April 11th, 2014 - 4:46pm
Max Reynolds walked through the front door of his daughter's elementary school out of breath. He immediately saw one of Sydney's teachers and rushed over to him and said, "I'm sorry I'm late Mr. Lee. It's just there were complications at work and bad traffic and then my phone died and of course I forgot my charger and..." The teacher: Mr. Lee held his hands up slightly and in a slightly nervous tone said, "It's okay Mr. Reynolds. The after care organization was glad to watch over Sydney considering what just happened." A confused looking Max said, "What? What just happened?" Mr. Lee then with a very nervous tone now said, "Oh my goodness. We thought you already knew and that's what you hadn't come yet." Max now looking very concerned said, "What was I supposed to know?" Mr. Lee then took a deep breath and in a partially calm tone said, "I'm sorry I have to be the one to tell you that there's been a most horrible accident. According to the police your wife while walking home from work was hit by a speeding car. She apparently died within seconds." Max suddenly began to lose his footing as he quickly found a chair near him and sat in it. Mr. Lee sat in front of him as Max who looked completely out of sorts said, "What? When? How did..." Mr. Lee then said, "It apparently happened about three hours ago at the intersection of Crouton and Slater. The police officer who came here said they tried to reach you before coming here." Max whose eyes began to shift back and forth said, "Where is... does Sydney know?" Mr. Lee then said, "No. We thought it best not to tell her anything until you came." Max then slowly got up as he said, "I... I need to Sydney. I need to Sydney now. Where is she? I need to see her now!" Mr. Lee got up and said, "Of course. Just follow me."
In a small auditorium Sydney was standing in front of a crowd of kids on a stage as with a big smile on her face as she said, "And then little Timmy woke up and realized maybe if he didn't eat cupcakes before bed, he wouldn't have scary dreams of Princess Jasmine taking over the world with the guy from Blue's Clues. The end!" Many of the kids in the audience clapped and cheered as one of the kids said, "Yay! Sydney tells the funniest stories ever." A smiling Sydney said, "I know. Thank you for enjoying another one woman show by Sydney Reynolds!" Sydney then turned her head and saw just starting to walk into the auditorium was her father Max. Sydney with a big smile on her face ran over to Max and yelled, "Daddy!" Sydney then jumped into Max's arms and Max instantly found himself holding Sydney up so Sydney could wrap her arms around his neck. A stilling smiling Sydney said, "I missed you. Are we gonna go home now?" Max sighed and then slowly dropped Sydney to the ground and walked her into the hallway.
Max led Sydney to a chair in the hallway and had her sit in it while Max sat in another chair facing her. A slightly concerned looking Sydney said, "Daddy, what's going on?" Max then said, "Well... I... I... I first wanna know how your day was." Sydney then said, "It was cool. In art today I made a cool clay sculpture of a horse that I can't take home till next week, and at indoor recess and after care, I got to tell so many funny stories and everybody loved them." Max made a small smile as he said, "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself at school today Sydney." Sydney who began to look at Max in a more curious way said, "Daddy? What's going on? Why aren't we going home to see mommy now?" Max then said, "Well Sydney. I... your mom... earlier today she was... she... she was hit by a car really hard and she died." Sydney's face suddenly went into shock as she said, "What? No. How can..." Max then said, "Look Sydney, remember when our old neighbor Mr. Fredrick died. Your mother and I told you he was gone from this world but that he was in heaven now. Well your mother is in heaven now too where she's at peace." Tears began to appear in Sydney's eyes as she said, "No. I don't want mom in heaven. I want her here!" Tears began to appear in Max's eyes as he said, "I want her here too Sydney. But I can't do anything about it. It's happened and... I'm so sorry Sydney." Max then got on his knees as Sydney dove into Max's arms and hugged him close as she began to cry.
