Run, Girl (If You Can)

Keeley was playing a board game with the family members still at home after the twins went off to prom when she got a phone call from her dad's number.

"Hey Dad, what's up? Do you want me to send you the pictures I got of the kids all dressed up for prom?" she asked casually.

"This is Robert Hall's daughter, correct?" a sympathetic female voice asked.

Her blood ran cold and she excused herself from the game to speak somewhere more private. Alzheimer's ran in his family and he had begun developing it about three years ago.

It wasn't safe for him to live on his own anymore but he couldn't stay with her on a permanent basis because of his cat allergy. She had been forced to move him to a care center but still visited him every couple of days.

"Yes, this is her. What's going on?" Keeley asked after swallowing hard. 

"He's not doing well," the woman admitted. "We don't think he'll make it through the night. He isn't lucid right now but will you still come see him?"

Keeley had known this would happen eventually but he was still comparatively young. 71 was nothing these days, when life expectancy had been steadily climbing as medical advancements kept happening.

"Of course," she sniffed, trying to stem the flow of tears that came out of nowhere. "I'll be right there."

She walked back into the living room and Nathan complained about how it had been her turn for the past several minutes before seeing her face and stopping himself mid-word. Aaron looked at her after Nathan cut himself off and immediately jumped up.

"Is he…"

She knew the word he couldn't say. "Not yet. But they think it's happening tonight. I need to go."

Aaron grabbed her hand as she turned to leave. "We'll all go. I'm sure the boys will want to say goodbye and I can't leave you to face that alone."

Keeley nodded, unable to speak. Aaron quietly explained things to Oliver and Nathan as they put on their shoes to head downstairs. The drive to the care facility was a somber one.

Fifteen years. She had gotten an extra fifteen years with her dad in this life. The first time around he died in 2017 in such a horrible, unnatural way. There was nothing worse than losing a loved one to murder.

His death would be a natural one this time…and he would finally be reunited with his wife and son. She knew he had been sick for a long time and deserved to rest but she would miss him too much.

Robert was the last remaining member of the family she had been born into. Once she was gone, she would be the only one left. The tears wouldn't stop.

She sprinted out of the car praying she wasn't too late as Aaron pulled up to the curb. He let everyone else get out first while he found a parking space.

Keeley frantically gave her name and who she was visiting to the person at the front desk and they let her back immediately. Things really must not be good. She practically ran down the hall even though running was prohibited.

"Dad," she panted as she opened the door to his room. He looked terrible, pale and drawn, but he was still breathing.

"Monica?" he asked weakly.

"No, Dad, it's Keeley. Your daughter," she said gently as she wrapped her hands around his gnarled one. "Your grandsons Oliver and Nathan are here too."

They waved awkwardly from the background. Seeing their fun-loving grandpa deteriorate the past few years had been hard on them.

"Keeley…I see Monica. She's waiting for me," Robert said feebly before having a violent coughing fit.

The tears wouldn't stop flowing at this point but she smiled through them. She wanted the last thing he ever saw to be a smiling face.

"You've both waited a long time," she said thickly around the lump in her throat. "You'll be with her soon and then it won't hurt anymore."

He closed his eyes with a pleased smile on his face. His chest continued to weakly rise and fall for a few more minutes before he opened them again. He looked like he wanted to say something important.

Keeley gripped his hand tighter. What was it? What did he want to say?

"I'm proud of you, honeybun. You were always so kind…and you never gave up your dreams. You have such a beautiful family. Cherish them."

Robert coughed so much that she barely managed to make out what he was saying. He whispered "Monica" one more time before the monitors he was hooked up to went flat. He was gone.

She completely broke down, resting her forehead on their entwined hands. Gone. The entire Hall family was gone except for her.

Aaron rushed into the room at that moment and Oliver whispered to him what happened as tears of his own coursed down his face. He had a comforting arm around Nathan, who was sobbing nearly as hard as his mother.

"Keeley…" he said helplessly as he wrapped his arms around her from behind.

"He's gone, he's gone! He was the only one left and now—!" she was too choked up to continue getting anything coherent out.

"Shh, it's okay. He's with your mom and Kaleb again and that's what he wanted. You're not alone. You still have us."

She only cried harder, finally letting go of her father's lifeless hand as the nurse came in to check all the beeping. She buried her face in Aaron's shirt and cried until she ran out of tears.

"Is Mom gonna be okay?" Nathan asked his brother tearfully.

"I…don't know," Oliver replied honestly.

He had never seen his happy-go-lucky mother be this upset. He couldn't blame her though since he knew she lost most of her family a long time ago. Like she said, her dad was the only one left.

Oliver strengthened his resolve to be extra nice to her while she adjusted to not having her dad around anymore. Dad was right; she wasn't alone. She still had them.