Where am I? Jim thought. What is this?
Jim could feel himself moving forward, yet he had no idea where he was going. Everything was completely dark. He could hear a voice off in the distance, but he had no idea who it belonged to or what it was saying.
Is this what death is like? Jim thought as kept moving forward into nothingness.
At that moment, the darkness vanished completely and an image appeared. He was now inside his kitchen. He appeared to have just finished preparing a large meal. He saw himself walk over to his refrigerator and put what appeared to be some sort of condiment inside. As he opened the refrigerator door, he could easily see two full gallons of chocolate milk.
Jim then saw himself walk over to stove and grab a very large pot. After carrying the pot to the dining room table, he opened it up. It was filled to the top with spaghetti.
Jim walked back to the kitchen and pulled three plates out of the cabinet. Jim then noticed that he was carrying something in his left hand, but he was unable to tell what it was. As he set the three plates on the table, the voice off in the distance became louder. He still couldn't understand what it was saying, but he could at least tell that it was a male voice.
Jim then returned to the kitchen and noticed a giant chocolate cake sitting on the counter. Chocolate cake happened to be Cassie and Meagan's favorite dessert.
The instant that Jim thought about Cassie and Meagan, he heard the patter of tiny feet coming from behind him. Jim then turned around.
Cassie and Meagan were both excitingly running up to him. They were wearing matching pink dresses and both had adorable pink bows in their beautiful blonde hair. The instant that Jim saw the girls, an intense feeling of warmth and happiness began to flood his body.
"Daddy! Daddy!" Cassie and Meagan shouted, running up to Jim and wrapping their arms around him. Jim could feel tears forming in his eyes as he scooped up the girls and hugged them very tightly. The feeling of joy in his body suddenly rose to a much greater level. Jim didn't feel like he even wanted to let go of the girls. He just wanted to hug them for as long as he possibly could.
After a moment passed, Jim gave the girls several kisses and then whispered to them: "I love you so much, my little princesses. We're going to have such a fun day."
"I love you too, Daddy," Cassie said. She then kissed Jim on the cheek.
"Me too," Meagan said. She also kissed Jim on the cheek.
Jim's eyes felt like waterfalls as he kissed Cassie and Meagan a few more times and then sat them back down.
"Cassie, look what I have!" Jim said. He then held up the object that he had been carrying in his left hand. It was Cassie's princess dress. Not only were all of the tomato soup stains gone, the dress was so clean that it looked like it had only been bought recently.
"Yay!' Cassie shouted excitingly, grabbing the dress. She then skipped into the living room and began dancing around in it. Jim watched her for a moment, smiling even larger. He then lifted up Meagan (who had been begging to be held again), and walked into the living room. Jim could see Candy Land set up on the table.
"Daddy, you're wearing your Prince Crown!" Cassie shouted as Jim walked in.
Jim hadn't noticed it until then, but he indeed was wearing the little tiara that he always wore when he and the girls played "Castle." Jim could feel himself chuckle a little bit.
"Cassie, guess what?" Jim said. "I've got a surprise for you!"
"Really?!" Cassie shouted, jumping up and down excitingly. "What is it?! What is it?!"
"Close your eyes."
Cassie put her hands over her eyes. Jim walked out of the living room, still carrying Meagan.
"Let's go surprise your sister," Jim said, looking and smiling at Meagan.
"Surprise?" Meagan asked.
As Jim walked down the hallway that lead to the girls' rooms, he could see several posters along the walls. The posters were of several things that the girls loved, including princesses, My Little Pony, and kittens. Jim wasn't entirely sure, but he had a feeling that he had seen these posters along the walls of the entire house.
Jim walked into Cassie's room. On the floor, there lay a bag of cat litter, a bag of kitten food, a few small bowls, several cat toys, and a ball of yarn. In the middle of the floor, there lay a very small kennel.
Cassie had been begging Jim for her own kitten for quite a long time. Of course, with all the drama that had been going on at the house while Chris was still there, Jim didn't have the time or energy to take care of a pet. After Chris was gone and things were finally under control, Jim had decided to surprise Cassie with a kitten on her next birthday. He felt it was what she deserved
It looked like Jim had decided to surprise Cassie a little earlier than expected.
Jim walked over to the kennel and opened it up. Sure enough, a tiny calico kitten walked out of it. Jim set Meagan down and very gently picked it up.
As Jim stroked the kitten's fur for a brief moment, a feeling of excitement began to swell up inside him. He couldn't wait to see Cassie's reaction when she finally got the kitten that she had been wanting for a long time. Seeing her happiness on a regular day was enough to warm up his heart and he couldn't even imagine how his heart was going to feel after this seeing this level of happiness.
