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Eight

MADELAINE

The plane finally lands and I sigh in relief. I never thought I would get on a plane but I'm really glad I didn't drive for nine hours to get home. I make my way off the plane and into the airport to find my bag before I go find my mom.

She's waiting for me by the exit and I run to hug her. I've missed her so much.

"Hey, mom." I say as I squeeze her.

"Hey, honey." She sighs as she returns my hug.

I step back as we begin to leave the airport and notice how tired she looks.

There are dark circles under her eyes. Her hair is pulled back in a bun and she is wearing jeans and a T-shirt. Her face is bare which is really unusual for her. My heart hurts for her. I know what this feels like. I know the scans she has looked at for the past few weeks. I know the hopeless feeling.

It sucks.

We sit in the car quietly as we begin the two hour drive home. I watch as rows of fields and trees pass outside the car. I missed these views.

I fell asleep at some point in the drive and wake up when I hear the gravel crunching beneath the tires of the car. I open my eyes as see my childhood home for the first time in months.

The familiarity of it all hits me enough that I tear up a bit. It's been too long since I've been here.

"Are we going to granny's house?" I ask mom.

"No, she's here. Pa can't lift her and she needs someone all day, every day to help her. So, we brought her here just the other day. I forgot to tell you." Mom sounds so defeated. I nod my head not wanting to make her talk about it anymore.

My mom has always had the best relationship with my grandma. It makes since considering it's her mom but I noticed my mom was always the first on of granny and pa's kids to go help them if they needed it. It's not that my aunt and uncle didn't care, they were just always busy. Mom always made time for her parents.

Inside the house, I'm greeted by my dad. We hug and share little snippets of our lives from the last time I was here. My parents ask about Sebastian and Aurelia and I show them pictures and fill them in on how things are back home.

Home.

I miss them so much already.

Finally, I work up the courage to go into my parent's room where my grandma was staying. I slowly opened the door and saw that my parent's bed had been replaced with a hospital bed. a heart monitor beeped quietly in the corner beside the bed and Granny laid there perfectly still.

Her eyes barely rolled over to see me and she tried her best to wave and smile in my direction.

Tears already blurred my vision at the sight of my once bubbly and wild grandma now laying in a hospital bed almost too weak to wave at me.

"Hey, granny." I said as I tried to smile at her, choking back the tears.

She tried to smile again as I sat in the chair next to her bed. I reached for her hand and noticed she was now skin and bone. The last time I was here, granny was healthy and her hands still looked a lot like my mom's, now I don't recognize them.

"How many times have you watched Endings, Beginnings now that you've had so much free time?" I ask, trying to make her smile even just a little. Her eyes were dull and moved slowly, but I saw the humor in them nonetheless.

"Sebastian told me to tell you hello, and Aurelia made you a card." I say as I pull the card from my purse.

Granny opened her mouth a bit and I thought she may try to say something but she just tried to smile when nothing would come out.