Amber Stone and the Dead Doctor Chapter 4.1
Amber Remembers the last time she saw her father.
I remember the last time I saw my father. I was three, but that one memory is vivid:
He places his dark finger over his brown lips, blue eyes peering over his thin-rimmed glasses. “Stay quiet, Bebe, alright? I will come back for you.”
The same place he would hide me whenever a visitor came to the house or someone unexpected. I’m not known. It’s just him and I. Auntie Leona comes and checks in but says nothing about me to the outside world. I sit with my knees curled up, back against the wall, deep inside the dark narrow cupboard.
“A visitor?” I ask.
His blue eyes gloss over, and the hard lines on his face soften. His warm hands press against my cheeks, and he plants a brief kiss on my forehead. I squeeze my worn teddy, the only thing I have to comfort me when I feel alone, and that is often.
“Stay quiet. I will be back.” He crawls out of the cupboard and shuts the door, cutting off the little stream of light.
I’m dropped into complete darkness, squeezing the teddy tighter. It’s different this time. I hold my breath. Seconds and minutes tick by.
Inside the cupboard, the shadows birthed distorted figures, tantalizing my thoughts and visions. Usually, I hear distant voices and light footsteps. These sounds bring some comfort. They remind me that dad is still here with me.
But I hear nothing, complete silence. Maybe dad went to the store, when Auntie Leona couldn’t come and watch me, he hid me.
The darkness grows denser and more suffocating. The silence dragged on longer than eternity. Weeds of sadness creep up and choke my heart. Shallow breaths cause my chest to rise and fall. I cry. Dad’s warnings to keep quiet don’t matter to me anymore. The tears want to fall, so I allow them to. Dad is gone.
The cupboard door opens, and auntie Leona is on her knees, peering inside the cupboard, and spots me at the far end.
“Come on, Bebe.” She gestures for me, waving her hands, summoning me. “It’s ok to come out now.”
Since that day, I never saw the house or my dad again. He died in a lab explosion. Him and other scientists. Auntie always said he was smart and was working on something groundbreaking. That his end was devastating.
That night as she carried me in her arms, I buried my head in her chest like I am doing now.