing that I had just been staring at the floor for more than a minute. I was startled and didn't know how to answer his question because I didn't know if I should lie to him and make up something on the spot just to respond to him or tell him the truth about what I was thinking about and how I thought that I somehow could bring my dad back to life.

But after only a few seconds of silence, we both get interrupted by the second officer's footsteps coming out of the hospital room, and with him came the doctor. They both came out with concerned faces and walked as if they were preparing themselves for the end of the world. At first, they both were trying to not make eye contact with me, but when they did, their faces simultaneously saddens as if it was a practiced change of emotion.

Once they finally reached me and Officer Kim that was sitting in front of me, the doctor, without introducing herself, said with a voice sweet as honey, "I am so sorry for your loss. We did everything that we could to save your dad, but I'm afraid to say that your dad has passed away." I paused for a moment and said, "What you mean, doctor? My dad is still alive," with a clear and confused tone. I then noticed that both the police officers and the doctor looked at me with worried and concerned eyes, as if they were looking at a three-legged dog.

"What's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that? My dad spoke to me before we came here. He moved, I MADE HIM MOVE! HE'S ALIVE!" I said with a loud but childlike voice while passionately getting off my chair to walk to the room my dad was still in but Officer Kim stops by wrapping his arm around me.

As I was struggling to get out of the gripe officer Kim was holding me in, I shouted out for everyone to hear, "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM! WHERE IS MY DAD, I WANT TO SEE HIM NOW!" Officer Kim while still holding on to me said "April please calm down, everything is going to be ok. Please, just sit down while we find a way to move forward. We will find a place where you will be taken care of. I promise, so please calm down."

I became quiet and suddenly I felt a piercing wave of pressure in my chest as if the strongest man alive was a prisoner inside my heart and his only way to escape is to break my heart apart. My body became numb and the arms that were, just a moment ago, active and reactive felt non-existent. The strong man was hurting me and I didn't want him to escape, because if he escapes I will die.

I tried too hard to keep the strong man in, but it didn't seem to work because my face became wet. Officer Kim loosen his gripe and held me with both of his arms, placing me on top of the chair while I remained quiet. He seemed to have noticed that I kept my head down and my face was expressionless. He then got up from his chair and stood next to the other officer and the doctor.

I wonder what they had talked about at that moment. They should have talked louder so that I could have heard them. But in my moment of thought, a question came to my mind, something I should have asked the second we came to the hospital. Why did this happen to my dad? What went wrong? Why him, of all people? Why did it have to happen to my family? What was it that really killed my dad? I kept repeating that last question over and over again. What really killed my dad? What was it? WHO was it? Who did it? WHO KILLED MY DAD? The thought kept ringing in my head nonstop. It hit my head like a drummer hits it drum, with rhythmic and continuous bangs that just keep getting louder and louder. BANG! WHO killed my dad?

I couldn't take it anymore. I felt glued to my seat but could gather enough courage to lift my head and looked around the hospital. As I was looking around, I realized that both officers and the doctor were not near me anymore. I was alone in the waiting room with not one adult around me. I then hear a faint but clearly childlike voice at my right.

I couldn't make out what the voice said, so I turned to face the person the voice belonged to. it wasn't hard to identify who the person was because other than myself, there was only one person in the waiting room. then the person spoke again and this time I could hear clearly what they said.

"Are you ok? Is something bothering you?" the person said with a seemingly genuine concerned voice. "no it's fine. I'm fine. You don't have to worry." I responded while sniffling my nose. with a confused face the person says "Well if you are ok then why were you crying before?". "oh I didn't realize that there was someone else around me when that happen, I'm sorry if that made you uncomfortable" I said while letting out a small awkward scoff and scratching the side of my head.

the person then quickly got out of their seat and skipped three chairs and sat on the one that was right next to me and said "No it's ok seeing you cry was the only thing that brought me comfort tonight".