Chapter 5 - The Collision
Daniel stopped ten feet away from us. His chest rose and fell in ragged gasps. His eyes traveled from Ethan’s face down to the crimson gown, taking in every seam, every fold, every stitch of the fabric he had spent three years trying to block from his memory.
"Ethan," Daniel rasped, his voice barely audible over the idling truck engine.
Ethan didn't move. He stood tall, his shoulders squared, protecting me slightly with his stance. "You're late, Dad. Ceremony's over. I got the diploma. You missed the circus."
"Don't," Daniel pleaded, stepping forward, his hands raised as if approaching an injured animal. "Ethan, please. I saw the video. Mark sent it to me."
"Oh, so you only showed up because the neighbors saw?" Ethan’s voice turned venomous. "You didn't care when it was just about me keeping my word. You only care now because your friends know you raised a boy who wore a dress to graduation."
"That’s not it! That’s not true!" Daniel shouted, breaking down. The hardened, stoic man who hadn't shed a single tear at his daughter’s memorial service suddenly collapsed into himself. He fell to his knees on the rough asphalt of the parking lot, burying his face in his calloused hands. "I couldn't look at it, Ethan! I couldn't look at anything that belonged to her! Every time I saw her things, it felt like someone was ripping my lungs out of my chest!"
"And you thought making us pretend she never existed made it better?" Ethan countered, stepping closer. "You took her pictures down from the hallway, Dad! You wouldn't even let Mom say her name at Christmas dinner! You wanted to erase her so you wouldn't have to hurt!"
"I was trying to keep us from dying!" Daniel screamed into the night, looking up with tears streaming down his weathered cheeks. "I was dying, Ethan! Every morning I woke up and realized my little girl wasn't upstairs, I wanted to put a bullet through my head! The only way I could get out of bed to go to work and pay off those damn hospital bills was to pretend she had never been here at all!"
The parking lot fell dead silent.
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Sarah gasped, covering her mouth. For three years, we had believed Daniel was cold, unfeeling, and ashamed of Sophie’s long battle with cancer. We had never seen the black abyss he was drowning in.
Ethan stared down at his father. The righteous anger that had fueled him across that stage seemed to slowly drain away, replaced by an unbearable weight.
