It’s been months since I have seen the outside world, past the trees that border my house. Cars rarely pass in the road that crosses in between my front yard and the empty desert that lie on the other side. With every vehicle that wanders through I rush to my front yard in hopes that I’ll see another human being.
During the first few weeks it didn’t matter much to me. I didn’t even notice most of the times when the cars would pass by, but as time progressed the engines' sound became more pronounced and comforting. Knowing that there were still people near me was comforting.
Shortly after the effect of the engines became more intense, I began spending most of my time outside in my front yard waiting for a car to pass. The only view I had of the road was in between two of the border trees that laid near the edge of my land. It wasn’t of much importance to me but it soon became everything.
It was all okay when I was still part of society. I spent most of my time at work, helping out as much I could. That job was my last connection to other people after I was forced to retire from a job that I spent years studying to perfection, forty years in my profession. The part time job I attempted to spend my time at was helping out at the local farmers market. I helped bag the items that the customers bought. I was there for a few months after my retirement but the manager at the market laid me off with the argument that I should enjoy my retirement and relax.
They didn’t understand. I wasn’t coming home to a happy house. I was coming home to an empty, secluded home that was nearly suffocating with all the memories that it held. Living in that same house since my mid-twenties with my wife was the life that I envisioned for myself when we decided to marry. We only had one child and it was conceived, born, and reared in this same house. My wife spent most of her time in the front porch looking out for our child as she ran around our front yard with her puppy. Everything happened in this house.
Now they are all gone. My daughter eloped with her good for nothing boyfriend and left her mother and I worried and to care for her dog. We never heard from her again. Shortly after, my wife, the love of my life, became ill with terminal cancer and slowly thinned out and became sick enough to the point where she was bedridden. I spent a year tending for her, bathing her, feeding her, and helping her feel comfort from her bed. Our dog spent all its time beside her bed keeping her company.

The one problem with me remaining at home to care for her is that I had to go back to work. Our savings were thinning because of my absence at work. I decided to hire a nurse/maid to care for her while I was out at work.
Exactly three months after my return to work I arrived home to find the dog lying in a corner of the yard whimpering and a thick scent of death surrounding our home. I dropped everything and ran into the house and towards our bedroom only to see the nurse in tears and my wife’s lifeless, pale body. I wasn’t even able to be with her in her last minutes on this earth. The moment I should have been there to hold her hand and comfort her in her last strained breaths I was at work.
There was nothing I could do to make her inevitable passing less painful. I hated myself. That same night she was taken to the morgue and I had given the nurse her last payment as she walked out of the front door and into her car. She drove off into the night and I haven’t heard from her ever since.
The dog spent days and nights crying out for her owner’s death. The funeral was heartbreaking as it was surprising. After she was lowered into the ground and the crowd had scattered I recognized a familiar face. Our daughter had found out what had happened and was there for her mother’s funeral. She was alone and in tears from a distance. She must have felt uneasy getting closer or even being part of the funeral on account of what she did. Even though it hurt her mother and me more than she can know, I still could not just stand back and watch her cry as she was.
I slowly walked up to her and called her name out. With that her sobs came to a slow halt as she turned my way in reaction of hearing her voice. She met eyes with me only for a few seconds, then after she kept her eyes away from mine. I reached out to her and instinctively gave her a hug. As soon as my arms wrapped around her she began sobbing again but more intensely than I had noticed when I first noticed she was there. Gently rubbing her back is all I could have done at the moment to comfort her. Minutes passed after her intense sobs simmered down to a troubled breathing and an occasional sob.
I led her closer to the grave and she set down a beautiful bouquet of assorted flowers. This certain assortment of flowers didn’t look like something that you would buy already made at a flower shop, at least not any around here. After a short prayer she turned to me and asked me if I wanted to get a cup of coffee with her because she wanted to catch up on things with me. Without a conscious involvement I found myself smiling. I accept her invitation and we head out to the nearest café, Ruben’s Bakery and Café.
We spend hours conversing about how everything has been going, careful to leave out the current situation. In those few hours I found out that the reason why she was alone at the moment was that the one she had eloped with left her a few months after her disappearance from our home. It turned out that he had someone else that he was cheating on her with. She explained to me that the reason why she didn’t come back home after is because she felt ashamed of how everything ended before she left and that she thought we wouldn’t let her back in the house. I placed my hand on hers and told her that no matter what we wouldn’t do that, that she is our daughter and whatever may have happened she would still be welcome home.
I tried getting her to come back home but it turned out that she was already forming a life in the city a few hours away from here. She had a good paying job that she found, luck was her reason of it, and lived in a cozy apartment downtown. Her commute was a short bicycle ride through a few blocks. She had a smile on her face when she was telling me all this. She then told me that she had a roommate by the name of Anna, which in my knowledge was an old school friend that moved to the city only a few years back. I questioned her on why she didn’t have a car and she said that she was saving for specifically that reason and once she had enough saved up she was going to buy one. Immediately after she took out her phone and showed me a picture of a dark blue Nissan with slightly tinted windows.
With only a few thousand to go she would be able to call it her own and visit me. Proud of her I grinned and told her that I wanted to help her at least once more before she heads back to the city. Shy about accepting the deal she looked down at what was left of her coffee and kindly declined. I would have none of it and kept on offering it. Within a few minutes she finally accepted and thanked me. With that we finished the last few sips of our coffee in silence and then headed to the place that watched her grow up. The dog was ecstatic to see her and ran up to her, wagging his tail. I offered for her to go inside with me but once again she kindly declined for the reason that her friend was going to arrive at any moment. I nodded and hurried back inside to get a gift for her before she left, the last few thousand that she required to buy her car. I put it in an envelope and headed back outside but just as I was passing the front window I look outside and see her running around with her dog, playing with it, just as she did so long ago when her mother was still here.
With that memory my eyes began to tear and a low sob escaped from me. I kept myself together and proceeded my way outside. Her friend was already walking through the opening in the trees and towards my daughter. She went up to me and gave me a light hug and told me it was a pleasure to finally meet me. I returned the pleasantry and turned to my daughter and handed her the envelope. Extremely excited she began jumping up and down and in turn gave me a huge hug and a kiss on the cheek. It was refreshing seeing her smile again after what seemed to be an eternity. She promised me that as soon as she finished with the drivers license process and after she bought the car she would drive out and come visit me.
With a few quick words and a goodbye she left back to the city. I haven’t seen her since. With the sound of the engines I also hope to see that dark blue Nissan drive into my street and out would walk out my little angel with that smile that accompanies my last memory of her.