It was my day. It was going to be the best day ever. Because of that, nothing could ever get in my way. Dad said I could go to the mall and buy anything that I wanted! It surely wasn’t going to be his day after I used his card on everything in sight! Watch out mall, Terrance was coming for you!

I fumbled down the stairs, almost tripping down the last step. I looked left to see my dad sitting in front the fireplace, his bald spot reflecting the light from above.

“I’m going to the mall with Jennifer today, Dad,” I said as I browsed through the cabinet for my keys. The thing is way too tall for me to reach the top, so I always put my keys towards the bottom. “I remember you telling me I could buy whatever I wanted!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah you little goofball,” he snorted. “Be sure to be careful at the mall. I saw you nearly trip down those stairs, and I wouldn’t want my little boy doing the same thing except off the balcony from the fifteenth floor. Would hate to see a little mistake cause such a disaster,” he chortled.

“Okay, first of all, there are only three floors. Second off, I’m not nearly as clumsy as you!”

I suddenly shut the cabinet drawer while looking at Dad, and it begins to fall towards me. I screamed, but he caught it before it could crush me.

“Okay I get your point, Dad. Little mistakes are the worst” I sighed. “Hey, maybe you should invest in a drawer that is anchored when top heavy!”

“That’s a family heirloom! Damn thing cost more than your car.”

“Well fine then, but that things dangerous. Bye! Don’t stress out at work!”

“Right,” he chuckled, “I’ll be the one stressing. I’m the head of the company darling, only those below me stress!”

I giggled before heading out the door.

***

Me and Jennifer walked out of the final store before heading to the food court. We had several bags on both arms, all of which were filled to the brim with anything we could find. We could’ve stayed in that store for another two hours, on top of the two hours we already spent in there, but we just needed some food.

“I’ve always secretly loved the food court,” Jennifer said. “It’s just a little quirk of mine.”

I scoffed. “Everyone loves food courts Jennifer, it’s not quirky.”

I got a million alerts on my phone. I typically left the ringer on in public so I could know when I got a message, but it didn’t matter since there was no service in that store.

“Oh? Who are all the messages from?” Jessica said.

“Oh my God girl, what if it were private?” I pulled out my phone to check the message, nearly dropping all the bags in my right hand. “The most recent is the news app. It says a woman came home to find her husband dead on the floor. Spooky.”

“How is that enough of a breaking story to be on the news app?”

“Says the man was a CEO. Must’ve been pretty important I suppose.”

“Wait click on the notification, I want to know the rest! What if it’s like one of my podcasts about murderers,” Jessica shouted.

“Hey keep it down, there may be someone here who knew the guy. Plus, today is my day, I don’t want it ruined by someone’s death. I’ll just look at the other notifications later. Look there’s the food court!”

We started to run towards the tables to secure a seat, then my phone started to ring. I checked my phone to see that my mom was calling.

“Hold on, Mom is calling me. She must’ve just gotten home from work.” I answered the phone, and moved away from the table and towards the balcony. “Hey Mom, how was wor-“

“Terr- Terrance,” mom said, sobbing. “It’s yo- your dad. He- he’s.”

“Oh my God Mom, are you okay? What’s wrong with Dad?”

“I tried t- to call you sweetie, but you didn’t answer your phone,” she sniffles. “He’s gone baby. It was the c- cabinet. We should’ve gotten rid of it. I was stupid! Terrance? Are you there sweetie?”

I stared over the balcony. I felt nothing. I wasn’t angry. I wasn’t sad. I definitely wasn’t happy. Nothing. He’s gone forever, and it was all because of a little mistake.