Tragedy for Two

"And they lived happily ever after," he finished his story
It was that familiar fairy tale, forever reveling in glory
Half an hour, time that he spent every night
Reading to his daughter before he turned off the lights
As he tucked her in he said I'll see you tomorrow
He smiled at her with his mouth but in his eyes, only sorrow

He was a single father who's wife had died
In a random act of violence, a homicide
He'd just lost his job and could not find another
He was 45 years old, about to move back in with his mother
And nothing he did held any meaning anymore
Except the little girl in the bed who he did so adore
But was that enough to keep him going?
Just to watch his daughter growing?

Every night just like tonight he tucked her into bed
But during every other part of every day he felt only dread
But this night would be different than any before
Because he had gone to the gun and ammo store

He left the room and he closed the door
He just couldn't bear the pain anymore
And around two in the morning a single gunshot was heard
The little girl woke up but she thought how absurd
No gun was fired I must have been dreaming
And bad dreams in real life hold no true meaning
So she went back to sleep all warm under her covers
Dreaming happy dreams of times with her mother

Her alarm went off at a quarter to eight
But she decided that she would rather wait
Her dad always came in if she didn't come down
"Get out of bed," he would say with a frown

But he still didn't show up after half of an hour
She thought maybe he's just taking a really long shower
She got out of bed and went to see
What his reason for such a delay could possibly be

She went in to check his bed
And what she found was her father dead
The sheets were all dyed a deep crimson red
And her father had a bullet hole in his head
She was scared she thought the killer might still be in the house
She picked up the phone and spoke quiet as a mouse
She called the police and said "My dad has been shot"
How and when it had happened she explained, she knew not

The doors were still locked and the windows still closed
Oddly, he was in his best clothes
She looked at the form of the now deceased man
And then she looked down at what he held in his hand
He was holding the gun that had ended his life
The same type of weapon that had killed his wife

They were together again now in a better place
But now a look of horror was on the girl's face
She was alone in the world with nobody left to care
And suddenly the only feeling she felt was despair
She walked over and checked for more bullets in the gun
She was annoyed when she found there had been only one

She walked to the kitchen and pulled out a knife
Her only intention now was to take her own life
She took five minutes to write a brief note
Then with nobody to stop her she cut her own throat

When the police arrived just a short while later
She was already gone and there was no way to save her
One of them read out loud what she had put down in ink
And what she wrote down made everyone think
It said "My father was everything in this world that I had,
I'm sorry, forgive me I love you, dad"
And that was all that was on her mind
Her motivation was gone he had left her behind

And what started as a sentence has become an epic
I hope the message spreads like an epidemic
He took not just one life with his gun, but he took two
Because no daughter should have to do what she had to do