20th January,2012.

Dear Talia,

Dad died,you know... He was supposed to leave the hospital today,or so mum said.I thought I was finally going to seem him again,it's been months since he left.He wouldn't let us visit saying he didn't want us seeing him in his sickly state.No wonder mom sent us to Aunt Audrey's this summer .

I noticed him vomiting. We were watching some TV and he rushed quickly into the guest bathroom.I didn't think it was that bad.He kept on saying he was going to be alright,how foolish I was!.

Mom is trying to be strong for us but I think she's probably hurting the most.Dad left me as he's next of kin.

The doctor said he died of kidney failure.

I think he'd have rather died on the war front than on his sickbed.

I remember how he'd tell me and David stories of his tours in Sudan and Sierra Leone. Talia....I miss him so much it hurts,I can't believe he's gone. I want to see him again...But I know he's never coming back.....

Gotta go Talia,Mom's calling...

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The funeral of Ltd. Colonel Mason was very sad.His wife,Mrs Jane and her two children Amelia and David stood closely to their mother.They all wore black and watched bleakly as their father's coffin was lowered into the grave by the pall bearers. Their father was buried in his army ceremonial uniform,as a true officer should've been.

The twenty-one gun salute was fired in his honour,for he really was a great soldier.

The funeral was over, and everyone had left the cemetery ,after giving their farewells to the Ltd colonel.

But Amelia,David and Jane stayed back and watched as the men buried their father's coffin six feet under and knew,this was the last time they would see him again...