The Acceptance of Change

Chapter 3: Sweet Chariot.

It was in the garage where my dad died. While I was at school, my dad tied the rope to the metal beams that hold the garage door when it's opened, or at least that's what the doctors told me. It was when I got home that I found him. I used the garage door opener that he had given me because our lock was broken at the time. When the garage door got stuck, I saw a pair of legs almost floating in the air, like someone was jumping but deciding not to fall this time. I immediately recognized the black boots he always wore. The garage door began to shut after it couldn't open. After a moment of shock I crawled under the door before it shut. I was then stuck inside of the garage with my father hanging in the air. Going in there, I was hoping that he was maybe working on it or something, maybe that's why it closed, because it was broken and he was fixing it. He was still. I looked up and I saw a rope wrapped around my fathers neck. The longer I sat there, the more I could notice the rotting smell emanating from my father. I puked on the ground in front of me. I couldn't take what was happening to me at that moment. I puked more and more and began to sob uncontrollably while sitting in my own bile and having to keep my father hanging there from the corner of my eye. With a shaking hand, I slowly grabbed my phone, and through a vision filled with tears, a nose filled with a terrible smell, and a mouth filled with bile, I slowly typed in 911.

"911, what is your emergency?" A woman picked up the phone. I didn't respond for a moment. "Hello?" The woman persisted.

"Hi," I whispered. I couldn't think of what to say at the moment. My brain didn't want to think.

"Is someone injured?" She said.

"My dad," I said.

"What happened to him?"

"He killed himself," I whimpered. After a brief pause, she responded.

"Officers are on their way, kid. It's gonna be ok. Stay calm and take deep breaths. What's your name?" She sounded so calm and soothing, I wonder if she's used to things like this. What a world.

"J-," I paused, I struggled to speak, "Jonas," I sputtered out.

"Are you in the house right now Jonas?" She said.

"Yes. I'm in the garage."

"Ok. Is there anyone there with you?"

"No, it's just me."

"The officers are just a few minutes out. Is there a way to open the garage door for us?"

"No it's stu-." While speaking I looked up at my father again and began to scream. Scream so loud and violently and long that when the cops had arrived I was coughing up blood because of it. The cops broke through the front door and rushed to the garage with a few paramedics. A female cop grabbed me and brought me to my living room while everyone congregated in the garage. She held me until I stopped screaming and calmed down.

I was different after that.