All I Have Left

You see this photograph? This is all that I have left of my mother. I don't remember her very much, after all she died when I was five years old. I grew up as an only child with my father being the only family I knew much of. I have a sister and a brother, however they're not my real family. My father got married when I was 15 years old. How he could ever love someone other than my mom is beyond my mind. His new wife, my step-mother, likes to pretend I'm her slave, she is not one to play with, she's mean and rude. I have no other family that I know of, my father never took me to see his parents or my mom's parents. He has no pictures of them in our house so I have no idea what my background is. I only know the story of my mother's death that haunts me every day of my life.

It was July 4th of 2028, my mother was 32 years old. My parents had just moved into their new house in Jacksonville, Florida, my father said it was a small house. It had three bedrooms, just in case they decided they didn't want me to be an only child,it was two stories tall, and was a light blue color with the paint chipping off in some places. The basement they left as storage considering they haven't had everything fully put into place. The upstairs had our two bedrooms, my room was small but I didn't have a lot to fill it. It was a plain room, the walls were white and the carpet was tan. I had a small bed with pink sheets and a dresser that only had three drawers. My parents' room was at the end of the hallway. Their room was a light blue and their carpet was the same color as mine. They had a big bed with dark blue sheets and two dressers that were about the same size as mine. This house was my home for only six months before the event that changed my life happened.

I was in my room getting ready for an Independence Day Party at my parents' friends house. Mike and Donna had a daughter who was a year older than me, her name is Sophie. My mom dug in my closet and found a red, white, and blue dress for me to put on. She told me how pretty I looked and kissed me on top of my head. My dad yelled from his bedroom, and my mom left me standing in my room not sure what was going on. I hear my mom yell that he had to go to the doctor, they got into an argument about going to the doctor. My dad said it was too expensive and he would be fine. I heard them close the door and then there was silence. My mom comes out of her room and tells me that my dad is sick and won't be going with.

We get into our dark blue car, she puts me in my booster seat in the back and buckles me in. She smiles to let me know everything is alright and I shouldn't worry. I smile back and she closes the door and walks around the car and gets in. She turns on the car and the radio comes to life, I can hear people talking about how cops will be out tonight keeping the town safe from possible drunk drivers. My mom turns off the radio and drives out of the driveway. It's not very bright out, but the street lights allow me to see the ocean. Our house was close to the water, but I can't swim very well so I'm not allowed to swim in there unless my parents are with me. Due to the fact that we just moved in, we haven't had much time for "playing around" as my dad called it. My eyes start to close as we drive farther and father from my house, but closer and closer to Jacksonville Beach where Mike and Donna owned a beach house. It's a tan colored house with a sliding door facing the ocean. The door leads to a white deck with beach chairs and a few small tables. The steps are to the side of the deck and lead to the beach where we will be shooting off our fireworks, along with watching everyone else's.

I hear a door shut and my eyes open up, I look and see we're finally here! My mom wearing a light-blue dress with black sandals and her hair is up in a bun like it normally is. She has sunglasses on that make her face look like a bug. She opens the door and helps me out of the car. I see Sophie sitting on a chair and I run up to her. She's wearing a white dress and she doesn't have any shoes on. I can tell her mom did her hair because it's up in a ponytail with a flower in it. Sophie can't do her hair very well, and when she does it never looks as nice as when her mom does it for her. She says hi and we go into her house. The inside is beautiful. It's an open house with a tall ceiling. To the right there's the kitchen which is bigger than my room. When you walk in there's a living room with a couch and two chairs facing a huge flat screen TV ahead of you. To the left there's a stair case going to the upper level where the rooms are at. She takes me up the steps and into her room. Her room is three times the size of mine. She has a walk in closet, a huge dollhouse, a king sized bed, and as many toys as a toy store. We play together for a little while, then we here her mother yelling our names. We walk downstairs and Donna says hi to me. I smile and say hello back. We lay back and watch what feels like 1,000 different fireworks. My mother comes up and tells me it's time to go. I beg to stay, but she says I can't and I have to go home tonight. I whine about it the whole way to the car, and what happens next, isn't in my memory fully. However, it changed my life completely.

It was dark outside and the moon was glowing of the lake. I asked my mom how long it'd be till we get home. She looked at me and told me it'd be about 15 minutes. My mom looks ahead and screams. I look ahead and I see two bright lights right in front of me. My mom swerves to miss the semi coming towards us. It hits the front of the car and I see black. The next thing I know, I'm in a hospital. My dad is talking to who I assume is my doctor. I let the word dad slip out of my mouth. It sounded quiet and hoarse. He turns towards me and rushes to the side of my bed. The doctor asks how I feel, and instead of answering I switched the subject to what happened. The doctor explained the events. As soon as he finished I asked him where my mom was. He looks at my dad and tells him he'll be back in a couple of minutes. He turns to leave and he closes the door. My dad looks at me, and I can see tears starting to form in his eyes. I may have been young, but I knew something was seriously wrong. I've never seen my dad cry, I grab his hand and he looks up at me. He tells me that the driver only hit her side and that I almost died. He wipes the tears from his eyes, the room is silent. The only thing you can hear is my heart monitor beeping. I ask him again what happened. He looks back up at me, and says the five words I've never wanted to hear...

"Daviney, your mother is dead."