A/N: This chapter deals with the loss of a family member.
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Mom is sick. I sneak up to my parents' bed where she is lying. Her face is all wet and she mumbes words I don't understand. She stayed with me for many hours when I was sick just a few days ago, but now I am well again. Carefully I reach for her hand, her skin is so hot. She tries to open her eyes, but she doesn't see me. Suddenly Dad pulls me away from her.
"I want to stay with Mom!" I protest.
"You've done enough already", he scolds. "You gave her the fever!"
While he is with her, I wait on my bed. It's made of straw, sometimes the stalks poke through the cloth of the sheet, but I like the smell. Holding the torn plush duck in my hands, I still sit there when he finally comes out of the room. The look on his face scares me. He hits one of the wooden chairs before sitting down on another, his face hidden in his big hands.
"Can I see Mom?" I carefully ask.
He stares at me angrily. "She's gone and she's not coming back!"
"No, she would never leave without us," I reply disturbed by his words.
He bangs the tabletop so hard that I jerk back. Not understanding what has happened, I try to run past him into the room, but he grabs me by the hand.
"Ow! Let me go, Daddy." I beg him.
As he pushes me off him, I hit the floor face first. It hurts and tears are blinding me as I pick myself up again.
"It's your fault that she died!" he yells at me. "She should have cared more about herself but she cared too much about you nasty brat!"
I'm unable to understand what's happening. Mom just can't be dead. Or is she? The truth tears my heart into pieces me in the end. Never again she is going to smile at me, comb my hair while telling me I have beautiful red curls. She will no longer tell me about the Emerald City. The pain is eating me up. If only Dad would hold me. Just once. I don't know we will go on. I am seven.