Through the Lens

It Matters

I dosed off almost immediately, slipping back into sleep as I held Hailey and listened to the rain pelting against the windows. I woke up a little while later, feeling her stir against me as she woke up. I opened my eyes and looked down at her as she groggily looked around, trying to figure out where she was, before her eyes met mine and she looked back at me.

"Harry?"

"Hey." I said softly as I reached up and ran my fingers along her cheek. "How you feeling?"

She sat up, tucking her hair behind her ear nervously as she looked at the floor, fidgeting with her hands in her lap as I looked down at her. It was obvious that she didn't like that I'd seen her so upset, and she couldn't seem to look at me as she tried to tell me she was fine.

"Uh, yeah...yeah, no I'm good." She said as she sniffled and wiped her nose with the back of her hand, still refusing to look at me. "I'm totally fine, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up."

I placed my finger under her chin, turning her to look at me, and she looked up at me as the tears pooled in her eyes. She stared at me for a minute, trying to keep her tears back before one betrayed her and fell down her cheek. I placed my hand to the side of her face and wiped it away with my thumb as I looked back at her. It was killing me to see her like this, not even knowing what was really wrong.

"Bear..." I said softly. "Talk to me."

She looked up at me, before shifting her eyes down to her hands and fidgeting with the edge of the blanket, taking a deep breath as she sniffled.

"It-It's gone." She said softly, barely above a whisper. "It's all gone, there's nothing left."

"What's gone?" I asked as I placed my hand on her back, rubbing it soothingly.

"The shop. My dad...my dad's shop, it's gone. Everything he built, his whole life, it's just gone. It's gone just like him, there's nothing left." She sniffled.

I wasn't sure if I should tell her I already knew what happened, not wanting to shift the conversation to her asking how I knew, so I decided not to say anything and just let her talk.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I-I got a call from the hospital...they said there was a fire and my brother was hurt. I was so scared, I-I thought I was gonna lose him too." She said as she began to cry again, doing her best to speak through her tears as I tried to comfort her. "I raced there, I found him and he was alright. They said he just inhaled a lot of smoke but he would be okay."

"Well he's okay, that's the important thing." I said softly, still thankful he was alright.

"No, I know. I just-I didn't know what happened...he told me there was some kind of electrical fire, that something had gone wrong and he got there and just saw flames. He tried to go inside to put it out but it was already too late. It burned to the ground, everything my dad built is gone." She cried, leaning forward to bury her face in her hands. "It was the only piece of him we had left. It was the way we stayed close to him, continuing his work, and it's gone."

"I'm so sorry, Hails. I can't imagine." I said, wishing there was something I could do. "You can rebuild it though, can't you? I know it's not the same, but insurance should pay to rebuild it."

"No." She sniffled. "No, they told Ryan that because it was an electrical fire and he couldn't prove that he'd had it inspected recently that they weren't gonna cover it. We lost everything, we don't have the money to rebuild it. So not only have we lost the last piece of my dad, I don't know what my brother is gonna do to take care of his family."