ALICE | ONGOING

Prologue

Alice felt the bright rays of the sun caress the skin of her face and her small, plump lips formed into a faint smile. She  opened her eyes slightly and squinted at the sunlight that illuminated the room. She yawned loudly and stretched her little body that was cramped from her long sleep.

She sat up excitedly and rubbed her eyes with her fists. Daddy's finally coming home after his trip.

She pushed her small legs off the side of her bed and got up quickly. She looked at the floor and frowned. Mister Rabbit was on the floor again.

Alice bent down and picked her stuffy in her arms. She hugged it tightly and started walking towards her bedroom door. Once she reached it, she took Mister Rabbit in one hand and placed the other on the doorknob that stood above her head, at her age of five.

She opened the door silently and started walking again, this time towards the living room. She was almost there when she heard a loud sob coming from her mother's bedroom. She hugged her stuffy closer and placed one small forefinger against her lips, asking it to stay silent. She padded in the direction of her mother's bedroom door and placed her ear against it, trying to find out what was going on.

"Stop asking me to calm down! My husband died! How can you possibly expect me to calm down?!"she heard her mother and froze in place, trying to process the new-found information in her head. Mommy said that..

"DADDY!" she screamed at the top of her lungs and the door in front of her opened abruptly, revealing the shell of the happy woman her mother was the previous day. Her eyes weren't shining with glee. They were dull and swollen from crying. Her make-up was smeared all over her face and her hair was tousled. She was in her pyjamas and slippers, not planning to leave the house anytime soon.

Alice's body went limp and her small knees hit the hard floor. She started crying, sobbing and screaming for her father. Her mother sat down on the floor right next to her and pulled her daughter's shaking little body in her arms, trying to offer them both some comfort.

"It's okay, honey, mommy's still here. It's alright baby, shhh. Mommy won't leave you. We can get through this together." her mother whispered in her ear, trying to convince herself more than her daughter. She couldn't let her walls down. She had to stay strong for her baby.

Alice hugged her mother tighter.

"Mommy, why d-did God t-take daddy away from us?" She asked hours later, between her sobs. Sitting in her mother arms still.

"Baby, you see, God needed more angels by His side. So, He chose to take some of the best people we had down here with us." her mother forced the words out through her tears, the pain in her breast spreading and numbing her.

"But why did He have to t-take my daddy as an angel?"

"Oh, love, he wasn't the only one that God took by His side.."

How do you explain a plane crash and the deaths of hundreds to a five year old?

Though she didn't have to worry about that for long. After hours of crying, Alice fell asleep in her embrace and was now snoring softly.

"Sweet dreams, baby."

She tucked her daughter in bed, with a tender kiss on the forehead.