I glance down to my watch and I start to panic. I need more time. My eyes are starting to become heavy. I am fading in and out of consciousness. I will fail if I don’t understand these concepts for the exam which is now in 7 hours and it is one in the morning already.

This professor has always been a hardass and he does not care what your situation is, all he cares is about your performance in his class. It is a class that he makes as difficult as possible, without regards to the fact that nobody can do exceptional in his class.
This is why I have to power through this information, onto my fourth cup of coffee. It hardly does anything for me anymore. I want the buzz of energy it gave me at the beginning. I have lived on coffee throughout my undergrad into Law school where I currently study.
I have lived in this library throughout my entire schooling at Grayson Law School. A lot of times I’m barely making it out before I pass out. I should probably head back to my apartment.
The walk back to my apartment is always nice to wake me back up enough to make it back especially since it is winter. Snow is shoveled off and the brisk, winter air pierces my skin. I shiver and open the door back to the warmth.
My apartment has four rooms; it has my bedroom with a queen bed in the corner of the room and my bathroom along with it. The kitchen and living room are basically the same room. I get my fireplace going and turn on the TV. The last room is my study room that I use a lot, but I also spend time at the library when I need to research.
I am the only who lives in my apartment. I do not have too many friends in my law school. I tend to focus on school because friends are just mainly a distraction. I do not have time to be distracted because I want to be the highest in my class, and the competition is stiff. I only really one friend and then I am an only child, so as a kid It wasn’t abnormal for me to be alone.
My mother and father have supported my decision to become a lawyer just because my dad was one and so was his dad, so therefore it was an expectation to become successful lawyers with them. My dad taught me that hard work is more important than anything else. He believed that it should be your main focus, and he gave me my gold Rolex watch that his dad originally had. He told me that it is a reminder that the watch is always ticking; it never slacks off and misses a second. Therefore, I should always be like the watch and work hard towards my goal every single second.
My mother was mainly always there in my life, but I didn’t have a lot of time for her once I got older, and neither did my dad. While my dad taught me things, they were his ideals too, so I didn’t see him too much. He was always working and I never really had the greatest relationship with my parents. We never used the words love when we were with each other; we just coexisted due to family bonds.
While I contemplate my family life, I realize that they just distracted me from the fact that is now even further in the night and I still have too much to learn for the final exams of my Law school career before entering the real Law occupation. I have to do well because I am the top of the class with a few other students, but these exams will be the difference since the focus of Law school is the final exam. They make up a significant amount of the grades for the class.
The walk in the chilly morning gives me time to assess my schedule for studying after the lecture today. We are still learning information during some of our classes even if the exams are in just a few days.
As soon as I get into class I see a seat next to my friend or acquaintance, Tony. “Did you hear that he moved the percent of this final exam up to fifty five percent?”
“I have hardly had anytime to study for this, I sigh, I will have to give up any plans I was even considering making now.”
“Yeah I guess it will just give me a chance to do better than you in this class,” Tony remarks. “Whatever tony,” I return.
My phone starts buzzing like crazy. I keep getting phone calls, and I don’t want to check it because I have to focus. The professor concludes his lesson, for me to find out I have seven missed calls from home. My mother was trying to tell me something important I suppose. “Hi mother, what was so important you had to call me during class?”
“It’s your father. His condition is worsening and I think you should really visit home. The doctors have said that he might not have much longer. These next couple days could be his last.”
“I’m sorry but I have to focus on school with exams in the next couple of days. You are a five-hour plane flight away. I don’t have time for a distraction like this. Father would agree that I need to focus on my important career ahead of me.”
“You’re father would want to see you Alex. We have seen you only once a Christmas each year since you left for undergraduate school seven years ago. You shouldn’t be so selfish! This could be your last opportunity to see your father ever.” Murmurs mother.
“I am not being selfish, I just have important things to do right now!” I yell.
I hang up the phone before she can respond. I have studying to go do right now. There is no way I can take time out to see my father, I know he is getting sicker but he knows that I have goals and objectives to complete. He wasn’t there for a lot of my stuff, so if I don’t show up for him, its not like it will be that big of a deal for him.
My study sessions and focus are constantly interrupted. Guilt of what I said, and what I plan to do keeps getting in the way of reviewing. I know I cannot go visit him though, and I just have to ignore these disgruntled feelings. My mother has been telling me that he has been sick and I need to come back home, but I just can’t take time away from school.
The test is only two days away, but as long as I keep at the pace I’m at then I will be able to be prepared. As I grow weary from the night studying, I can’t help to think of my dying dad. I know I am making a mistake on this, but I have changed my mind. I need to see my father before these exams, even though I still have the three biggest chapters to review because I saved the most important sections for last. I will be on the next flight into Denver.
I will only be able to see him briefly when I get there, and I do not like plane flights. The plane’s engine fires up and I feel an unsettled feeling in my stomach. I can’t tell if its because my dad will give terrible grief for seeing him and not focusing of school, but my mother would be sad if I didn’t do this to come see him.
I look out the window and recognize the Rocky Mountains, and my beautiful home city. I know exactly how to get to the hospital and I have about five hours before I have to get back to my flight back. That should be plenty of time to talk to my father. I really hope that he will have some good advice for my exams since he took them when he was in Law school. I haven’t talked to my father in person in three years. He is always busy at Christmas time with work, and I always pretend that it doesn’t bother me that I never see him. He is my role model, and I miss him from when I was a kid. I used to get to spend time with him.
My heart starts racing, as this is the first time I might get to talk to him while I walk in through the automatic hospital doors. My mother is standing in the lobby waiting for me. I say hi, but she doesn’t say anything except, “This way to his room.”
I walk into the small, white room and I see my father laying eyes closed. I blurt, “Hello father.” He doesn’t respond and I turn to my mom. She shakes her head and I feel a tear build up in my eyes.
She exhales and softly speaks, “He is gone. It was last night. You didn’t get here in time.”
I run over to my father and put my arms around him. Tears drip onto his cold body. I look at the watch that he gave me. I unclip it and put it back on his wrist.