Bye.
That’s all he wrote. Bye. And my dad was no longer here. I don’t know where he went or anything because all he wrote was. ‘Bye.’ I freeze up. Where did he go? Why would he just leave me here? Alone and helpless. I dig through drawers and look for anything that he may have left. Now he’s gone too? It’s bad enough that my mom is dead. He didn’t leave anything. I check his bedroom. His bed is in its normal place, in the middle of the room, but the blankets and pillows were I would lay with my mother and talked to her about things were gone. The drawers were empty. The world was ending . Maybe it is, my mom gone, and now possibly my dad. I look in the bathroom, nothing but an empty soap dispenser was on the counter. I frantically ran to my bedroom. I sat down on my bed. Where did he go? Was one of the questions that kept popping into my head. Tears were begging to escape my eyes. I go into the bathroom and find a box on the counter. I didn’t know if I wanted to open it and find what was lurking inside. I was terrified. But it was killing me to know. I open it and find pictures of my family: me, my dad, and my mom. There is an ‘X’ marking on my dad. Did my dad do this? I look out the window and see the dark clouds hovering in the sky. The sun is barely peeking through the clouds. A few minutes later, after trying to process everything, I call my best friend, Elly. The phone rings about three times before she answers. “Hey, Sam. What’s----”

“My dad’s gone,” I blurt out into the phone.

“What?” Elly says shocked.

“He’s gone and I don’t know where he is,” I say as tears start to fall down my cheeks.

“I’m coming over,” Elly says. She hung up and I continued to sob. A few minutes later, I hear the familiar ring of the doorbell. I run down the stairs and open the door. Elly gently hugs me and walks inside. “So he just left? He didn’t leave a note or anything?”

“He left this,” I said handing her the small piece of paper I had in my pocket. She takes it out of my hand and examines it. “See it only says, ‘bye’.”

“No, it doesn’t. If you look closely, you can see that there’s numbers that are scratched out,” Elly says looking at it closely.

“What?” I exclaimed grabbing the paper out of her hand and holding it into the light. There it is, my old address. “We have to go,” I said grabbing my car keys and pulling Elly along with me.

“Where are we going?” Elly asked with a scared look in her eyes.

“Those numbers are my old address and that must be where my dad is,” I explain starting the engine and pressing my foot against the gas pedal.

“How far away is it?” Elly asked.

“I don’t know, like three hours,” I say watching the road.

“Okay,” Elly says looking at me. “But I better be back in time for dinner, my dad is making steak and potatoes.”

“Haha, okay,” I laugh as I keep my eyes on the road and think about all the possibilities of why my dad would be at my old house.

Three hours later, we arrived at my old house. My dad’s car is not in the driveway. The rotten, old garage door is closed, so maybe it’s in there. Elly and I get out of the car and walk to the front door. I take a deep breath and knock on the front door. I wait for about two minutes and no one comes to answer the door. He’s not here. He’s gone. Elly and I head back to my car with gloomy faces. I feel like crying, but I can’t. I have to be strong. I can get through this, like I did when my mom died. I have to accept that he’s never coming back. I start the engine and rain started to fall from the sky. The rain fogs up the windows quickly, soon after tears begin to fall down my cheeks.

“Wait!” I heard a voice exclaim as the rain continues to fall. Dad? No. Stop imagining things. Face it he’s gone. “Wait, please,” I hear the voice say again. “Samantha, please, wait,”

“Dad?” I whispered to myself. I jump out of the car and see my dad, waiting behind the car. I swing the car door open and soon find myself wrapped in my dad’s arms.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered in my ear. “I’m so sorry,”

“Why did you leave?” I asked, tears falling down my face.

“I couldn’t handle the craziness of everything that was happening,” My dad says, holding on to me tightly. “But, I promise, I’ll never leave you alone, again. I shouldn’t have left. Especially with your mom just recently kicking the bucket ,”

“Please come home?” I asked, my eyes filled with tears.

“I know,” He said. “I’m coming home, and I’m not going to go anywhere,”