You're Beautiful To Me

Two days later Frank leaves for work in the morning, the kids still in bed and I decide to go wake them up and take them out for the day and I go into Anna's room first, finding her sprawled out on her back with the covers laying on the floor and I smile to myself as I cross the room and gently shake her awake while pressing sloppy kisses all over her face like I used to when she was a baby. When she finally starts to stir she lets out a giggle as she pushes me away and says "Stop it dad." "Get up baby we're gonna go out today" I tell her and she smiles and says "Where are we going?" "It's a surprise" I tell her, smiling back and she groans as she pushes herself to sit up and I turn and leave the room, a smile still stretched across my face as I make my way down the hall to Miles' room but it quickly fades when I walk in and see his bed empty, the sheets messed up and as I turn to leave the room again a reddish brown stain on the sheet catches my eye and I turn back to cross the room, grabbing the blanket and pulling it back to reveal more blood stains, my breath catching in my throat as I feel my eyes well with tears. I quickly drop the blanket, turning and leaving the room and I rush through the house but Miles is no where to be found so I run outside into the back yard where I find Miles in the pool, his whole body submerged in the water and I scream out his name as I run the last few steps and dive in, desperate to save him. A few seconds later I have Miles on the grass near the pool, his eyes closed and his skin freezing cold, a small pair of boxer shorts being his only clothing and I see his legs are even more scratched up along with his stomach and my eyes linger on the bloodied marks for a few brief seconds before I start CPR, tears streaming down my cheeks as I breathe into his mouth before pressing rhythmically on his chest and after a few cycles of this he starts to cough and I roll him onto his side, harshly patting at his back as he vomits up the water he just ingested. I keep rubbing and patting at his back as Miles coughs and sputters and the sound of the back door opening steals my attention and I turn my head to see Anna walking out but I yell out "Anna get back inside and call 911, we need an ambulance. And get me a blanket."

Five minutes later I'm sitting on the lawn with Miles in my lap, his body wrapped up tight in the blanket Anna brought out and he's shaking uncontrollably, his eyes closed and his breathing low and choppy while I gently rock us back and forth and Anna is sitting beside us, chewing a hole in her bottom lip as she stares at her brothers face. "His lips are kinda blue" she comments and I tighten my arms around him, pulling him further into my chest to try and keep him warm as voices sound out and I glance up from Miles' face to see Frank running across the yard to us, Anna having called him followed by two paramedics. When they reach us the paramedics try to take Miles from my arms but I scream out and tighten my hold on his body, not wanting to let him go and Frank has to grab me and restrain my arms so they can take him, laying him back on the grass and performing a few quick tests for his pulse and breathing before they load him onto the stretcher and start taking him away. I let out a choked off sob as I fight my way out of Franks arms and run across the yard after them, climbing into the ambulance and as it pulls away I glance out the back window to see Frank standing there watching us go, Anna crushed to his chest as tears stream down his cheeks and I feel my own start up again.

Notes