Once upon a time, in a small suburb of a small city, there lived a woman named Catherine.
She woke up one cold but sunny January morning and in usual fashion, and slowly got herself ready for work. Her daughter and partner were still asleep, as were the overnight guests who had come in off the train the night before. She made herself some toast, grabbed her backpack and off she went to work.
She arrived at her office which was pretty quiet as it was a slow-down Christmas holiday schedule and she was only one of three people in the office that day. Her two co-workers laugh could be heard all through the floor as she got comfortable in the boardroom, her office for the day.
She did her rounds in the office and made casual chit chat with her co-workers, before getting settled with her laptop. She scrolled Facebook for a while and saw that there was another accident on the highway, and then scrolled on not giving it a second thought.
She checked her messages as her Dad was supposed to travel in the night before for a doctor’s appointment. He was bringing in Christmas presents and was going to be coming to see their new home. She wanted to let him know that she will come and drop by the house from work once he was done with his appointment. But he wasn’t answering, so she assumed he was still sleeping. She messaged him again and the messages were not going through at all, but she still didn’t worry too much. It was only 9:30 am and his appointment wasn’t until 11.
She messaged with his partner, who was going to pass along the…well… message.
Catherine took a quick break from work and checked the time. It was almost 10:30 and she still hadn’t heard from her Dad. She called the hotel and they put her through to his room so she hadn’t thought the worst yet, at least he was there, wasn’t he? She was concerned at that point, and she told her co-workers she was going to go look for him.
She left the office, got in her vehicle and drove to his hotel. On her way there, she called the doctor’s office, but they hadn’t heard from him. As she got closer to the hotel, she called her sister and told her what was going on. She pulled into the parking lot and told her she would call her back once she found their Dad. She knew he was driving a black Dodge van, and there was one parked there in the lot, which was a relief.
She walked into the hotel and proceeded to explain the situation to the front desk attendant. Since she told them that her Dad knew the owner, and the seriousness of the situation, they gave her a key to her Dad’s room so she could check on him.
She walked down the long hallway, and once she got to his room she stood outside and paused. She then swiped the key and went in … and found nothing. No bags, no shoes, and more importantly, no Dad. She felt a sense of relief, but only for a moment, having had images of her Dad in the room having suffered a heart attack. Relief was temporary — he was not there. Which then begged the question, where was he?
She went to the front and told them nothing was in the room. The front desk attendent looked confused and checked the files. There was a note in his file that said he did not check in. Her father was usually checked in ahead of time, which is why the room key worked. But a last-minute note from the late shift said he did not check in the evening before.
Once it was explained to Catherine, she got on the phone with her partner and told him what was going on. He was a Police Inspector for the north, and she told him to call the local and provincial police and she would go to check the hospital. She was told that the black Dodge van in the parking lot belonged to the cleaner, when she explained further to the lady at the desk why she thought he was there.
She got back in her truck and left to the hospital. She called her father’s partner, who was already worried and told her not to worry until they knew what was going on. She then called her sister back and told her she was on her way to the hospital.
As she drove, the images were so clear and crisp. The streets she drove up to get to the hospital, the bright sun shining, the cold chill in the air. It was almost noon and the question of where her father was had still been left unanswered.
She was almost at the hospital when she got a call, it was her partner. He asked her where she was and she said, “I’m almost at the hospital.” He asked her to come home, so that they could both go together. After they hung up, she turned around and headed home. She called her sister again and told her she would call her back once she picked up her partner and they went to the hospital.
A sinking feeling came over her and she felt it in the pit of her stomach as she drove home, but she drove. It took about 15 minutes for her to get there but it felt like hours.
As she drove up to the house, she saw her guest, a cousin and her partner having a cigarette outside. While she pulled into the driveway, she watched her guest and cousin go directly inside. She turned off the truck and got out slowly, and as she walked up to her partner to see if he heard anything, she will never forget the look on his face or the sound of his voice.
He shook his head, his eyes were broken, and he said, “there was an accident…..” he paused for a moment, “and he didn’t make it.”
That was the exact moment her heart broke.
She cried, “no, no, no, no…” but a million no’s could not have erased the heartbreaking truth in his words. They stayed outside while she cried, and he held her.
Things were a little blurry after that for Catherine.
After composing herself as best she could, she went into the house. She did not have the heart in that moment to tell her daughter, so she rushed past her and went up to her bedroom and called her sister right away. She felt like she was in a dream, a horrible nightmare.
After they talked and cried for a while, her sister told her that she wanted to be the one to call her Dad’s partner and tell her what had happened, as they were close. They agreed that Catherine would call everyone else and they hung up.
She took a minute, then dialled her Granny’s number.
“Hi Granny, it’s Catherine,” she said as she tried to hold back her tears, “There was an accident….”
CreeGirl in a lonely world. 