The Sound of Silence

The Sound of Silence

It was a wail that hadn't been heard by my ears for a little over three or so weeks. The wail was only for a few short seconds after the obnoxious ringing of out home phone, and it was almost normal. I felt tears well up in my eyes, for the wail I heard was almost- no, it was the wail of my deceased parent's hearing aide as he put it in to answer the phone.

Carefully, I walked down the steep steps of the stairwell and into my parents room. It looked much as it did the day dad passed, but with the difference of a few more pillows. The phone had finished ringing by now, and the tears had slowly started to stream down my high boned cheeks.

"Daddy...?" I wondered aloud as I stepped into the room and sat on the edge of the quilted bed. There was no answer, but I felt a presance in the room, lying behind me. "I miss you..." My voice was breaking, I couldn't help it. Dad had meant the world to me. He was an artist, a photographer, a song writer, a poet, a hero. "I know that's you in here, trying to answer the phone." I chuckled once.

Everything in the room was normal, but the ghost of the wail still haunted me so. "You don't have to stay, dad, you don't have to keep watch..." I hated myself for saying that. I had almost hoped that dad would remain as a spirit, a ghost, if you will. More tears streamed down, and I could feel my lower lip tremble softly. "Please, daddy," I sounded like a little kitten who had been seperated from it's mom, alone and deeply saddened. There was a slight stir in the curatins, and a warm energy started holding onto my left shoulder.

I fixed myself up. Dad wouldn't want to see me crying, he'd want to see me smiling at the thought that he was in the room. "Please, daddy," I started again. "Mom and I'll be fine... I'll still miss you... Fuck, I'll miss you..." I didn't care if dad heard me cuss. "Thank you for visiting, though..." I felt a little better, but that didn't stop the tears. I took one of the pillows from his side. The smell of the old Camel Lights made me remember all of the times I had been with him, and made the tears harder to bite back.

The warmth on my shoulder never went away as I cried into that old, lumpy pillow. "Goodbye, dad... I love you..."