I was 13 years old when my father died, me and my mother never saw it coming it was so sudden. One minute he was there with us laughing and having fun, then he was gone.

The day I lost my father will always be ingrained in my mind.

I remember the sun beating on our skin and making our clothes stick like glue to us because of the heat.

I remeber my father's laugh when I said, " Dad do we really have to go plant flower beds today its so hot. It's worse than when my mom made that spicy chili that almost killed us."

My mother didn't find it funny. "Yumi, the spicy chili incident wasn't only my fault you brought me the wrong chili and I had to improvise."

"I know mom. It's just that I hate the heat but I'll stop my whining and get to work so we can finish faster."

"That's my girl." My father crouched down next to me and started planting the flowers. 

My mother said she was too tired because and so she stood in the shade watching us work.

After a while of planting flower beds I got tired and laid back on the grass and closed my eyes. When suddenly I felt dirt falling on me only to open my eyes and see my dad grinning mischieviously at me.

Oh this was war. I grabbed a fist full of dirt and tried to throw it but he dodged my attack. This went on for awhile until we were all covered in dirt.

Especially my mother who wasn't even playing, she looked a bit irritated.

"Oh cheer up honey its only dirt." My father said to her. Her irritation disappeared as soon as my father turned to her.

" Oh I understand but will you excuse me for a moment while I go get changed, and while I'm at it I'll bring you something to drink since you must be tired from all that work."

"Thanks honey and don't forget to bring Yumi something."

My mother went into our house while I turned back to look at the flower beds we had planted, I was happy because they looked beautiful.

I noticed my father looked a bit uncomfortable. 

"Dad is something wrong?" I asked him.

"No Yumi its just that I have to go to the bathroom but I don't wanna leave you alone here." 

"Dad its our front yard nothing is going to happen. Just go, my mom will be out in a moment."

He left after I reassured him and when he was gone I sat down in front of the flower beds to rest.

After a while I heard someone behind me and ly to see my father collapse right in front of me and my mother standing with a horrified look on her face.

I felt like the air was right out of me. I went crawling to where he was unconscious and looked at him I didn't know what to do . I screamed at my mother to call an ambulance.

That took her out of her stupor and she fumbled to get her phone out of her pocket and call 911. 

While I sat next to my father holding his hand, it felt cold and life less

When the ambulance picked my father up they asked us what happened but I let my mom answer their questions. A nurse checked his pulse and shook her head and said it was too late. 

I grew pale... too late. No he's alive he's alive I kept telling them. I went hysterical until my mother came over and hugged me but I couldn't feel anything, I had grown numb. 

My father was gone just like that gone. We didn't even know the cause of his death.

When they took his body they had examined it and said they couldn't find a cause but when they examined closer they informed us that he had a heart attack but they found it weird since my father was young and healthy and had no history of past diseases.

Ever since that day I changed completely, I didn't cry once at the funeral its what my father would have wanted he had told me once that if he ever died he didn't want me to be sad instead to enjoy and remeber the life that I had with him.

I had to be the strong one because my mother was the one who was hurt the most.

My mother changed a lot she would go hysterical at random moments and blame me and herself for his death which made no sense since he had a heart attack.

Sometimes I didn't even recognize her but I loved her regardless because she was my mother.

 I couldn't have been more wrong, my father's death was no accident. But I didn't know that at the time I was too young to put the pieces together.

To be continued............................................................................