There was a man, and he had a little son of around 10 years of age. He doted on his son, and loved the son’s mother, his wife, more than anyone could possibly imagine.

He always tried to teach his son morals, and life lessons. Mistakes he himself had made, which could be used to pass wisdom onto this child, so he would not make the same mistakes. But there was one he could not make his son understand.
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Jake was a 10 year old boy. He was a simple child, quiet, lonely, with only his family to love, and no friends. He craved the bonding of another boy his age, or even a girl, because that is how alone he felt.

Jake was smart for his age. This was due to his father’s unending lessons about life, education, and anything else he thought Jake might need to understand to grow into a great human being. There was one lesson Jake could never understand though.

Jake’s father always said one thing to him. ‘Jake’, the man would say, ‘never, ever forget your mother. She raised you, nurtured you, and protected you, even where I could not. Love her most of all the things in the world; put her just below the one true God, and you will have a purpose in life which will never let you down’.

Now, to Jake this was silly. He loved his mother more than anything, and would never do a thing to hurt or upset her. She fed him, bought him clothes, and even looked after him when he was unwell. But these his mother just stayed in her room, and when he saw her yesterday, she looked pale, and tired, so he left her alone.

Times were changing, and summer was fast approaching its end, which meant Jake would be back at school. There would be new people, new teachers, and harder work. But this last one just meant Jake would have something to do while nobody in school came near him.

The day came, and he started his school year. He walked into the room, and there were so many unfamiliar faces, as well as others he had known from last year. Jake sat at a desk opposite the teachers, and he put his head on the wooden slat, which made the writing area, while he waited for the teacher.

‘What are you doing?’ said a rough, but tender, girl’s voice. Jake assumed she was talking to someone near him, so he ignored her. Then something hit him in the shoulder with a lot of strength, and he looked up to see one of the prettiest girls he had seen in his life; brown hair, blue eyes, pale skin, one missing front tooth. A beauty, according to Jake.

‘Um, um’, Jake stammered, his heart beating like an out of control jackhammer. ‘N-nothing. Just resting my head’. The girl frowned at this.

‘Oh’ she mouthed this, and then smiled. Jake was frozen. Time stood still, and for the first time in his young life he felt that feeling which was akin to first love. He was totally smitten. ‘Lucy’ she stuck out her closed fist, meaning Jake had to lightly punch hers. This was an accepted alternative to the handshake.

‘J-Jake’ Jake managed to say. Lucy then pulled up a desk beside Jake, and that was that. Jake had found his first friend in life. They sat together everywhere. In class, break time, and they even went to each other’s houses after school. Jake was in heaven.

It was soon after this that Jake’s mother was taken into hospital. He heard the ambulance late at night. And saw the siren’s flash, but he fell asleep again and dreamed of the girl he loved. He didn’t go to school the next day, or the day after that, and his father just walked around the house like a zombie, or rushed to the hospital, leaving Jake home alone.

Jake knew he could not see Lucy because of his mother, and a secret grew within his heart. It was a small thing, a simple annoyance, but after one week of no school, it became rage, and then, in an instance, Jake hated his mother, to the point where he swore he would leave this house as soon as he could and run away with Lucy forever.

Jake was taken in to see his mother two weeks after she was taken in, and he saw that even his grandmother and grandfather were there. They were crying, but Jake did not care. Lucy was all he cared about.

Jake’s father walked from the room, and rushed to hold his son. ‘She wants to see you’, he told Jake and walked him into the room.

There lay his mother. She was once the most beautiful woman in the world, but now reduced to a skeletal frame. In honesty it shocked Jake, since only two weeks had passed, and she should be getting better, not worse. But, he could not see past his hatred, so he did not realize that there something very wrong about this situation.

‘Jake’ his mother called in a weak voice. She sounded old. ‘Jake, come to me please! My son?’Jake walked to her slowly, anger and hatred eating away at him for this woman who was ruining his life.

‘What!’ he said to her sharply. He wanted her to feel his rage. To taste his anger in every way she could. She recoiled a little. She seemed confused, startled that her son was angry at her like this. Uncertainty came into her eyes, and she fell silent. ‘I hate you!’ Jake told her, and ran from the room as fast as he possibly could.

His father called after him, but Jake was gone to another place; his own little dream world where he and Lucy were King and Queen and lived together alone. He did not stop running until he came to a part of the hospital which was strange, with old men and women walking around, bumping into things. He sat at a bench, and caught his breath.

His father found him there some hours later. Jake felt sorry. He wanted to go to his mother now. Tell her he loved her and hoped she would get better soon. He told his father this, and his father fell to the bench, tears streaming down his face.

‘Your mother is gone, Jake’ he told his son, his voice quivering. ‘Gone forever’.

‘But’, Jake started, fear now holding his heart and blood stopping cold, causing all anger and hate to disappear completely. ‘I only saw her a few hours ago. She was still here!’ His eyes were wide with near panic.

‘I told you about life and death’ his father went on, struggling to control his emotions, ‘and how it takes everyone. Well, this time your mother has been taken, and there is nothing more we can do’. Jake's father was silent now, silent tears, silent breathing, and silent grief. He remembered his wife before the cancer had ripped her insides apart. That was the memory he would hold to.

He looked at his son Jake. So small, so fragile. She had only wanted her son to tell her he loved her before she died, and maybe she could have passed on in peace. But she had not passed in peace. She had died in worse agony than the cancer could ever give her. The agony of a heart which has been crushed, and broken beyond all hope. And then she had died, just as Jake fled the room. Her spirit could not take it, and she passed on to heaven, a fractured spirit. Alone at the bitter end.

Jake sat there beside his father, feeling lonely for the first time since he met Lucy. His mother was gone, and with Jake’s understanding of the world, this meant he had nobody to hold him anymore. No more soft songs while in the kitchen. No more shopping together. No more early morning wake up calls, which he complained about, but secretly enjoyed.

His young mind thought about it, and then the guilt hit him, raw and ferocious. He could never forgive himself, because in Jake’s mind, she was alive before he said those things, and dead after they were said. His hatred and rage had killed her.

Jake’s father looked at his son. He had failed him completely, in the one thing he could never make him understand. He always tried to impress the importance of the female parent in a family, but Jake never grasped it. The mother was the heart and soul, even while the man was the head. They can be simply a head and body, but without heart and soul, there would be no life, no personality, no love and hope. She was the real vision in God’s eyes. The female, born of Adam’s rib, created to lift the world upon her shoulders.