At the Reynolds home the door bell rang. Max answered it and saw an old woman with a dish of food in her her hands as she said, "I just thought you could use a hot meal. I'm sorry for your loss." Max accepted the dish and with a small smile said, "Thank you very much." Max then closed the door and his face looked disgusted now as he said, "Another one to cram into the fridge!" From the kitchen Max's mother Judy appeared as she said, "God, do people only know how to make food when dealing with tragedy. Oh well. Might as well start eating." Judy then walked over to the nearby TV where Sydney was playing a video game. Judy then said, "Noodle, you want some casserole?" Sydney without turning her head away from the TV said, "No grandma." Judy then looked at Max and said, "Max. Kitchen. Now." Judy then led Max into the kitchen and once they were in there Judy said, "Max. She has been playing video games for five hours straight. She hasn't talked about what's happened during that whole time. This isn't healthy." Max then said, "Mom, her entire world has just been turned upside down. She's just trying to make sense of it all by doing the one thing in her life that hasn't changed. You expect me to send her to bed without the good night kiss she always gets from her mother right now?" Judy then said, "Yes Max. Sydney has to go to bed and get some sleep. She has to accept she's never gonna get a good night kiss from her mom ever again." Max then said, "Mom, you can't ask me to have Sydney start adapting to what's just happened. I can't do that." Judy then said, "She can't do that... or you can't?" Max sighed and said, "I'll tell her to turn her video game off." Max then walked back into the living room and said, "Sydney, I..." Max then saw Sydney had fallen asleep in front of the TV. Max sighed, picked up Sydney in his arms, and then carried her up to her bedroom. As Max carried Sydney up, he looked at her young peaceful sleeping face as he said, "I wish I could tell you everything is gonna get better Sydney. I wish I could... but I can't."
The next morning Max was laying on the couch in the living room as he slowly got up. From the stairs, Judy came down and said, "Wait. You slept down here last night?" Max then slowly sat up on the couch as he said, "Couldn't sleep in my room. It... just didn't feel right." The door bell rang. Judy began to walk towards the door and said, "I'll get it." Max then got up and said, "No. I'll get it mom. It's my home. I can answer my own door." Max then walked over to the front door, opened it, and surprisingly saw his old childhood friend Leo standing tall in a suit and tie in front of him. A surprised Max said, "Leo!" Leo smiled and said, "Max. It's great to see you." Max and Leo then gave each other a quick hug. Max then said, "Leo. It's good to see you too but... why are you here?" Judy then stepped over to the two and said, "I called him. I figured you'd want to your childhood best friend who is now a big shot lawyer to help you with the paperwork the police left you with last night." A confused Max said, "What!?" Judy then began to walk upstairs as she said, "I'll leave you two alone." Leo sighed and then said, "Now Max, I know you don't want to talk about this. But the sooner we formally press charges against the person that killed your wife, the better a settlement we can get out of this." Max put a hand on his forehead for a moment and said, "Leo, the person is in jail. Can we just put this behind us?" Leo then said, "Max, I know you want this whole event behind you, but formally pressing charges allows for you and Sydney to get proper restitution and ensure Sydney at least is well taken care for financially." Max turned his head away from Leo and said, "Leo, I can't put a price on my wife's life." Judy then suddenly ran down the stairs and said, "Max! Sydney isn't in her room. I already looked in all the other rooms too and didn't see her." Max then said, "Oh God. Okay. Mom, you check down town. I'll take the park. Leo, you know what she looks like right? So just... drive up and down any street you can think of. Lets go!"
Max was running through the park while holding his phone as he said, "No mom, she can't be too far. We shouldn't call the police yet so... Oh wait. I see her on the swings at the playground. Okay, she looks fine. Mom, call Leo and tell him everything's okay. I'll be back home in a few." Max then hung up his phone and ran over to Sydney swinging on the swings. Max then got on his knees in front of Sydney and hugged her immediately as he said, "Oh God, I thought I lost you too." Max then backed away from Sydney a bit and said, "Sydney! Why did you leave home like that!? What were you thinking!?" Max then saw tears in Sydney's eyes as Sydney slowly said, "I... mommy usually pushed me on the swings on Saturday mornings. She always let me run ahead. I'd sit here... then she'd eventually show up and then she'd push me... and it was always fun. So I thought if I came here... she'd show up and..." Suddenly many tears began to come out of Sydney's eyes. Sydney grabbed tightly to the swing chains as she said, "I'm sorry daddy. I'm so stupid. I know mommy wasn't going to be here and... but I... but I wanted her to be here. I want her here so much daddy!" Sydney then let got of the swings and fell out of it and into Max's lap. Max then held Sydney in his arms and began to rock her gently like a baby as he said, "It's gonna be okay Sydney. I'm here. And it's okay to be sad. Because if you're sad due to someone being gone... that can only be because that person loved you. Your mother loved you so much Sydney. Because you are an amazing, beautiful, talented, and wonderful young woman. Never forget that Sydney. Never forget that."
TO BE CONTINUED...