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* this chapter may contain triggering subjects, dementia and death *
Thea walked into the care home and walked towards the large book, writing down her name, her phone number, and who she was visiting. Once she'd placed the pen she was using down, she heard her name being called.She turned around to see John jogging towards her.
"Hey! You okay?" she asked, bringing the worker into a small hug.
"Yeah I'm fine." John replied "You?"
"Yeah I'm good." Thea said pulling back from her Grandmother's care worker. "How's Henry?" she asked.
"He's good, got a day off work today so he's taking care of Delilah for me." he said, mentioning his dog.
Thea smiled at him, but frowned when she realised his tone wasn't his usual bouncy self. "Hey, what's wrong."
John looked around and gestured his head towards a small unoccupied corner. "I think we should talk."
Thea's heart sank at his words. She began to but the inside of her lip out of anxiety, as she and John walked into a slightly secluded area. "What's wrong with Nana?" she asked immediately.
John sighed. "She's getting worse. We had a doctor come in a couple of days ago, you were at a race with Lando and work so I didn't want you to worry. They ran some tests and, Thea I'm sorry it's not good." he said sympatheticly.
Thea's head shook, eyes becoming unfocused. "What- what does that mean it's not good?"
John placed a hand on Thea's shoulder. "Thea, she has dementia. And it's, getting worse by the day. I am so sorry."
Thea sniffed, then the tears began to roll. John pulled her in for a hug immediately, letting her sob into his work clothes, not bothered about getting them tear stained.
"This can't be happening." That was all the was going through her mind. She couldn't believe that the only person Thea had left, was getting worse.
It was a few moments before Thea pulled away from John's arms, wiping her tears with the cuff of her sleeve. John scanned her face worryingly. He and his husband Henry had always loved when Thea came to visit her Grandmother, and had practically adopted the young girl. "Honey do you still want to go see her right now? You're in a state, no offence-"
Thea let out a small shaky laugh, and shook her head, "No, now I want to see her more than ever." she explained.
John gave her a sympathetic smile, and took a gentle hold of her shoulder, "Come on sweetie, let's go see Nana Jean."
John carefully escorted Thea through the home, and to where her Grandmother was sat in a comfy armchair, knitting something, as per usual. John called out her name, and Jean looked up slightly, smiling at him, and then Thea.
Her smile brightened and she held her arms out for Thea to hug. Thea smiled back, but it dropped at her Grandmother's next words,
"Alwyn! Darling, so good to see you!"
Alwyn was Dorothea's mother's name.
Thea shook her head slightly, keeping her eyes from flickering towards John, who was staring at her, a look on his face telling her he knew exactly what was going through her head. "No, Nana it's me, it's Dorothea." she said, her voice fake.
Jean seemed to falter slightly before she smiled, "Of course darling. Sorry. Now where's my hug?"
LANDO sat outside the care home in his car, and messaged Thea to let her know he was outside. It wasn't long before he saw a disheveled Thea almost sprinting from the entrance towards the car. He immediately got out of the car and hurried over to her, "Thea what's wrong?"
"Nothing, just get in the car." she dismissed.
"Hey, hey, hey." Lando grabbed a hold of her forearm and pulled her away from the passenger door. Thea avoided his eyes, staring at a large tree just visible behind his head.
Landos examined her face, worried about her frantic state. "Thea look at me." he said gently.
Thea took a deep breath, her eyes betraying her, feeling them getting watery. It took her a few seconds before she looked over to Lando.
He didn't say anything, but stared at her conceded.
Thea sighed and brought her hand up to her face, wiping away a stray tear that had escaped. "She called me Alwyn." she said simply. "It's worse."
Lando said nothing, but pulled Thea forward, letting her bury her head in his chest, letting out cries of emotion. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer, stroking her hair attempting to calm her down.
He knew what Thea's Nana meant to her, and he knew that seeing her get increasingly worse as the years went on was slowly killing her too.
After a while, Thea pulled back and wiped her face. "I want to go see Mum." she said defiantly.
Lando gave her a skeptical look, "Thea I don't know if-"
"No, I- I've got to tell her. Someone should." Thea said. Her tone told Lando that she was not to be argued with. He slowly nodded, and the two got into the car.
LANDO had been told by Thea to stay in the car as she spoke to her mother, and so he did. He waited by the large gate in the car, attempting to spot Thea throw the window, which was virtually impossible.
Thea was sat beside her mother, picking at her nails as she spoke. "So Mum, update on Nana, she's got- she's got dementia. I thought it was going to get worse but I didn't think it would get that bad."
She let out a shaky breath, but continued. "I know you told me that I need to be strong for her but I don't know if I can. I can't sit and watch her-"
Thea felt more tears fall from her face, a few drops clinging to her eyelashes. "She seems okay. Apart from forgetting certain things and, some sentences she can't finish, but she still asks about Nia and Lando."
Thea looked up and sighed. "I love you Mum. And I'll come and visit you again soon, I just, need to process it. I just thought you should know."
She brought her fingers up to her lips, pressing a kiss to them, and then placing her hand on top of the cold stone. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, before she stood up and walked back to Lando's car, away from the large headstone ; Alwyn Harper-James, 1977-2017 engraved upon it.