"Look Meagan," Jim said, kneeling down to her level.
Meagan pet the kitten for a few seconds and then said: "Kitty."
"That's right. It's a kitty. And it's for Cassie."
"For Cassie."
"Yeah. Do you want to go show it her?"
"Yeah."
Jim took Meagan by the hand and walked out of the room, holding the kitten carefully with his other arm. The feeling of excitement in his body began to grow to even larger proportions as he walked down the hallway. As he entered the living room, he began to tremble wildly.
Jim walked up to Cassie, who still had her hands over her eyes.
"Okay Cassie," Jim said. "You can open your eyes now."
The instant that Cassie removed her hands from her eyes, the voice off in the distance became much louder than before. Jim could now hear what it was saying perfectly.
"...already talked to her. She said she doesn't know, either. I'm honestly starting to worry that somebody's hiding something from me, because nobody seems to know what's going on..."
At that moment, everything in Jim's vision vanished completely. Cassie, Meagan, and the kitten were all gone. All Jim could see was a very large brightness.
"...I'm extremely close to pressing charges at this point. I've officially had it with her..."
After about a minute, the brightness cleared up. Jim then looked around.
He was laying in a hospital bed. His body ached largely, his legs were completely numb, and his arms were wrapped in bandages. Jim's face felt like it also had something wrapped around it. He wanted to touch it to see what it was, but his arms ached so much that he didn't even want to move them.
Jim looked to the side of the bed. Anthony was sitting in a chair and talking on his phone.
"Yes, that's what I'm worried about, too," Anthony was saying. "Honestly though, if any of them had any sense, they'd know it's not a good idea to lend her any money."
"An...Anthony?" Jim stammered in a very low voice.
Anthony looked at Jim and then widened his eyes.
"I'll call you back later," Anthony said into the phone. "He just woke up."
Anthony hung up the phone and walked over to Jim's bedside.
"Jim?" He asked.
Jim said nothing. He could not get the vision he had just had off of his mind.
"Hey Jim. How are you doing, man?"
Jim said nothing.
"Are you feeling okay?"
"I...I didn't get to see her reaction," Jim said.
"What?"
"I didn't get to see her happiness."
"What are you talking about?"
After a long pause, Jim said: "Never mind. Forget it."
"Jim, what happened? Did Julia do this to you?"
Jim said nothing. At that moment, what he wanted more than anything else was to be with Cassie and Meagan. It was all he could he even think about. Sadly, he knew that he wasn't going to be seeing the girls anytime soon. His one source of happiness had been taken away from him.
"Jim, if you can remember what happened, can you please tell me?"
Jim said nothing.
"Jim?"
Jim said nothing.
Anthony put his head to his forward.
"I'm sorry Jim," He said. "I really am. I shouldn't be questioning you like that. I'm sure you've been through way too much. I'm just really worried. I mean, I nearly had a heart attack this morning when they called and told me that you were in the hospital. And I became even more worried when they told me that Julia and the girls had disappeared. I'm just worried that something really, really bad happened..."
"J...Julia..."
"What?"
"...Julia...She took them."
Although Jim could hardly feel his face, he could still feel tears dripping from his eyes.
"She took them."
For a moment, Anthony stared at Jim in complete silence.
"I lost them."
Anthony leaned down and wiped the tears from Jim's eyes. He then asked: "I thought everything was getting better for the two of you. Why did she...why did she do that?"
There was another brief silence. Sniffling, Jim said: "I'll...I'll tell you what happened."
For the next half-hour or so, Jim very slowly explained everything that had happened the previous night. He explained everything that Julia had told him, how she blatantly said she didn't want to be married to him anymore, how she forcefully grabbed the girls and left, and how Jim severely injured himself just trying to get them back. Anthony stared in horror the entire time that Jim spoke.
After Jim finished speaking, there was another silence. Anthony then said: "I...I can't believe she did that."
"Neither can I," Jim said. Tears continued to pour out of his eyes.
"That's...that's just awful." Anthony put his head in his hands for a moment. The only sounds that could be heard was Anthony breathing heavily.
Anthony then suddenly lifted up his head and said: "Well, she did push and kick you. We can still file assault charges on her. She's not going to get away with this, Jim."
"I don't care about the freaking assault," Jim said. "I don't care if Julia gets off scott-free for the freaking assault. All I want is my girls to be returned to me. And that's not going to happen."
"We'll get the girls back, Jim. As soon as we find out where Julia is, I'm sure..."
"Julia is probably already halfway to New Hampshire by now," Jim said, cutting Anthony off quite loudly. "I already know that's where she's going. But even if somebody does manage to find her before she gets there, it won't even freaking matter. The instance she files for divorce, nothing will freaking matter."
