his weakness

53| redemption.

K E N Z I E

"Kenzie?" The voice I haven't heard for so long speaks through the speaker of my phone. Suddenly, making me mute.

"Is this one of your ways of taking the mick out of me? Because I don't have time for this stupid nonsen-" Dad's voice is cut off as I finally speak. Wanting to get it out of my mouth so I don't have to be on call with him for any longer.

"Mom's dead." Nothing. There's nothing coming out of his mouth anymore however the call hasn't been ended either.

One of the super nice ladies at the hospital told me I should let my dad know. I couldn't decide if I should or not, it was more to the side of 'he doesn't need to know because they're not even together blah blah' but she was able to convince me by saying 'it doesn't matter because someone who you've loved before, even if you don't love them now, their death will always hit. No matter what.'

So I took it upon myself to call him and here I am, sitting on one of the curbs outside of the hospital at 7am in the morning. As much as I hate this place and want to go away, I can't leave. It's the fact that my mom's still in there, dead or not, and I still haven't finished the documents I was told to fill out. In between every single one, I left for a while and then came back. I didn't go anywhere special, just went outside for fresh air and thought to myself about many many things.

It's mad how your life can go downhill so quickly.

"Where are you?" He breaks the silence, making me scoff.

"Do you even give a fuck about where I am? Or that mom's dead?" I don't hesitate to swear even though he hates it but I don't care anymore. Since our last communication, he hasn't tried talking to me at all.

"Kenzie. I- I'm at a loss of words," that's all that manages to leave his mouth. "I'm sorry."

"I don't want your pity, dad. I just thought I'd let you know."

"Are you home? I can get you a ticket out here as soon as possible. You can come live with us." I cringe at the thought of living with his family.

"I'm still at the hospital. And no thanks. I'm good. Goodbye dad." Just a tap away from ending the call, he stops me by calling out my name.

"Listen. You have no one back there and I can't let you just go off like that. You're still my daughter. And I love you," my throat starts aching, only because if he showed me this side of him all my life, I'd be a different person today. "I'll get on the first plane tonight."

"No. I don't want you to. You're not doing it because you love me dad, it's because you feel bad for me." How many heartbreaking conversations do I have the tolerance for?

"Don't say that."

"It's true. And you don't have to deny it. I can deal with it, I have been my whole life. I'm alright back here, if anything does happen and I need help, I'll let you know first." I take a big gulp, holding back tears that I thought were no longer possible to come out. Upset that it feels like I've lost both parents today.

"I am going to deny it, Kenzie. I'm going to get on a plane tonight. End of." He ends the call, taking me a little aback. I was waiting for an 'okay' or something along those lines, definitely not that.