The Portrait

-The Father-

I sped up along the road trying my hardest to arrive home in time. The night's air was cold and with my window open I can feel the breeze on my face, though it was a bit comforting since I'm feeling anxious and the cold strong breeze made me feel like flying and I only thought that I'd be home in no time. The road didn't have much occupant only me and some other cars running. It was lucky not to come face to face with traffic because I seriously have no time for that. While I was driving I thought of my daughter. She's turning sixteen now and tonight is the celebration of her sweet sixteen. Oh I felt excited just imagining the huge smile on her face after I surprise her with my presence and gift. Then I glanced at the empty passenger seat where my huge pink covered gift with a ribbon in the middle rested. Inside is the painting I did for her, a portrait of her that's she's always asked me for. And now I finally finished it. As you can see I'm a painter and I've been traveling for the past months painting different sceneries. This is the first time that I've done it and my family had been very supportive about it. Last month I had my friend finance a gallery full of my work and I've earned enough. Before I didn't work as a full time painter I only do it as a hobby. I was an art director in a media company and I've been working there for ten years. I had no plan of ever doing an exhibit and showing people my works but it was just one fateful day when I received devastating news about the death of my friend. He was also into painting -- in fact he was very good, probably better than me -- but he never gave his painting career a chance because he was very busy with his work in the office. When I attend his funeral I saw his room and it was full of his beautiful works but it's such a shame that the world didn't get to see his talent. That's when it struck me! That life is too short and we should take all the opportunity that comes in our way. I was so affected by my friend's death and because of that I couldn't think properly at work and I couldn't do my job properly so my boss told me to get some time off, 'take a vacation' were his exact words. I agreed then talked to my wife about it and everything that was going inside my head. I told her that I've always wanted to travel and paint. She was still doubtful about it at first but when a friend called me and asked if I could work for his gallery since he's one painter short, my wife and I both agreed to what I wanted. I went to different cities and even got to go to France and this all happened in three months. I painted many different scenery and when I showed them to my friend, he was rather pleased with my work. And so we went with the preparations for the gallery. On the day of the exhibit many art aficionado attended and many bought my work. It felt good to do what you want to, to pour your heart in every piece you make and to see the smile of approval from people who sees my work was exhilarating.

But it's been four months now and I've missed my family plus the birthday of my daughter came so I rushed home. The painting that I promised her now rest beside me and I can't wait to give it to her.

Remembering the art exhibit I reached for my phone I decided to call my friend, to thank him for all the things he did for me. Of course he said it was nothing then he questioned me about my daughter's party and I started to feel excited so I stepped on the pedal to further accelerate. Then suddenly I saw a blinding light in front of me, and the only thing I can make out was an image of a huge truck. Everything happened so fast, one moment I was trying my best to turn the steering wheel towards the other way then the next thing I felt was a very strong force crash right in front of me. I tried to open my eyes then I felt my body ache and I saw blood. I didn't know what to do or how to call help and the only thing on my mind is my daughter. So with all my strength I took the gift I had for my daughter and held it close to me. I prayed hard telling God that my little girl turns sweet sixteen today, she's so beautiful and I wished I had the chance to tell her that life is so short that she should enjoy every moment given to her especially now that she's sixteen. Right now I'm not thinking about myself instead I'm thinking of my family and again I prayed to God that when I'm gone I hope he'll take care of them. After a few minutes I saw few people gather around me and I started to feel hope. I wanted to scream, to tell them I'm in pain but my voice was hoarse. I'm starting to feel tired and when a man approached -- I remember him screaming at me to stay awake -- I suddenly lost consciousness.