Prologue and Chapter 1

A Chapter by erica726

Prologue

Famiglia, famille, מישפּאָכע, and familia, they all mean the same thing. Family. What though defines what a family is? Are they people that share an unconditional love, or are they simply people linked by blood and mean absolutely nothing to one another. From an early age, we’re taught that the family consists of parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, siblings, and cousins. We have always been told family is there to love and support us, but what if that is not true? What if we are just told that to satisfy ourselves and that family is really just a group of people that we share a similar DNA to? What if the one member of our “family” we loved, disappeared within a blink of an eye?

Chapter 1

“Allison, where are you? We have to meet your father at the airport. You and Max have to make this flight with him. You know that you were supposed to go yesterday, but your father didn’t want to go without you!” Allison’s Mom yelled up the stairs while she got everything together.

Allison stubbornly shouted back, “I don’t want to go with him mom. I don’t want to meet his partner, and I don’t want anything to do with him!”

Trying to stay calm she said, “Please come Allison. This is out of my control; it’s his weekend. I know you don’t want to, but it would mean a lot to your father if you gave him a chance. At least do it for Max since he misses daddy and won’t go without you. Please Ali.”

After letting out a sigh, Allison said, “Alright mom, but I’m only doing it for Max. I know how hard this has been on him, but I’m only going this one time.”

Before Ali could change her mind, Max came into my room with a huge grin on his face. Whenever he smiles, it just seems that everything else is okay. Whenever he smiles, he lights up the room.

Max said cheerfully, “ I know that you and daddy don’t get along, but I hope that you give him a chance. When I talked to him, he said that he really misses you; he just wants to spend time with you.”

Ali said with annoyance in her voice “Maxie, I’m not going to promise to be nice to him, but I’ll try to be nice for you. That’s the best I can do if you can’t accept that, then I won’t go at all.”

He replied, “Thanks for going with me Ali; we are going to have so much fun with daddy!”

Before they left, Ali pondered about how she was going to be patient his weekend. Whenever she was around her father, the worst came out in here. Whenever she was around her father, she acted like a lion in a girl’s body.

She finally said, “Mom, I think I’m finally ready.”

While planting a kiss on Ali’s head she said, “Baby, thank you for doing this for Maxie. I know you do love your father, so I want you to try to enjoy yourself. Since it’s your last weekend of summer, have fun! You know in your heart that your father will do whatever you want him to do! Just because him and I don’t get along, doesn’t mean that you don’t love him.” She caressed my face and said, “Sweetheart, you’re allowed to love him; he is the only father that you’ll ever have. In life, you only get one father, but some kids don’t even get that. You need to appreciate that you have a living father who loves you more than anything in this world. For all you know, he could die tomorrow. Baby, just let him know you love him.”

After processing what she said, Ali said, “I do love him, but it is so hard. It’s hard seeing him love somebody that’s not you. Do you think that I don’t remember all the fighting? He was never a father to me, for all he did was take me on vacation. He never just wanted to come and spend time with us. All he ever wanted to do was take us on some lavish vacation that we don’t even care about!” After wiping a tear away, I said, “Like I told Max, I’ll try my best, but I won’t promise anything.” When I finished, she pulled me into a hug and gave me a kiss on the head. Max raced down the stairs before she said anymore.

Since Max and I were minors, my mom was allowed to go to the gate with us. After we got through security, we spotted my father waiting patiently at the gate. I hadn’t seen him in what seemed like centuries. The twinkle is his electric blue eyes was now gone, and his luscious, abundant, brown hair was now barely a spot on his head. As soon as Maxie saw him though, he ran at the speed of light to give him a hug. A little less enthusiastically, my mom and I walked over to give him cold hugs.

When my dad saw me, he said, “Ali, I’m very excited that you decided to come. “ While motioning to Max, he said, “Jocque can’t wait to meet you two!” As soon as he said that, I went off.

Angry, I shouted, “I am not going to meet Jocque; this weekend is not about Jocque. This weekend is about seeing your kids that you see once every 6 months. Do you even know how excited Max was to see you, or do you just not care?” After turning towards my mom, I said, “I’m sorry mom, but I just can’t do it.” Crouching down, so I was at Max’s level, I said, “Maxie, I’m sorry, but I can’t deal with daddy all weekend. If I go, I’ll ruin it for you. I want you to go without me though, so you can have fun with daddy.”

While crying, Max said, “I don’t want to go without you Ali; I want you to come! It won’t be as fun without you”

Barely holding myself together, I said, “You have to go Max if you don’t go, you’ll never forgive me. I can’t and won’t hold you back from seeing daddy. Just because I don’t want to be with him, doesn’t mean that you have to too. “ After I said that, they called the final boarding call for flight 175.

I motioned towards the gate and said, “Max, it’s time to go to California with daddy.” Still hesitant, my dad took Max, and they went to board the plane. As they were walking away, my mom shot me a look of disappointment.

If only we knew that we would never see them again.