Chapter 5: Father
The light illuminating the room flickered and buzzed. Every now and then muffled voices from outside the walls would distract him as he tried to listen in on the conversations of his neighbors. He sat their slumped into his armchair, leaning over to the coffee table, tapping away at the keyboard of his laptop. Garth had remembered something. He remembered seeing the grave of his father. As the night went on after Barbara had left him to his own devices on the roof little pieces of his memory would slowly enter his mind. First it was the gravestone itself and then it was who was stood beside him. Artemis and Barbara were stood on each side of him at least one step away, and behind them were the rest of his friends. Even older people he didn't know and had never seen before stood behind him. He remembered sprinkling a handful of dirt onto the wooden coffin, he remembered the heartbreak he felt as the mud hit the wood.
Finally Garth found what he was looking for, he found the location of where his father was buried. He was buried inside the expensive part of Gotham Cemetery, a surprise to him as he knew they were both never well off in the money department. Garth stood up and soaked in the pain coming from his left thigh and his right hip, he refused to use the crutches anymore. If he was going to visit his dad then he wouldn't show him how hurt he was, his dad did warn him about the superhero life after all.
He slowly stepped and wobbled past the table and towards the hanger where his coat was strung from. He grabbed the dark quilted jacket and placed it over his burnt arms, then he wrapped a red scarf around his neck. He stepped outside and let the cold wind batter him. He took a deep breath and made his way to the cemetary.
Garth stood at the large gate and looked at it. He wasn't ready for this. Not at all. But he carried onwards, wincing with each step. It was then, a few moments later that he stood at the gravestone he remembered, the same words were etched into this stone.
"Here lies Mick Daniels
Beloved Husband. Beloved Father. Good man to all.
"My family are my life."
1972-2015"
A lump formed in his throat and his eyes became wet and blurry. He was filled with hate and sorrow.
"How. How could I forget this? I don't even know how you passed." He mumbled to himself. You could see the breath escape his voice as he spoke. His body wanted to shiver in an attempt to warm itself up but he couldn't even bring himself to do that.
The wind then picked up, the fall of the leaves could be seen all over the graveyard. You could scarecly see the green and yellow of the leaves under the dark night. A single leaf landed on top of the Gravestone. Garth then stepped forward and picked it up between his finger and his thumb. Then crushing it between his fist, some of the scabs around his hands splintered releasing small amounts of red liquid.
"Nobody should have to lose their memories." he croaked.
He then, finally, crumbled. His legs grew weak and he crashed to his knees, sending a terrible pain up his body. The hand with the crumbled leaf reached towards the top of the stone. His open palm sat there as the heat from his hands escaped into the rock. His forehead rested against the back of his hand, tears began to soak his fathers grave.
"None of this makes sense. None of it!" he wailed. It hurt to speak. He couldn't even think. It had felt like an eternity that he had been there, his mind had gone blank. He wasn't capable of doing anything, it was a task for him to breath.
He raised himself from the ground, dirt covering his lower body. He wiped away the remaining tears from his now dry and bloodshot eyes. He ran his left hand across the writing on the stone, feeling the dents the words had made.
"I hope you have a better life in heaven than you did here." He whispered.
Authors Note: I know this is another short chapter but I was extremely happy with it. This chapter is as short as it is because I didn't feel like I could add the next part without throwing away the feel of Garth coming to terms with his father's death. Something that I did write about in Part Two but I feel as though it's an important part of his character growth as in Part Two he was just angry about his dad's death. He never accepted it, he refused to.
I hope you have been enjoying what I've been writing. It's funny to me that I started this story because I had nothing to do during my time off from Uni and now, a few months later, I have probably wrote enough for a short book. It was only supposed to be a test as to whether or not I enjoy writing stories as much as I enjoyed reading them. I'm genuinely considering rewriting Part One as I put very little effort into it at the start and it feels awful to read.
Anyway enough of my rambling! I'd love to know what you all think so far. Especially with the whole Barbara/Garth/Artemis situation coming to an end.
