Her Last Call to Dad

When I was six, I eagerly asked Mom when she was going to give me a little sister. Her heart softened, and she said yes. But on the day she gave birth, she suffered an amniotic fluid embolism and died on the operating table, along with my unborn sister. From then on, Dad hated me with everything he had. He screamed at me hysterically, "If you hadn't kept begging for a sister, your mom wouldn't be dead! Why couldn't it have been you instead?" I knelt on the floor, sobbing out an apology. "I'm sorry, Dad! I was wrong! I'll never want a little sister again!" Dad stormed out and slammed the door behind him. He never came back. After three days without food, I called and begged him to bring me something to eat. He sounded completely fed up. "Isn't there flour in the kitchen? Eat some flour. You'll live." I couldn't find any flour, only a small bottle of powder. So I ate that. Soon, a twisting pain tore through my stomach. I collapsed, and everything went dark. Trembling, I made one last call to Dad. The moment he picked up, I smiled through my tears. "Dad, I think I can go be with Mom now..." Chapter 1 Mom died on the operating table. The lights in the hospital hallway were painfully bright. Dad stood outside the operating room as if someone had hollowed him out. The doctor came out and said a lot of things. I only understood one of them. Mom was gone. My little sister was gone too. Before that day, I thought my sister would come out of Mom's belly all soft and sweet and call me her big sister. Mom had bought a little pink rattle. Every day, I leaned against her belly and shook it so my sister could hear. Mom would laugh. "My Sadie is going to be the best big sister ever." But Mom would never laugh again. When we got home, Dad set her memorial photo in the living room. I stood beside it holding the rattle, trying not to cry out loud. I was afraid it would make Dad even sadder. Then he suddenly turned toward me, his eyes bloodshot, like he wanted to tear me apart. "You're still holding that thing?" I was so scared that my hand let go. The rattle hit the floor with a thud. Dad stormed over and kicked it into the corner. "It's that thing! "You shook that stupid toy every single day and kept pestering your mom to give you a sister!" He grabbed me by the collar and dragged me in front of Mom's photo. "On your knees!" My knees slammed into the tile so hard that tears flooded my eyes. Dad pointed at Mom's picture and shouted at me. "Say you're sorry to your mother! "Say you're sorry to the sister who never got to be born! "Sadie, two people are dead because of you. How are you still alive?" Crying, I said I was sorry over and over, until my throat burned. "Dad, I'm sorry. "I don't want a little sister anymore." He was so furious he slapped me. "What good does saying that do now? "Is that going to bring your mother back?" My head snapped to the side, and blood trickled from the corner of my mouth. Dad acted like he didn't see it. He grabbed his coat and turned to leave. I threw myself at him and wrapped my arms around his leg. "Dad, please don't go. "I'm scared being home by myself." He looked down at me, his eyes full of disgust. "You're scared? "What about your mother, lying on that operating table waiting to die? Don't you think she was scared?" I was crying too hard to speak. Dad pried my fingers off him one by one, then slammed the door behind him. The key turned twice in the lock outside. Dad had locked me in. I couldn't get the door open, so I sat down against it to wait for him to calm down and come home. The first day, I drank water. The second day, I found half a bag of stale crackers. They tasted awful, but I ate them anyway. The third day, there was nothing left. I was so hungry I couldn't stand up, so I called Dad. "Dad, I'm really hungry. Can you bring me something to eat?" He let out an annoyed huff. "Isn't there flour in the kitchen? "Eat some flour. You'll live." He hung up. I crawled into the kitchen. The cabinets were high. I dragged over my little stool and fell twice before I finally felt a small bottle all the way in the back. The bottle had no label. Inside was white powder. I figured this must be the flour Dad meant. But it was bitter. I took one mouthful, then drank a lot of water. Not long after, my stomach started to hurt. It hurt so much I rolled around on the floor. Little by little, I crawled back into the living room and pulled the rattle out of the corner and into my arms. "Daisy, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked you to come. "Mom, I'm sorry. I'll never want a little sister again." I called Dad again. This time, he picked up right away. "Are you ever going to stop?" The pain was turning everything black, but suddenly I wanted to smile, because I was about to see Mom. "Dad, I think I can go be with Mom now..." The other end went quiet for a second. Then came his angry voice. "Enough! "Your mother isn't something you get to use for your little pranks!" The line went