BEFORE THE STORM
(One year earlier)
Shadow_vee
Orabella'sPOV
My world was already ending i just didn't know it yet.
I untied my apron slowly my shift had just ended,i was already thinking about the walk back to the farm from the bus stop.
The bell above the coffee shop door chimed softly when i opened it to leave "see you tomorrow, Ora," my manager called.
I nodded, forcing a smile that didn't quite reach my eyes.
Lately my mind had been occupied,i was worried about my dad he had been looking low for a while he didn't look sick just… quieter,thinner like someone slowly stepping out of the light. Whenever i asked, he brushed it off with a joke or a shrug, telling me the farm was just taking more out of him these days.Whenever i confronted him,he smiled at me the way fathers do when they're trying to protect their children from the truth sometimes even say things like "I'm getting old Ora that's what happens when you age" but it felt off and when i gave him that questioning eyes "I'm fine, Ora," he said. "Don't look at me like that." So i believed him I always did.
I got down from the bus the sun was setting i walked down the road leading to the farm where we resided when I got close to the house I walked past Mrs Jackson on her lawn feeding her dog she waved at me and I waved back smiling. Our small farm sat at the edge of town we had few neighbors around,we had lived there my whole life just my father and me.
After my mother eloped, the farm became more than land it became shelter silence survival. We learned how to be enough for each other in ways words never taught us.We never lacked our basic needs sometimes dad worked on the soil hard to provide what we needed,i took the job in town for extra cash i wasn't planning to go to college well atleast not now but together we made it work.
I thought we had struggled enough so when my dad started looking low thinner and quieter i told myself it was just exhaustion. The kind that comes from years of holding things together with willpower alone, convincing me he was fine.I wanted to believe that the worst was already behind us i didn't know the ground beneath us was about to give way.
"Dad," I called. "You should be resting."
He straightened slowly, wiped his hands on his trousers, and smiled before I got close to him his knees buckled.The crate hit the ground first. He followed.
"Dad!"
I was beside him in seconds, my hands shaking as i tried to lift him. His eyes were open, unfocused, his lips moved, but no sound came out.
The world blurred after that me screaming for help the neighbors came, someone called an ambulance, my voice breaking as i begged him to stay awake.
I remember thinking, he said he was okay he looked fine this morning,i started blaming myself i should have probed harder.
The machines beside his bed hummed softly, too calm for how loud my heart felt.He looked weaker like the man who raised me was already halfway gone.
"Dad,"i whispered, forcing a smile. "You scared me."
His fingers twitched against the sheet i reached for his hand, gripping it like i could anchor him to this world.
"You've always been strong," he murmured. His voice was raspy. "Too strong for your own good."
I shook my head. "You're the strong one you'll be fine. You always are."
He studied my face for a long moment, as though memorizing it. "You've lived too carefully for someone so young."
I tried to smile. "Someone had to."
A faint huff of laughter escaped him then his expression grew serious.
"If anyone ever comes to you because of me," he said, voice low, "you don't owe them obedience."
My brows knitted together. "Why would anyone come looking for me?"
He didn't answer directly.
"Listen to what they say," he continued, tightening his fingers around mine just slightly, "but decide for yourself. Promise me that."
"I promise," I whispered, though i didn't understand.
His shoulders relaxed, as if that was all he needed.
"I made choices," he said quietly. "Some with hope but none of them were meant to cage you."
Tears slipped free. "You never caged me."
A soft smile curved his lips. "Good then I did one thing right."
The words confused me. "Dad, you're not making sense."
Two days in the hospital by his side the doctor had smiled before leaving the room.
"He's stable," she said. "We'll keep him under observation."
Stable.
The word settled in my chest like permission to breathe.
The following day everything was normal.That morning my father stirred on the bed before waking up his eyes fluttering open color had returned faintly to his face, enough to fool me.
"See?" I whispered, forcing a laugh. "I told you. You're not going anywhere you'll be fine."
He looked at me, really looked at me, and smiled."You've always been stubborn," he murmured.
I squeezed his hand it felt warm,alive.
In the evening i had gotten him milk as he had requested sitting by his bedside telling him stories that always made him laugh everything was looking normal until the monitor started beeping wrongly my father's brows drew together, his chest rising fast he was struggling to breathe
"Dad?" My voice cracked. "Dad, what's wrong"
The beeping turned frantic nurses rushed in. Someone took me outside against my wish inside the room they called his name loudly, urgently, like volume could pull him back from wherever he was slipping to I stood frozen at window watching them, watching hands press against his chest, watching mouths move, watching hope shatter in real time.
And then silence they shook their head.One long unbroken sound I rushed into the room they didn't hold me back this time around "No," I whispered.
He had been getting better.
I was sure of it.