Good Bye Is The Hardest Word

         

“Do we have to?” Irina said to her mother. Little Irina was holding a box with all the care she had inside her heart.

“Yes…we have to, honey!” her mother said. Irina could only sigh over her mother’s reply. She hugged the box and caressed the thing inside. She tried to hold her tears from falling down her cheek. She was about to do the hardest thing in her life.

She had to plea her case once again. “But mom, I love her! We have become friend. We slept together, I fed her well, and I changed her bandage every day” Irina pleaded as hard as she could. “I saved her!!” Irina raised her voice a little.

“Honey…I know you’ve saved her and I know how much you love her. We couldn’t keep her away from you, so we let you keep her in your room. You have been great doctor and nurse for her. I know she felt blessed to have met you,” Her mother said, “But, she doesn’t belong with us. If we keep her with us any longer, she will not be happy. Instead of saving her, you are actually hurting her.” She smiled at Irina to make her heart strong.

“I am not going to hurt her, mommy!!” Irina started to sulk.

Her mother knew that her little girl still couldn’t understand the meaning of her words, she had to try different approach. “Do you like living with us, Irina dear?” Her mother asked.

“Eh?” Irina was puzzled with the question, not because it was such difficult question but more like because it was an unexpected question.

Her mother smiled and repeated the question, “You lived with us since you were born, we love you so much, you are our most precious treasure. I know we love living with you, but do you love living with us, Irina?”

“Of course!!” Irina said, “I love Mommy and Daddy. I don’t want to live without you.”

“We don’t want to live without you too,” Her mother said, “Lucy has her own family too, one big family that loves her so much. If we can ask her, I am sure she will say that she loves her family too.” Her mother begun to explain why they had to let her go, “Now imagine this, if you were hurt and then someone helped you and kept you inside their house till you fully recovered, just like Lucy. And then, that someone decided to keep you as hers. Would you like to live with her? Or would like to return to us?”

“Return to you,” she answered in a whisper. She understood the situation but it was still hard to let Lucy go. Her 5 years old heart was about to learn the painful side of life, saying good bye.

Both mother and daughter walked through the hanging bridge. Irina hugged the box while her mother was holding her shoulder. Irina needed both hands to carry the box, she refused to give the box to her mother. The bridge felt like the longest bridge in the world. Irina could see the sea behind the hill. The sound of the sea sliced her heart into small pieces. She hugged the box tighter.

They finally reached the end of the road that could be passed by visitor. The hill was about 10 meters above the sea. They could hear the sound of the wave crashing against the hill, but what Irina heard the most was the crying of the seagulls. There were so many seagulls flying on the sky, they were hunting the fish down in the sea. They all looked so happy shouting at each other.

Irina looked at her box and then looked at the seagulls. She looked up to her mother and smiled, “Mommy, I understand now.” Her mother smiled back.

They opened the box together, there was a young seagull inside the box, and she was Lucy. Lucy broke her wing and fell on their lawn. Irina and her mother had tended her for a couple of weeks. Irina grew closer to her each day. Even though Lucy was a wild bird but she was really tamed. Her mother knew that it would break her little heart when the time to set Lucy back into the wild finally came. Lucy looked up at her saviors. She let them lift her out of the box. Irina hugged her for the last time. Lucy let herself being hugged as if she knew this would mean a lot to little Irina.

After having her good bye hug, Irina together with her mom threw Lucy up to the sky. Lucy immediately spread her wings. She circled above the mother and daughter who had saved her, she was somehow thanking them and saying good bye to them at the same time. Irina smiled and yet couldn’t help stopping her tears from falling down. “Bye bye Lucy, hope you’ll be happy with your family…but please don’t forget me,” Irina said.

Lucy shouted her good bye cry and fled to join the other seagulls.

Irina’s mother hugged Irina to strengthen her little heart. Irina had learned how to say good bye to the one she loved, her mother knew that this will make her daughter stronger than before.