dead. I held the rattle and slowly closed my eyes. When I opened them again, I was standing in the middle of the living room. On the floor lay a tiny me, still clutching the rattle. I looked down at her for a long time. So I really was dead. Chapter 2 Dad went to Mom's grave. I floated along behind him. It was cold, and the trees in the cemetery were bare. Dad had bought a bouquet of white lilies, and he laid it in front of her headstone. He crouched down and traced Mom's name on the stone with his fingertips. I could still picture her face, as gentle as it was every time she did my hair. Dad's voice was hoarse. "Julia, I came to see you. "I couldn't protect you. And I couldn't protect the baby." A tiny bit of hope rose in me. Was Dad talking about me? He was silent for a long time. Then his jaw clenched. "Every time I look at her, I remember how I lost you. "And she still has the nerve to cry! What right does she have to cry?" Oh. He wasn't talking about me... I didn't have a body anymore, but somehow my chest still ached. Dad, I'm sorry. I can't cry now either. He went on. "She's nothing like you. "You were so softhearted, and she's so selfish. "She wanted a sister, and you paid for it with your life. "Now you're both gone, and she's the only one left, sitting at home playing the victim." Tears rolled down Dad's face as he spoke. I reached up to wipe them away. My hand went right through his face. Dad, I'm not playing the victim. I really did die at home. Just then, his phone rang. The screen said "Ms. Ramirez." She was my teacher. When Dad answered, his voice was still thick with tears, but it quickly turned cold and hard. "What is it?" Ms. Ramirez sounded anxious. "Mr. Dawson, Sadie hasn't been at school in several days. Do you know where she is?" Dad frowned. "She hasn't been going?" Ms. Ramirez paused. "You didn't know?" Dad let out a cold laugh. "I knew she was up to her tricks again. "The minute her mother's gone, she thinks she can get away with anything." Ms. Ramirez's voice turned serious. "Mr. Dawson, Sadie's only seven. She's missed this much school, and as her guardian, you should've checked on her right away." Dad sounded impatient. "She's at home. "She's probably just hiding because she doesn't want to go to school." Ms. Ramirez pressed him. "Then could you please put her on the phone? I need to make sure she's safe." Dad's expression darkened. "She won't come to the phone. "She's got a real attitude these days." I stood in front of Dad, shaking my head as hard as I could. It wasn't that I wouldn't. My phone was dead. And I couldn't talk anymore. Ms. Ramirez kept trying. "Mr. Dawson, Sadie just lost her mother. This is bound to affect her. The school can connect her with a counselor. Please don't put all of this on her shoulders." That hit a nerve. Dad shot to his feet. "What do you mean, put it on her? "If she hadn't kept begging for a sister, would her mother ever have gotten pregnant again? "And now look. Everyone feels sorry for her. "My wife is dead. My unborn daughter is dead. And somehow Sadie's the victim?" His shouting left Ms. Ramirez speechless for a moment. A few seconds later, struggling to keep her temper, she said, "Mr. Dawson, pregnancy and childbirth are decisions adults make. A seven-year-old can't be responsible for that." Dad laughed. It was a cold, vicious laugh. "Of course you'd say that. "It's not your family that died. "She's a good little actress. She probably skipped school on purpose just so you'd call and chew me out." Ms. Ramirez was clearly getting desperate. "Please go home and check on her right now." Dad hung up on her. He stared at his phone for a moment, then called me. All he got was a recording saying the phone was turned off. Dad's eyes grew colder and colder. "Well, look at you. "Turning your phone off now, too." I crouched beside him and whispered. Dad, I didn't turn it off. The battery died. And my hands can't hold it anymore. But he couldn't hear me. Then Grandma called. "The school called me, too. Where on earth is Sadie?" Dad answered right away. "Oh, she went out a little while ago. She's probably hiding at a friend's house." Grandma's voice rose. "Probably? Do you even know where she is? Go find her!" Dad pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation. "Margaret, don't let her fool you. "These days she just loves having everyone run around after her." Grandma's voice trembled. "Thomas, how can you talk about your own daughter like that?" Dad was quiet for a moment, then said in a low voice, "If she's my daughter, she should know how to behave. "She already got Julia killed." On the other end of the line, Grandma started to cry. "It was an accident! "The doctors told you it was an accident!" Dad hung up on her. He stood in front of Mom's grave, his chest heaving. "Everyone's on her side. "Julia, if you were here, you'd stick up for her too, wouldn't you?" He gave a cold laugh. "Fine. Let her keep it up. "Let's see how long she can keep this act going." Dad turned