I got out of the car—confused on why we were at a hospital—and walked up the path. I pulled open the door with all my strength, and walked inside. I stood there, staring at the dull hallway that was painted all white. There were openings where rooms were located, and it had another hallway extended off of it. My three year old brain couldn’t get the concept of why we were in this weird looking “hospital”. I turned around, saw my mom and started running in her direction, but in mid run, I stop. For some reason she was crying her eyes out, which confused me so much more. I knew something was up, this was very abnormal, even for my family. I turned back around and looked at my godmother with a very compuzzled look, she looked down at me and looked up at my mom. Then out of thin air, I hear this shallow, pain filled voice call to me. I whipped back around and started walking slowly to my mom, while making sure to have ease in every step I take. I got to her and gave her a big bear hug and asked what was wrong. She bent down to my size, grabbed my arms, and wiped her tears; words started flowing out of her mouth like a tsunami. Her voice was so fragile and broken.“Honey, it’s daddy. Your father, he’s‒he’s..." she trailed. She couldn’t finish the sentence without having to grasp for air. It was very evident my mom was suffering from the pain. I had so many feelings rambling throughout my body, but I felt afraid and lost the most. I could feel my little heart pulsating, as though it was beating out of my chest.

I was confused on what my mom just said. I didn’t get the concept of that word; DEATH. What was the meaning of it ? Why was it such a big deal ? Is there any way to fix it? All types of questions flowed to my mind, as I was trying to put all the pieces together. Finally, interrupting my mother, I blurted out “ WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!?” she looked at me with a very astonished look, and I just stared back at her. She grabbed me and gave me a big hug and said “...let’s just go see your dad for a minute, okay?”. I nodded and started walking slowly into the room. At this point I had butterflies in my stomach because I knew nothing good had happened. We were about to step into the room when the door that I came in from, swung open. It was my whole family! Why? Why had they came? What was going on? That’s when I realized what the word meant that my mom said earlier. “Death”. We talked about that in church; how Jesus died on the cross for our sins, but I never really understood what it meant. Jesus came back to life, right? So does that mean my dad will too?

Everyone came inside crying, while i just stood there watching them. Next thing I know we’re in a giant group hug. We started walking into my dads room. I ran over so excited to see him. His eyes were closed and it looked like he was sleeping. I kept whispering  “daddy” into his ear trying to wake him, but he lay limp. I got up on the bed and sat beside him and told him what was happening. I looked over at my family, who were all sobbing by now, to ask why he wasn’t waking up. But instead of me asking them I had heard my mom say “I can’t do this! She’s only three, she wont understand!” and she walked out of the room crying horrendously. I was still clueless on what was happening, all I wanted was to talk to my dad and ask him what was going on, but he wouldn’t wake up!