Pain of fatherhood.

 He woke with excitement running through his body. Today after 16 years could be the day his son and grandchildren finally come home. He got of bed and dressed surprisingly quickly for a 64 year old man with arthritis riddled through out his body. In the kiychen his wife knew he was up and she knew where he was going and what he was doing and she also knew her son wasn't coming home, not today. Not ever.

He entered the kitchen and bid her goodbye with a kiss on the cheek. He arrived at the bus station at 7am sharp just like he had every Saturday for the past 7 years each time praying more and more that that day would be the day he saw his son again. All he wanted to do was see him and say sorry, he just wanted to say sorry before he died.

With every bus that pulled in a bullet of optimism would hit him and everytime that bullet would cause more pain than all his aching joints as his son wouldn't get off. He stood and all the time running through his head how he would appologise when his son did get off one of the coming busses.

11 o'clock came tears running down his face. He said it was his arthritis, it wasn't. It was the heart ache he edured everyminute without his son, the guilt he felt everyday. He gave up. He turned his back on the bus stationa and his son for the last time. He walked all the way home walking stick in one hand and the other wiping floods of tears from his face.

He arrived home, he couldn't talk to his wife. He went and lay down. He had had enough. Had enough of the pain, the sadness and the torrment he felf everyday. His son wasn't coming home, he accepted that. He closed his eyes for the last time on that bed thinking of the last memory he had of his son. It was them arguing over what time he had to come home. 

In the end he never did.

Reviews

[Cคɾเ&#..]

This was really, oh what's the word I'm looking for...
I just know that I haven't read something this moving on this websight in a while. I'm hitting myself for not reading it sooner. But now I'm wondering all these questions...the annoying ones that begin with "what if". Only a really good writer can make the reader thoughtful about his characters.

[~*~Peace Keeper~*~]

Wow...this is powerful...I like it...its sad that the father couldn't say sorry, and the son never came home...but it has a meaning in it...we should always say sorry or ask for forgiveness before someone leaves if we are in a fight...for you don't know whats going to happen the next day and they might not be there to say sorry to...and then you will hurt more everyday...like your story says.
Great Job

[Lauren Marie]

Another sad yet thought-provoking story.
There were a few spelling errors, but those are easy fixes.
Good job!
~Lauren

[Just Plain Me]

wow...I honestly have no idea how to describe this. Not saying its bad...I'm saying its the complete and total opposite. It makes people think about the arguments in their own lives and how that may be the last thing that they ever say to that person/people. Well at least it makes me think of that. Its truly a marvel. Great Job :]

[Call me Jane]

This was a really sad story.

[gravitylava]

This was really nice and interesting. I liked the you wrote it so that you just described everything that happened and it created a story. That might not make sense, but it's a good thing. I only wish it was a little longer and cleared up a few things. Like where is his son? Why did he die? Why is his father sorry? It's got a few holes in it.
-michelle

[Red Brick Keshner]

It has been said, 'Parents, don't exasperate your children.'
What a moving story. Makes the chest tighten and causes the reader to pause and think through their own experiences and relationships or lack thereof. Tragic end though. But I guess that is the whole point of the story. As for me, there is some reconciliation with my own father although that peace is probably membrane thin.

[Drew Wade]

this was a good concept, and it did make me sad and a little thoughtful. I wish it would have been longer so I could have known more about his son, but it worked the way it was.

[Adeline]

aw, this is kind of sad! but it's really good, short and sweet as I like to say. :D I like the detail in the descriptions in it, and the metaphors you use work well. Nice write, keep it up!

[Looouise]

That was a pretty sad piece.
Makes you wonder 'what if.'
I liked it