Emily

Short story Prompt: "i've lost a child and i see her dancing in my dreams, catching memories in jam jars, filled with fireflies."

I remember the day her father passed, I found her out in the garden, playing tea parties with her dolls. I remember watching her, trying to find the words, Emily turned and smiled at me "Mummy come and play", so young, I was thinking, so untouched by pain.I was to introduce her to the fact that we can hurt and a pain so deep could not be repaired by any Mickey mouse Band-aid.

I held her as I told her, she looked at me not knowing, not understanding, what I was saying, not wanting to comprehend. "Daddy's gone? When's he coming home?"
Tears welled in her eyes, her chin started to quiver, and I knew then that her little untouched heart had been exposed to life's heart-aching reality.
My Beautiful untouched child, died a little inside herself that day.

The funeral came and went, but a deep sadness stayed with her, I couldn't help her, I just had to let her know, I was loving her more now, daddy was gone and that I was sad too.
In silence we would sit for hours, comfortably nestled under my arm as we flipped through photo albums full of memories and allow the tears fall. We wept for weeks on end, I didn't think the pain would ever lessen.

We both decided that a trip would be good, we would go camping were Daddy used to take us. We would go exploring, escape from the house that was so full of him, yet so empty at the same time. This would be the start of our true healing process, at least I hoped so. We set up camp and as night fell, we toasted marshmallows on the fire, it was nice, there had been no tears that day.

The fire flies came then, her face brightened instantly, I didn't really understand, what was it I asked, "Oh Mummy, don't you see, Daddies here" a sweet memory came back to me in an instant, Daddy and Emily collecting fire flies and Daddy telling her that it was the people up in heaven coming to give kisses to their family, the ones they had to leave behind.How could he have known what simple beautiful words spoken one night, would mean to his daughter now?

Emily picked up an old jar we had brought some sweets in and emptied it. She started dancing around trying to capture as many as she could. Happy to be collecting fragments of her fathers kisses, fire flies in a jar. My sad, heart broken little girl, returned to me then, still hurting but there was light, beautiful light, back dancing in her eye's.