"It's finally come to an end" Sam said as he rolled down the hill.

"I thought I would only live so long, but the results said I could finally end the treatments," he said.

Something in his tone told me he wasn't exactly happy about it. He had this lingering sadness in his voice, the same sadness that came over me when I talked about dad. Dad went missing 6 years ago. He was my best friend, so I just called him by his first name. Arthur. Mom still doesn't know where he went. It's like he disappeared into thin air, yet I truly know where he is. He is inside my head, telling me wrong from right, telling me how to get out of sticky situations. I don't know if he's dead, but something tells me he's out there looking for me. Sam looked down at the ground and twined the kelly green grass between his disfigured fingers.

"Eve, I never told you this but my nurse and I had a really strong bond. He was my favorite person... and I just never got to say goodbye."

We lived in Salt Lake City, but Sam's treatment center was all the way in a town 3 hours away called Flagstaff. Tomorrow was Sam's birthday, so I asked mom if we could drive him back to the treatment center. She agreed, so on Saturday morning we took off. Sam sat across from me the whole ride, and not once did his smile fade. We arrived at the hospital at about at around 1 pm. Sam asked for Arth... a strange name for a surgeon. Flagstaff wasn't exactly the security central of the world, so I tightly clung to mom the whole time. The nurse looked familiar from the back. He had the same rat tail dad used to have. He turned around and I froze.

"Dad?" I looked closer.

"Eve, oh my gosh." he dropped his clipboard.

I was too shocked to talk. I wanted to go get mom, but I was still frozen. I heard mom scream, so I figured maybe she saw him too. I turned around only to see Sam lying on the floor shaking. I ran over to him as fast as i could.

"SAM! SAM WAKE UP! SAM YOU HAVE TO STOP SHAKING! SAM! SAM! SAM NO!" I screamed violently.

"I THOUGHT YOU SAID THE TREATMENT WOULD END! YOU SAID HE WAS FINE!"

The nurses eyes were wide with shock. Dad ran down the hallway with the defibrillator.

"1, 2, 3, clear!" one shock through Sam's body. "1, 2, 3, clear!" shock 2. Sam laid still on the floor.

Suddenly, he woke up with a startle. "Thank god you're okay" my hands still trembled.

Sam could tell I was still in shock. “Eve, calm down. I’m okay.“ He tried to reassure me. I was overcome with anger. My face got hot and my finger tips grew cold.

“What the heck was that fiasco about huh? I’m guessing that had to do with you unqualified doctors underestimating his treatment”

Mom grabbed a hold of my shoulder. My hand was balled so tightly in a fist my fingernails were practically 10 layers deep into my palms. I pried open my hand and shook Arthur’s.

“Have a nice day dad.” I said.

He tried his hardest not to cry. He was so hesitant to speak yet his facial expressions conveyed perfectly what he was trying to say. Eve, please don’t go. I tried my best to save Sam, and now I am trying my best to save you. Please come back. We have so much to talk about.

I slammed the hospital doors behind me.

“Eve you didn’t have to react like that” Sam tried to reason with me.

“I spent 6 years of my life thinking something absolutely terrible happened to my dad, only to find out he was in a town 2 hours away not even bothering to find me? How could you possibly not know if your own daughter was 2 hours away? What kind of a man does that? It’s like he’s not even my father!!” I was at the verge of tears.

“Eve, calm down. I know you’re upset, and thats normal. Maybe he was just trying to save money as a doctor to come find you”

Sam’s eyes darted across the parking lot. He looked at everything except me. “I’m sorry for freaking out. Let’s just go home. I’m exhausted“

I opened the passenger side door and waved mom into the car. The radio turned onto my favorite station. The song was almost over as I flipped to the next station. Then, a familiar song came on. It was the song Arthur danced with me to the night of the father daughter dance. A chill ran down my spine and I laid my head back on the seat. Why me? Why am I the one to have to go through this? Of course this kind of thing would happen all of a sudden. Mom pushed my hair to the side. I think she could tell I was close to having a complete breakdown.

“Think about how hard it is for me to see your father like that” she said with long pauses between each word.

My whole perspective changed. My mother had known him longer than I have, what was it like for her? How was she so good at not showing it? I pondered in my thoughts until we rolled into the stone driveway 1 and a half hours later. By then it was merely 8 o clock at night, but it was already pitch black. I went up to my room and plopped down on my bed. I slipped by duct taped journal out from underneath my bed. In bold on the head of my page I wrote the words “Father Doctor MIA.” I switched the light off, laid my head on my soft cotton pillow, and closed my eyes.