Why Me?

Chapter Three

Since my little outburst, Mom kept quiet around me about the wreck, escpecially anything about Daddy. I was the only one who knew what his last words were after all. Everyone thinks that they all died instantly, well, they didn't. Gabe and the girls did, but Daddy and James didn't.

James had alway been the nicest of my two big brothers, but I never knew why. When we were still trapped in the car, James squeezed my hand and on his last breath to say, ' Sis, never give up, never, one day y-you'll be amazing, even more than you already are, I love you, lil sis.' Daddy by far had the most injuries but some how he had survived the impact. He reached back into the back seat and held on tight to my hand with his bloody hands and hoarsely whispered, 'Baby, never forget that I will always be with you.'

I was still holding Daddy's hand when the fire dept got the jaws to cut us out. They had to pull me away from him kicking and screaming. I actually put a real bad scratch on one of the fireman's face. Which, I apologized for when I saw him at the funeral.

My thoughts didn't slow down as I pulled on my old blue jeans and the beautiful white sweater that Daddy had given me just a few weeks earlier on Christmas Day. I sat on my bed, pulled on my old beat up boots, and grabbed my little nap sack that had the book Daddy used to read to me every night when I was little.

I ate a granola bar as I walked the two miles to the small church cemetery where they were all buried. I walked slowly amongst the tomb stones, gently letting my head trail across their hard stone. When I got to Daddy's grave I stood quietly there for a moment before I sat down cross legged in front of the tombstone.

"Hey, Daddy, it's Jessa....." I said gently touching the stone, I knew there wouldn't be a response, but it was still comforting to just imagine that I was talking to Daddy.

I brought the little book out of my little nap sack and just stared down at the cover. Princess Josie Finds a Friend .

"I brought you a story, Daddy, I know how much you loved reading it to me."

I took a deep breath as I opened the cover of the book and my eyes found the little note Daddy had written in the book when he had bought it for me and I smiled. It was a sad smile, but it was a real one, the first I've had in a while actually.

"Once upon a time, there was a pretty, little princess named Josie." I started the story with a slight crack in my voice.

" Josie was a sad princess, her best friend had to move away and she didn't get to talk to her anymore. Josie cried for days and days when her friend moved away and spent all her time on the old bridge where she and her best friend used to play every day."

"One day, while pretty Princess Josie sat on the bridge a little puppy ran up to her. The puppy was very dirty. 'Oh, why, puppy, your so dirty!' Josie said as she picked up the little puppy. 'I'm going to give you a nice, warm bath!' she said as she ran up the hill to her castle."

"Once little Josie had given the tiny puppy a bath, he was so pretty. His fur was a bright, shiny yellow and his eyes were such a big, happy brown, that Josie was instantly happy with her new little friend and they spent forever and ever playing together." I finished reading the little story with tears in my eyes and gazed at my Daddy's tombstone.

"Ya know, Daddy, I really feel like Princess Josie now that you're gone, and I don't think that a pretty, yellow puppy will take your place...." I said with the tears finally flowing down my cheeks.

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I went back to school the next morning, trying to ignore the stares and whispers I got as I walked down the halls and into my first period class handing my escuse to the teacher, ignoring her sympathetic gaze. Someone had been moved into my seat in the middle of the class room while I was out so I just took a seat in the back of the class next to one of the biggest trouble makers in the class. This was going to be a very long year.