A Second Chance to Save My Daughter

Chapter 002

Molly never changed her mind about Warren because of his injured leg.

She never left him, even after he lost his job and became disabled.

She kept telling him none of it mattered. She would stay by his side and help him through the hard times.

But Warren's body wasn't the only thing shattered in that accident. His self-respect crumbled alongside it.

He began to spiral. Days blurred into nights spent drinking and gambling, burning through every cent of the settlement money until nothing remained. When he looked down at his useless leg, when he caught the whispers and sneers from people around town, something inside him twisted. He grew bitter, suspicious, consumed by self-loathing.

He couldn't believe Molly would actually stay. He couldn't believe she truly didn't care about his leg. So he pushed her away, growing colder and meaner with every passing day, drowning himself deeper in alcohol and cards.

One night, blind drunk, he came home. Months later, Molly discovered she was pregnant with their daughter, Daisy.

But by then, Warren had numbed himself completely. The news barely registered. He kept on the same reckless path, indifferent to everything.

Molly fought tooth and nail to bring Daisy into the world, hoping the birth might wake him up, but it did not. The pregnancy had been rough, her body worn down by stress and neglect, and when the baby finally came, she was alarmingly thin and fragile. Molly herself was skeletal, her face hollow and sickly.

Warren remained lost in his vices. He didn't care about his wife. He didn't care about his child.

Day after day, whatever love had once existed between them withered and died.

Warren sank deeper into his habits, even worse than before, spending his days drinking and playing cards with a handful of lowlifes from the village. Molly was married in name only, living like a widow, managing every single household burden on her own while her husband lived it up elsewhere.

On Daisy's third birthday, Molly sat with her sweet little girl all night, waiting. Warren never came home. Not even a shadow of him.

She cried as she sang happy birthday to her daughter.

The next morning, she wiped her tears, and without a word, she left. She never came back.

When Warren finally stumbled home drunk, he found only his daughter, her face red and swollen from crying.

The beautiful, pale woman was gone.

Watching Daisy sob and call for her mother, something finally clicked in Warren's mind.

He had lost the wife who loved him. He had taken away his child's mother.

Regret hit him like a freight train.

He pulled himself together and went searching, dragging his injured leg through town after town, city after city, desperate to find her. But no matter how far he went, Molly was nowhere to be found.

As the years passed, Daisy grew. Her small face began to resemble both Molly and Warren, a haunting blend of the two of them.

Every time Warren came home, he saw it. His daughter's face, more and more like the woman he'd lost and the man he used to be.

Every time he looked at her, the pain cut straight through him.

He missed Molly. Part of him hoped she'd come back one day.

But another part of him hated her for leaving without a word, for abandoning him and their child so cruelly.

Deep down, he knew it was his fault, his neglect and his coldness toward Molly.

But he was a coward. He couldn't admit it.

Just like he'd once convinced himself Molly didn't really love him, he lied to himself now.

So he left. Took work far away, anywhere that didn't remind him of the two of them. He drowned himself in long hours and cheap liquor, trying to forget.

In a haze, he saw Daisy as a little girl again, curled up in his arms, calling him Daddy in that soft, timid voice.

The bridge loomed ahead. Warren's heart pounded.

He scanned the area frantically, searching for any sign of Daisy.

She'd said she'd wait for him here. Where was she?

Where did she go?

"Isn't that Warren? What's he doing here?"

"I heard from the cops the jumper was his daughter."

"God, what kind of karma is that? With a father like him, she's better off dead."

" His mother was driven away, and his father was no help at all. Poor girl."

"I heard she was smart too. A straight-A student at Crestview High."

"That kid's tragic. Stuck with a father like that."

"My son told me she got bullied at school all the time."

"Makes sense. A kid with no parents is an easy target."

"Poor thing waited here forever for him. She jumped just a few minutes ago."

"I saw the rescue team go in. It's been several minutes already and nothing. She's probably gone."

Warren barely registered the chatter at first. He'd heard worse a thousand times before.

But when the words "jumped in the river" finally sank in, his vision went red.

He lunged at the person speaking, grabbing them by the collar, shaking them violently.

"No, that's impossible. My daughter said she'd wait for me!"

"I'm here, Daddy's here. Daisy, where are you? Daddy's sorry, and Daddy came to take you home!"

"Get off me, you lunatic! Your daughter already jumped! Let go!"

"Ten minutes passed already! She waited and you didn't show, so she jumped a few minutes ago!"

"Instead of losing it here, go check if the rescue team found her!"

Warren released the man and stumbled toward the water's edge, his bad leg dragging behind him.

He felt hollow. He couldn't believe it. His sweet little girl couldn't have jumped.

He beat his fists against his useless leg, over and over, cursing it.

This damn leg had kept him from getting here on time and from reaching his daughter.

It was Daisy, his daughter.

Molly had left him. And now his only daughter was leaving him too?

Tears streamed down his weathered face.

Suddenly, shouts erupted around him.

"They got her! They pulled her out!"

Warren heard his daughter had been recovered and lurched forward, desperate to reach her.

"Daisy, please wake up and look at Daddy. Daddy's here!"

He tried to push through, but the rescue team held him back.

"Doctor, where are you?"

The doctor who'd been waiting nearby rushed over and began resuscitation efforts. Moments later, he stepped back and shook his head.

"There's nothing more I can do. The child has no vital signs. My condolences to the family and everyone here."

"Please make arrangements as soon as possible."

Finding a body in that fast, murky current was a miracle in itself.

Warren stared at his daughter's closed eyes, her pale face.

He kept expecting her to open them and call him Daddy in that sweet voice.

When the doctor's words registered, the world went black. His breath came in sharp gasps. He clutched at his chest, pain radiating through him.

He tried to crawl toward Daisy, but the agony overwhelmed him.

His consciousness began to slip away, sinking into darkness.

Distantly, he heard frantic voices growing fainter.

"Doctor, another one collapsed! It looks like acute myocardial infarction!"

A coworker who knew Warren shouted in shock, "That's Warren! He..."

But Warren couldn't hear any of it anymore.

His mind plunged into blackness. He could no longer see or hear anything.

The wail of ambulances and police sirens pierced the air.

Warren closed his eyes for the last time.

In the final moment before death took him, all he felt was crushing regret for everything he'd done.

If I could do it all over again, I would...