A butterfly has taken leave

The sound of the clock ticking had become a part of his life for the last months, he heard the alarm saying that an hour had passed since it last rang, Chris lifted his head and saw it marked 6 AM, "Another sleepless night huh?" he thought. He got up and went to the restroom to wash his face. When he arrived there , as soon as he saw the mirror he couldn't help himself, so he kept staring at his own reflection.  He looked a little bit older and a little bit colder, even though that came as no surprise, he hadn't slept or eaten well in quite some time, as the cold water reached his face he started to remember how easy was life just a year before, Lily his daughter, had just entered to Junior High School, the place where you'll learn many things that will help you later in your life, you'll meet nice friends,and you'll meet many who aren't what they seem, many boys would've wanted to become Lily's boyfriend later on (over Chris's dead body) but, when all of that was about to start happening, something had to happen, during one of the school's excursion trip, she fell and had a "simple" sprain in her right leg, she was taken to the doctor and apparently she only needed to plaster it for a while, "that's what the doctors used to say" he thought. However, they were wrong, time passed and she didn't recover as fast as the doctors said. Time flew and she started feeling weaker, and weaker.He was really worried so he took her to another clinic to get  a more meticulous check... but, the answer wasn't what he expected... her Lily, her little girl, had a tumor in her leg.

After wards, all seemed to have happened as only a dream, they had to move "temporarily" to another city so she could get the required treatment, however, things went from bad to worse, not only did the tumor was damaging her system, way before that, she had developed lung cancer, Chris didn't knew how he managed to survive all those problems, since her wife had died during childbirth, he had been alone since, no woman had awakened that magic she had before, so he neede to pass through all that process by himself... and things didn't get better at all. The doctors said that she needed to get her leg amputated to increase her life expectancy, but it wouldn't help much either, it would only bring it up to about 40-45% not much... He would have wanted to talk it with her, but she had lost consciousness a month before, when they told him that option, he had to refuse immediately, he saw how her daughter was now connected to a machine to help her breathe, he wouldn't stand the idea of seeing her without her leg, for something he wasn't even certain it would work, he thought about how she was too young to lost her leg, he was confused, sad, sick, and tired, he didn't knew what to do, so finally he chose to not amputate... 3 weeks had passed since...

He hadn't eaten anything since the day before, he went to the cafeteria to buy something to eat, and a coffee, he knew that not sleeping had its consequences later on, his health was an example, and it could even reduce his lifespan, "I don't give a shit about all of that, what if she awakes for a little while, while I'm sleeping?"he thought. He bought the coffee and a pack of muffins called "The happy butterfly"he remembered a time when he and Lily ate a pack of those together in a a park, he remembered quite well, and even sometimes with a smile. They were both sitting in front of a lake in their city, it was a really cold but beautiful winter morning, while they were eating, Lily noticed a monarch butterfly in front of them "Look dad, a butterfly!!" Chris was looking carefully at a couple of young ladies and answered without looking(or even caring) "Lily, that's imposs..." he was interrupted by his daughter's hands (in which a little monarch butterfly was staring at him) he looked wondering what was that little fella doing there. "How strange it's not the time of the year, these little fellas should be in Mexico right now..." As soon as Lily heard hid father's words, her eyes started to shine. "Then, then... can we keep it?" Chris smirked " Lily if it stays with us, it won't live the way it is supposed to, we have to let it go"  Lily was a little bit sad at first but understood , so she smiled and went to the edge of the lake, all of a sudden she lifted her arms as quick as she could, so that the butterfly could take leave (even though probably it was only scared as hell) Lily saw it fly into the sky, she shouted as loud as she could " Take care, one day we'll meet again, I promise!!!!!" Chris wondered what she meant by that. When she came back he asked "Do you really want to have a butterfly that much?" Lily giggled "No dad, I want to be like a butterfly" Chris laughed (since Lily was six at the time) "What do you mean?" Lily closed her eyes while smiling " I want to be able to fly in the sky, feel the wind,with no worries, living my life most of the time up there, it would be like a dream" Chris looked how happy she was with the idea "well while you search how to transform into a butterfly, how about if you and I go to see the monarch butterflies, when the season comes?" Lily's eyes started to shine once again "You mean it dad? Yay!!! it's going to be great dad!!!" that memory always brought him a smile to his face, but something was different this time, the smile was there, yet tears were also covering his face, there in the cafeteria, a man that nobody knew was crying, without no one to comfort him...

After a while he went to the one place that he had already memorized in its whole, each seat, each crack, each light, everything, which place was it? His daughter's patient room. However, when he entered inside there, he didn't think about it at all, for someone else was in his mind at all times... The little girl with no hair.
Despite all the machines she had connected to herself, she seemed so peaceful at her sleep, at those moments all that he could think was "I would give everything to know what she's dreaming about" since she had lost consciousness a few weeks before, he was more alone than he would dare to accept. Friends talked to him frequently asking how he was and how Lily was faring, but still that kind of support didn't felt strong, because after all they couldn't be able to understand the pain, the lonely sleepless hours, the uncertainty and the bitter hours before he received the results of some tests. Perhaps, it was a selfish thought... but life owed him that much... so he just thought "screw it" Each day the visiting hours decreased and decreased. He felt everyday he died a little bit more,but he didn't knew what would happen in the next few hours...

To be continued...