"Chris." Claire approached her boss who chatted with others in the corner of the ball room.
"Yes, Elise?"
"I need some time off over the next few days." Claire mumbled nervously.
"Well, you have been working sixteen hour days for the last few weeks to keep Crimson Tech going. I am going to approve any leave you need."
"Thank you."
"Is everything okay?"
"It's a family thing."
"I see. Good luck with it."
"Thanks." Claire forced a fake smile before walking out of the ball room. She awaited the entire day and night for this moment. She already packed a suitcase into the car and now she was free to go up North to find her parents. She drove away in her huge dress before getting changed at the nearest services into much more comfortable jeans and T-shirt.
She shouldn't have been speeding but it was hard not to if she could see her parents at the destination.
It wasn't hard to find the address. It was a man area of Gleadless Townend on the edges of Sheffield.
Claire stood between the rows of social housing. She was equally scared of seeing her parents and potentially not finding them.
She tried to calm herself down but between seeing Gabriel, meeting Jack, and now hopefully finding her parents, her entire chest was sounding like drums.
She knocked on the door knowing that it was very late in the night. She didn't expect the door to open after two minutes of complete silence. She knocked again. There was a degrading silence in the dark corridor on the second floor of the concrete apartment block. She could hear her own breathing and distant shouts of teenagers that were still out at this time, either doing something they shouldn't or coming back from the parties.
A few more moments passed before Claire heard the lock being opened on the other side of the door.
The door was opened very cautiously. Claire recognised her father instantly, even in the near complete darkness.
"Dad…" she said quickly. "It's me, Claire."
"Claire?" Joseph's voice vibrated with emotion. He took the chain off and opened the door widely, pulling Claire into the hug.
He was silent, hugging her as hard as he could. Claire felt crushed by his strong arms but she didn't fight it. It was comforting. "Let me get you something to eat." Joseph decided after a few minutes.
"Dad… I don't need food."
"Yes, you do."
It was not something Claire could argue. Her dad showed his love and care through food.
Claire followed him into the room, seeing a small kitchenette with bare minimum and a bed by the window.
Claire looked around seeing the door towards a bathroom. That was it.
The small studio flat had wallpaper peeling off the walls, the mould around the windows, and it was so cold.
Claire looked around warily in anticipation to see her mum, but there was silence and no sign of anyone else beside Joseph.
Her dad's reaction wasn't much different to the time when she came back from the 'dead'.
Joseph placed a freshly cooked plate of pasta in front of her and he sat down opposite her behind a plastic table with foldable chairs.
"Dad, where's mum?" Claire asked as she finished the meal that made her indescribable comfort.
"Oh Claire." Joseph tapped the back of her hand. "Mum's in the hospice."
"Hospice?" Claire repeated.
"She is receiving palliative care there." Joseph hesitated. "She is receiving the end of life care."
"What happened?" Claire's voices pitched higher and broke at the end.
"Your mum has gotten worse. Her cancer came back, and it came back worse than before. No treatment worked. They found many rumours all over her body. There was nothing that could help. In the end, we have decided that it was better to make mum's last days as comfortable as we can."
Claire didn't say anything more as she sobbed and hugged her dad again.
Joseph prepared space on the floor for Claire to sleep on, but she couldn't sleep. Joseph couldn't sleep either.
As the morning came, he led Claire to the hospice where Claire stood at the end of the bed of her mum who was unrecognisable.
It broke Claire all over again. She was glad to have found her parents but it was by far the most difficult thing she has ever done to be by her mother when she took her last breath barely days later.
Claire was glad that she could have said her goodbye.
Her mum's last return to her home town was in the coffin that was heavier than anything else that Claire ever carried before.
The funeral was quiet, hidden from the outside world, as it seemed that her family struggled to stay concealed from the harm that was over them like a black cloud in the sky, and always above them.
The mass was in a small chapel with only the closest family. There were no Leanne's friends and colleagues that could pay their respects. She paid a big price for what she did in the last years of her life, and they weren't able to send her off in the way that was appropriate.