Overview

Being a father is one of the greatest feelings in this world, and being denied the opportunity to be one is one of the most cruel things a human can do. Even worse, seeing your child's lifeless body, how exactly does one recover from that.

When I told my family I wanted to be a mortician, they couldn’t believe it. Everyone thought I would end up in a career such as engineering, not to brag but I am a pretty smart man. Deep inside I knew this was my calling.

My path was a chilled one, no noise just dead bodies to work with. I mean everyone knows dead bodies can’t talk, therefore it saved me the trouble of having to interact with people, something that engineering would have required me to do. I am an introvert.

One Saturday, 2017 I was called in by the hospital to pick up a body, as usual.  I was excited, I mean this was a new customer, and this was the only way I had to put food on my three kids table. My wife died, therefore I was the breadwinner.

I rushed out of my office to collect my parcel at the hospital, for some reason I had a chill on my way there. I honestly couldn’t place a finger as to what was causing a funny feeling in me. A girl, it was a girl that I had been called to pick. It was nothing new, but this specific girl looked very familiar.

Now I hadn’t told you of my terrible alcoholic ways, after my wife’s death. It was in this period that I went against my vows and had an affair with her cousin.

I did my work of cleaning and embalming the body, after which the mother to the girl, my secret lover walked in to bring new clothes for her baby. There was a moment of silence, I was too ashamed to talk, she on the other hand, I am not sure what her reason for the silence was but she was silent.

“That was your daughter.” That was all she said to me. Heavens know I regretted every moment after she uttered that. Ultimately it was also the end of my career. I have lived my life ever since wishing I had known my daughter, wishing her mother had given me the opportunity to love her, regardless of the circumstances surrounding her existence. I wish I could bring my daughter back to life and shower her with all the love a father could possibly give to their daughter, if wishes came true, maybe I’d have a second shot at life. This time I would do things right.

WRITER: Delannie