A Second Chance to Save My Daughter

The run-down prefab room at the construction site contained almost nothing except a bare wooden bed frame and a pile of worn-out bedding.

Several construction workers sat around the only table, drinking heavily and playing poker with glazed, drunken eyes.

“Frank Lane, it’s your turn! What are you staring at?”

“Come on, Frank! You lost again. Pay up! No backing out!”

Frank had drunk far too much. His eyelids felt heavy, his thoughts were sluggish, and a dull ache throbbed inside his swollen head. The entire room seemed to be covered by a layer of fog.

Moving slowly, he pulled several bills from his pocket and tossed them onto the table.

How had he lost again?

The alcohol blurred his vision. He stared at the cards in front of him, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not make out the numbers or suits.

The last trace of clarity in his mind was quickly fading.

The other workers had also consumed plenty of alcohol. Now that they had won Frank’s money, they had no intention of continuing the game. Besides, judging from Frank’s condition, he could barely remain upright, much less keep playing.

They put down their cards and began chatting.

Their voices were clearly coming from only a few feet away, yet to Frank, they sounded as though they were drifting toward him from the other end of a long tunnel.

Even so, every word entered his hazy mind with painful clarity.

“Frank’s getting pretty old. Why hasn’t he found another wife? Just look at the way he lives.”

“You seriously don’t know? Frank’s a complete loser. He drove his wife away years ago. No one’s heard from her since. For all we know, she could be dead.”

“And he dumped his daughter back in his hometown. Barely takes care of her.”

“We make decent money at this construction site every month. Frank sends the girl a little for food, then wastes everything else on booze and gambling.”

“You’ve got some nerve saying that. Most of the money Frank loses at poker ends up in your pocket. You’re ruthless.”

“Forget him. Talking about him ruins the mood. Hey, did you hear? Some kid from Westbridge High School is threatening to jump into the river.”

“A kid? She’s probably just trying to scare somebody. Teenagers say things like that all the time.”

“I don’t know. It sounds serious. Westbridge High School is nowhere near this area, but she came all the way to the bridge beside our construction site.”

“So that’s why there are so few people working today. Everyone must have gone over there to watch.”

The workers continued laughing and talking, but Frank remained motionless, as though they were discussing someone else.

After all, they were telling the truth.

He really was a worthless man.

As for some student threatening to jump off a bridge, what did that have to do with him?

His own life was already a puddle of filth. His daughter probably hated him more than anyone else in the world.

Through his muddled thoughts, however, Frank vaguely remembered what day it was.

Wasn’t it Thanksgiving?

A day when families were supposed to be together.

“Sophie White, you really are heartless,” Frank muttered, staring blankly at the scattered cards and poker chips. “Our daughter is already fifteen, and you still haven’t come back to see her.”

Sophie had been gone for more than a decade.

Just as the workers had said, no one knew whether she was alive or dead.

The daughter she had left behind—a girl who looked almost exactly like her—had turned fifteen this year.

At that moment, the basic flip phone on the table suddenly began vibrating violently.

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.

The sound continued without stopping.

Frank’s head was spinning, and he initially had no intention of answering. But as the phone kept vibrating, a strange sense of unease rose inside his chest.

He struggled to his feet and grabbed the phone just before the call disconnected.

The name on the tiny screen made his heart skip a beat.

Lily.

Why would his daughter call him at this hour?

“Lily? What’s wrong?” Frank asked, his voice thick with alcohol. “Did you run out of money? I can send you some more.”

“It’s Thanksgiving today. I’ll buy something nice, and we can celebrate together tomorrow. We’ll make up for missing today, okay?”

To his surprise, he did not hear his daughter calling him Dad.

Instead, a hoarse sob came through the old speaker.

The fog in Frank’s mind instantly began to clear.

Sophie had always been strong, and Lily Lane had inherited that strength from her. Lily had endured years of hardship without ever crying in front of him.

Why was she sobbing like this?

Frank immediately became anxious. Fighting against his numb tongue, he shouted into the phone.

“Lily, why are you crying? Did someone hurt you?”

“Don’t cry. Tell me who did it. Dad will deal with them!”

Panic tore through Frank’s chest.

He might have ignored his daughter for years, but she was still his child.

A girl who had grown up without either parent by her side must have suffered more humiliation and loneliness than he could imagine. Yet she had never once complained.

Frank had always known that.

He had simply drowned himself in alcohol so he would not have to face it.

What could possibly have happened to make Lily break down like this?

As most of his drunkenness vanished beneath the shock, Frank finally noticed the chaotic noises coming from the other end of the call.

When he understood what the strangers were shouting, disbelief and terror flooded his face.

“Sweetheart, please come down from there!”

“You’re still so young! Don’t throw your life away! Jumping into that river won’t solve anything!”

“Has anyone contacted her parents? Where are the rescue workers? Did somebody call the police?”

“Hello, 911? There’s a student threatening to jump off a bridge! Please send someone immediately!”

Frank’s heart nearly stopped.

A bridge.

A student.

Westbridge High School.

The workers’ conversation suddenly struck his mind like a bolt of lightning.

Lily attended Westbridge High School.

Could the student standing on the bridge beside the construction site be his daughter?

No.

That was impossible.

Lily was strong. Even without her parents, she had always studied hard and earned excellent grades.

How could she suddenly decide to end her life?

Before Frank could convince himself that it was merely a coincidence, Lily’s emotions collapsed completely.

She screamed into the phone through her sobs.

“Dad!”

“Do you remember what day it is?”

“It’s Thanksgiving! You remembered, didn’t you? Today is supposed to be a day for families to be together, but I miss Mom so much.”

“Why didn’t you come back to see me? Everyone else has their parents with them on Thanksgiving. When are you and Mom finally going to come home and stay with me?”

“Dad, I miss you both so much.”

“But I don’t think I can keep waiting.”

“I’m on the bridge closest to your construction site. I’ll give you ten minutes. If you can’t get here before then, I’m going to jump!”

Frank stumbled to his feet.

Bare-chested and reeking of alcohol, he rushed toward the door while desperately trying to calm her.

“Lily, listen to me! Don’t do anything stupid! Dad is coming right now!”

“Wait for me. Please, just wait for Dad. I’m coming to get you!”

He no longer cared about the workers staring at him in shock.

He did not notice when one of his shoes slipped off in his panic.

Dragging his crippled leg behind him, Frank charged out of the filthy construction site like a madman and ran toward the bridge without hesitation.

...

Memories from the first half of his life flashed through Frank’s mind as he ran, tears spilling from his eyes.

He had once been the first person from his village to attend college.

His widowed mother had endured years of hardship to pay for his education. She had worked herself to exhaustion so that her only son could escape poverty and build a better future.

After graduating, Frank had worried about leaving her alone. Instead of remaining in the city, he had planned to return home and find work nearby.

Without discussing it with him, Frank’s mother had arranged a marriage.

The bride was Sophie White, an orphaned girl who had ended up in their remote village and been raised by relatives.

At the time, Frank had viewed himself as a promising college graduate with a bright future.

In his eyes, Sophie was merely an uneducated village woman.

After their marriage, he remained distant and rarely paid attention to his wife.

Then Sophie unexpectedly became pregnant.

When their beautiful daughter was born, the ice around Frank’s heart gradually began to melt. For the first time, he started to believe that perhaps the three of them could become a real family.

But everything was destroyed by a single car accident.

The crash left Frank permanently disabled in one leg.

He lost the job he had worked so hard to obtain.

The cost of his treatment drained every dollar the family possessed, leaving them buried in poverty.

And that was only the beginning of the nightmare.