Chapter 1- Night in

40 2 0
                                    

"Yum! I love Cake." My little brother Jude giggled. "Yes I know, love. Make sure to clean your hands after you do eat your cake." My Mum replied. "Val, are you sure you don't want any cake? It's your favourite. Mud-Cake." My Mum asked. 'Why does she keep asking me if I want cake?' "No thanks." I replied. "Anyway. You both need to finish your homework. Dad and I are going out to dinner with the Carltons." Mum said. "I did all my homework Mummy." Jude smiled proudly. "Good boy Jude. Val? Valentina? Val? Where did she go?" Mum groaned. "Mummy, she went upstairs." Jude stared. "Oh. Alright. Thank you." Mum said walking upstairs. Jude was giggling. "You can't hear me reading that book?" Mum snapped. 'No Mum, you're not loud enough. I'm reading not listening.' "Sorry. What's up" I mumbled. "Have you done your homework? I'm about to go out and I need you both to be done with your homework." Mum explained. "Yeah I finished. Go out and enjoy yourself. Jude and I will watch a movie. Won't we J?" I smiled. My brother was hiding near the door giggling. "Yes yes!! Can we watch a scary movie? I'm a big boy now." Jude asked. "Depends. What movie would you like to watch?" Mum asked. "The Corpse Bride?" Jude smiled. "Oh yeah. That's not scary. It's PG" I laughed. "Maybe not Jude, it's got to do with death. I don't like you watching those things yet." Mum replied. 'Of course. Had to ruin the fun for Jude. It's not scary. It's a beautiful movie.' "Awh, okay. I'll just go and watch The Simpsons downstairs." Jude smiled warmly. I glared at my Mum before getting back to my book. "What? It's about death. I don't want my seven-year-old son watching something about death." Mum mumbled. "It's not only about death. It's a great movie about love. To never forget those who have left us." I replied. "Anyway, I can't tell him what to do. I'm only his big sister." I smiled. My Mum rolled her eyes and closed my bedroom door.

After my Mum and Dad left I stayed in my room reading and my brother was downstairs. When I heard footsteps running up the stairs. "Yes?" I asked. "Nana is on the phone. She wants to talk to you." Jude whispered. "Oh alright. Thanks J. Did you clean your room? You know Mummy will freak out if you didn't." I said taking the phone. "Oh I haven't yet. I need help dusting the shelves, but I moved all my toys." Jude explained. "Okay. Good boy. I'll dust the shelves don't worry." I smiled. I brought the phone to my ear. "Hi Nana. How are you?" I asked. "Good thanks Dolly. How are you?" Nana replied. "I'm good. I have so much to tell you." I announced. My Nana is like my best friend. I always talk to her. "So, I have to talk to you about something" Nana mentioned. "I'm getting older now." She continued. "And I found a cemetery near our favourite beach. As you know, I've been ill for quite a while and I'm getting ready to say goodbye." Nana paused. I do not like when my Nana brings up her death. It reminds me of too much pain I'll be in. "Nana. I don't like this." "I know you don't Dolly. But Val, what are you going to do after I die? We need to do this now." Nana explained. I stayed silent.

"Val! May I please have some ice cream?" Jude called. "Yeah sure. What flavour? We've got heaps." I replied coming downstairs. I grabbed the ice cream out of the freezer and started scooping it out on a cone. "What does deceased mean?" Jude blurted out. "Uh, it means recently dead; for example, if an old lady passed away or died, it would mean she is now deceased. Resting in peace." I explained. "Oh." Jude replied. "Why do you ask?" I asked. "My teacher mentioned it outside the classroom to another teacher. Nobody knows what they were talking about; but everyone in the class heard the word 'deceased'." Jude explained. "Did someone die?" I asked. "Maybe. I'm not too worried about that at the moment, but I just wanted to know what that word was since it was unfamiliar." Jude explained. "Okay. That's okay. That's not important to worry about." I replied.

SᴛᴏɴᴇsWhere stories live. Discover now