and walked away. Not once did he go home to check on me. Chapter 3 A month later, the apartment started to smell. Winter was easing a little, and the old stairwell was getting damp. At first, Mrs. Novak from downstairs just frowned whenever she walked past our door. "The pipes again?" She came by and knocked a couple of times. "Sadie? "Are you home?" I stood behind the door and shouted. "Mrs. Novak, I'm here! "I can't get out!" But she couldn't hear me. Then the smell got worse and worse. Finally, Mrs. Novak got scared. She called the building manager, Kyle Brennan. Kyle stood outside our door holding his nose, looking sick. "That's not a sewer smell." Mrs. Novak called Dad right away. "Mr. Dawson, you need to come home. Something smells very wrong in your apartment, and nobody's seen Sadie in a month." I could hear typing on Dad's end. His voice was ice-cold. "She went to you again?" Mrs. Novak was stunned. "What do you mean, 'again'?" Dad sneered. "Did she cry to you and say I don't take care of her? "Tell her to quit the act." Mrs. Novak's voice shook with anger. "I haven't seen her at all! That's exactly why I'm calling you! "Your door's locked, and the smell coming out of there isn't normal!" Dad sounded impatient. "Old buildings smell like all kinds of things. "If she's really home, she can open the door herself." Kyle cut in. "Sir, it looks like the door was locked from the outside." The line went silent for a moment. But Dad quickly said, "Then she did it herself. "She's full of tricks." Mrs. Novak couldn't hold back. "She's seven! Thomas, have you lost your mind?" Dad's voice turned to ice. "I'm warning you. Stop hanging around my door, or I'll call the police and report you for trespassing." Mrs. Novak hung up on him. Her eyes brimmed with tears. "Break it open." Kyle hesitated. "Shouldn't we call the police first?" Mrs. Novak gritted her teeth. "Break it down first. If something's happened to her, every minute we wait could cost her." The old steel door boomed under the blows. On the third hit, the lock finally gave. The moment the door swung open, a horrible smell rushed out. Mrs. Novak clapped a hand over her mouth and almost threw up. Kyle covered his nose and walked in. The living room was a mess. A cup lay tipped over on the floor. Dust covered the coffee table. One of my little slippers was by the couch. The other was by the kitchen door. They looked over, and they both froze. On the floor outside the kitchen lay something small. There was nothing left but bones. You couldn't tell what it had once been. Mrs. Novak let out a piercing scream. "Sadie!" I stood beside her and said softly, "It's okay, Mrs. Novak. It doesn't hurt anymore." But she couldn't hear me. Hands shaking, she called Dad again. "Mr. Dawson, come home right now! Something's happened to Sadie!" Dad's voice was still cold. "She put you up to this again?" Mrs. Novak broke down and screamed. "She's dead! Don't you understand? She died in that apartment!" Dad was silent for two seconds. Then he laughed. "Carol, she's seven, and she's already got you saying things like that? "You people really play right along with her. "Tell Sadie that playing dead won't work." Sobbing, Mrs. Novak called the police. The officers arrived, sealed off the apartment, and contacted Dad. His first reaction was still to yell at them. "Now the scammers are coming after me?" Even after the officer gave his department and badge number, Dad just sneered. "My daughter's at home. "She doesn't want to go to school, so she got the neighbors to help her trick me." In the end, two officers went straight to his office. When they brought him downstairs, he still looked annoyed. "Do you have any idea I was in a meeting? "A kid throws a tantrum, and you make this big a deal out of it?" The officers' faces were grim. "Mr. Dawson, please come home and see what's going on." Dad cursed the whole way there. "If she's fine, you all owe me an apology. "I told you she likes to put on an act. Her mom spoiled her rotten when she was alive, and now everybody spoils her." When the car pulled up outside our building and he saw the crowd gathered there, his expression finally changed a little. But it quickly hardened again. "Sadie!" He ran up the stairs, stood in the doorway, and roared. "Haven't you had enough? "You got the police involved. Happy now?" No one answered. The officers let him inside. Dad stepped into the living room. His eyes swept over the mess, and his face was still full of anger. "Where are you hiding? "Come out!" He walked to the kitchen doorway. When he saw the tiny skeleton on the floor, he froze for only a second before flying into a rage. "What is this? "Sadie, you'd drag in something this disgusting just to scare me?" Mrs. Novak sobbed and screamed at him. "Are you even human?" Dad ignored her. He took two steps forward, as if he was about to expose the whole thing as a hoax. Then he saw what lay beside the tiny skeleton's hand: a filthy rattle. Dad stopped dead in his tracks.