She stood there looking at the image through the glass, something she thought she wouldn’t see. The complex cords came from each machine weaving through one another hooked up to her father, keeping everything from going bad. His body right there, giving up, not being able to function, his head tilted to the side as he laid there sleeping, and her waiting for the awakening of her father. She envisioned the night and all that happened when they got the call that something was terribly wrong….


The sound of thunder roared into her ears yet in her mind it isn’t thunder. The aluminum garage door echoed from the basketballs slamming into it. Isabelle bolted down the stairs in her night gown which said “Cinderella” written in pink letters, her favorite color, with all the characters posted on them.
“MOM, QUICK, HURRY, I’M SCARED!” Isabelle leaped her little body into her mom’s arms like a long jump professional and clenched onto her as tight as she can, her small hands wrapped around her moms neck as she laid her head on her shoulder and covered her ears from all the noise outside. Tears rolled out of her green eyes down her freckled face as her heart beat a hundred miles an hour.
“Call daddy, please.” This was the one night that her dad had to work late, doing his job of pulling people over and keeping the community safe. Her mom listened to her advice and sure enough called him.
“Mike, get over here. There is someone hitting our garage and I don’t know what to do,” her mom said, frantically pacing contemplating on what to do next. She always seemed to be like this when he wasn’t there with them. “Make sure you lock the door after every time you let the dog in and out” were the words that her mom had always said when her husband wasn’t home, she obviously didn’t like the feeling of being alone at first but it became normal. She didn’t seem to say that every three minutes of the night anymore. Minutes later her dad drove into the neighborhood with his lights on and pulled into their driveway. The running of faint distant shadows occurred down the road.
“They were just messing around Julie,” her dad said as he walked in with his cop uniform on. “Everything will be okay, just get back to bed and I’ll be home shortly,” he said as he walked out of the door back to his work.

Later, when everyone was finally settled, feeling safe, and when he father arrived home, he took off his shoes and when straight to hit the bed for a good nights sleep. Isabelle crept up the stairs determined to make it to the bedroom with no noise at all, every step was like walking on egg shells. Her long blonde curly hair bounced with every step that she took and she giggled every time she had gotten closer to the bedroom door.
Her mom was vacuuming the new carpet they had just got and dusting the antiques that she loved.
“Don’t wake up your daddy honey,” a soft voice said, the wall blocking what she had said, barely being able to hear her.
“I know mom, I won’t I just want to see if he wants to play with me,” Isabelle said, laughing hoping that he would. She was always afraid to wake her daddy up because he was a hardworking man and he needed his sleep, he never knew when the phone would ring, ready for the job that awaited him. She wandered to the right side of the bed, her head just making it to the top, she hoped that he would still be awake but that wasn’t the case. His phone and his pager laid right next to his head as it always did, like it was his lifeline. She turned right back around and went through the door that she came in and headed to her bedroom. She got into her bed and squeezed her teddy bear as tight was she could, the one her dad had gotten her for not always being home. Tears rolled down her face as she cried herself to sleep, but what she didn’t know was while she was sleeping something else had been going on.
“Mike! We need you at this scene. There has just been a shooting at the hotel in Pontiac, get over here right away.” The voice had said on the phone, he sounded worried, scared, anxious, and exhausted all at the same time. The phone rang at two o’clock in the morning. Her dad got up, put on his bullet-proof vest and strapped his gun to his legs. He was ready within five minutes, determined to get the job done as he always was.
“Be careful honey,” his wife had always said before he would leave in the middle of the night, her eyes half open.
“I’ll call you when we find something out, okay?” were the last words that came from his mouth that night. His wife tossed and turned all night, she couldn’t help but keep him off her mind, worrying that something had happened to him.

Mike got into his car with all of his gear on, sped to the scene, turning corners over forty miles per hour. After what seemed to be forever, he got to the hotel. He pulled into a place where five police cars were parked with their lights on, police officers ran around restless, figuring out how to solve the problem. It wasn’t long before he got another call.
“I need backup!” The voice said on the other end of the radio, clipped onto his belt which was next to his gun. The voice that came across the radio sounded really familiar, his head turned to the side as he got a confused look on his face.
“Eddie?” he thought to himself with a confused look on his face, “Was that you, Eddie?” he said. He responded back explaining where the location of the police chase was. Her dad got into the car and peeled out.
“Step out of the car and put your hands on your head anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law!” Mike said as the veins popped out of his red forehead. No one stepped out of the parked car. The police officers took every step slowly with both of their arms straight out and their guns pointed at the parked car, still no one got out of the car. Mike was in front and his partner was behind him. “Get out of the car now!” Now that he was getting mad the tone of his voice became louder and more demanding. He got closer and closer to the driver’s side of the car. He took his last step as the car door flung open, the guy stepped out slowly with his hands behind his back. “PUT YOUR HANDS ON YOUR HEAD,” Mike said. He brings his arms to the front of his body, grasping the knife in his left hand. His hands shaky, not being able to keep them steady for the life of it. The man, with a scar right above his eye and his hair dangling in front of his face, started to walk toward her dad, with the thought of when he should do it, when he should stab him. Mike’s gun points right at him, his dirty clothes wanting to be washed and clean. Mike was ready to shoot, his hands clenched the gun as his knuckles became whiter and whiter, his finger on the trigger not being able to pull it. The knife still out and ready for the kill. “PUT THE KNIFE DOWN!” The words yelled out of the police officers mouth. Something in his messed up head wasn’t telling him to put the knife down, still coming towards the police officer as he is backing up trying to escape what is going on. Now the criminal is running towards Mike, trying to chase him down and finally he catches up to him…..

Next thing he remembers is lying in the hospital bed, waking up with a jump. “Where am I?” “Why am I here?” were the thoughts scattering through his mind, his wife holding his hand while he lay there and his little girl sitting in the chair right next to his bed.
“Daddy, daddy you’re okay!” Isabelle said throwing her arms up in the air. This brought an instant smile to her dads face. “I was afraid that I was going to lose you Daddy and I’m really glad that you are okay.” Isabelle said, excited as she could be. A few days in the hospital was all that he needed for the stab wound to heal, he would be right back and running with the job that he loved.

Day one back at work, something had happened that he didn’t see coming, it was as if he was blind to it.
“Mike, you’ve impressed me with the work that you have been doing and how you have been handling things. Today is Mark’s last day as lieutenant and I think that you deserve to be promoted to the spot, you’ve definitely earned that’s for sure.” Were the words that his boss told him Mike sat down in his cubicle.
“Really?” he said with a shocked look on his face, he was speechless. The spot that her dad had just got promoted to would mean that he wouldn’t be the one that would get called out anymore in the middle out the night. It was the perfect solution to help put his family back in order. He got home that night and told his family the great news, they were happy and was really proud of all the hard work that he had put into his job; it was almost his twenty-fourth year working at the department.

Promotion, the day had finally come. His family sat in the audience, Isabelle had her blonde hair down and flowing, “she looked beautiful” he thought as he had looked for her. All of his other friends and co-workers came too as he walked down the aisle in front the people that had come for this important day. It was his wife who was the one to put the pin on his coat, which indicated the position that he would have, she pinned Lt. Reis onto his coat with a smile that could never be forgotten.