Anthony wiped the tears off Jim's eyes again.
"Don't be so negative, Jim," Anthony said. "By the time this is all over, everything will be going great for you again. Cassie and Meagan will be back home and all your problems with Julia and Chris will officially be over. Then you can focus on getting your schooling done and having much fun with the girls as you possibly can."
Anthony smiled as he finished talking. It was as if he was expecting Jim to smile back at him. It was as if he was expecting Jim to believe that everything he was saying was true. That everything was, in fact, going to be alright in the end.
He doesn't know, Jim thought as tears continued to run down from his eyes. He really doesn't know.
"Just think about that, Jim," Anthony said. "Things may be hard right now, but you just have keep thinking positive."
"You really don't know how the world works, do you?" Jim said.
Anthony's smile disappeared.
"What on earth are you talking about Jim?" He asked with a look of confusion.
Jim took a very long and deep breath. Tears began to flow from his eyes at a much faster rate.
"I don't want to talk about it," Jim said, sniffling.
"Jim..."
"Please...Anthony...I just can't...I just can't..."
At that moment, Jim began to sob uncontrollably. Anthony grabbed a box of tissues and wiped off the tears as much as he could.
After crying for quite a few minutes, Jim closed his eyes and slowly fell asleep again. Once again, he dreamt about Cassie and Meagan. This time, the three of them were playing in the city park that Jim had taken them to a few times in the past. Cassie and Meagan were both wearing yellow sundresses and were chasing each other around the park, barefoot. Jim felt himself smile widely as he ran up to the girls to play with them.
As soon as she saw him, Cassie ran up to Jim and touched him on the side of his leg. She then yelled: "Tag, you're it!"853Please respect copyright.PENANANoROti7Oi9
Jim laughed and began chasing the girls, who began laughing and running to the top of the playground set.
"You can't catch us Daddy!" Cassie shouted.
"You can't catch us!' Meagan shouted.
Jim and the girls ran on top of the playground set for a few minutes and then ran back out on to the grass. Eventually, Jim grabbed Meagan and spun her around the air. The two then fell to the ground, laughing wildly. Cassie then ran up and lay down on the ground with them.
After about a moment of laying in the grass, Jim leaned up and clutched the girls tightly. He then gave them both several kisses on their cheeks.
"I love you, Daddy," Cassie said.
"Me too," Meagan said.
"I love you too, girls," Jim said as tears began to fall from his eyes again. "You are both my world. I can't imagine life without you."
Jim was sure that Cassie and Meagan didn't understand what his last sentence meant, but that didn't stop them from both kissing him on the cheeks.
Please don't ever take them away from me, Jim thought as tears flowed down his face. They are the greatest gifts I've ever had. Please don't take them away from me.
At that moment, Jim noticed a cat running off in the distance. Although it was kind of hard to tell, Jim had a feeling it was a calico.
Jim was about to point to the cat and say "Look Cassie," but the dream unfortunately ended at that exact moment. Jim opened his eyes and saw Anthony sitting in the chair next to the hospital bed, staring off blankly into space and not saying a word.
Jim closed his eyes and tried to force himself back to sleep. Although his dreams of Cassie and Meagan were not real, he at least felt much more happier in them. At least he got to spend time with the girls in some way. Sadly, Jim could not fall asleep again.
Jim spent the next few minutes just imagining that he was spending time with Cassie and Meagan. He imagined himself at home with the girls, having tea parties and playing "Castle" with them just like they did almost every day. Unfortunately, these imaginations just made his desire to be with Cassie and Meagan grow larger. As the passing minutes turned into hours, Jim's desire grew into desperation. He kept on looking over at the door to the hospital room, severely hoping to see a police officer eventually walk in holding Cassie and Meagan and saying: "I got the girls back, Jim. Everything is going to be okay now." But he knew that wasn't going to happen. That just wasn't how the world worked.
Why did this have to happen to me? Jim thought as tears formed in his eyes again. What did I ever do to deserve this?
Jim heard Anthony's phone ring again. After about a second, he heard Anthony saying: "Can you call me back later? Now is really not the time." After that, Anthony did not speak again.
Just think positive. Anthony's words ringed in Jim's mind. That was exactly what Jim used to tell Anthony to help him feel better. Whenever things were going hard for Jim in the past, looking on the bright side always seemed to help. Even when dealing with all the problems with Chris, Jim was able to feel a little better by looking for some sort of bright side.
No matter how hard he tried, Jim could not think positively at that moment. All he could think about was Cassie and Meagan, which normally would have made him feel very happy. At that moment, thinking about the girls only constantly reminded him that his worst nightmare about to come true.
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