We Used To Be

Chapter 6

CW- Minor character death. This chapter is focused on the death of a loved one. Please read at your own discretion. If you don’t wish to read this Chapter there is a quick summary below explaining everything that happened so you will not be lost and can continue reading. The death occurs after the italicised font ends.

SPOILERS: SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 

Toni’s grandmother is found to have dementia and died. Toni grieves. There is a ceremony held for her. Toni sees Cheryl at the funeral laying flowers. This brings Toni to tears. Toni struggles to get back to her normal life but five months after the death she starts to get her spirit back. 

A/N Sorry if the writing style is a bit different at the start of this Chapter. I just read The Song of Achilles in one day and I’m dying, it’s so good but so heart wrenching. I wasn’t gonna kill her off now but the book definitely inspired me. She was also kinda in the way as a character, no offence she’s lovely but I didn’t really know how to include her and I didn’t want to just forget her. I’m at my grandparents right now which is where I started writing the book so I think that’s interesting. I didn’t start to write this Chapter here though, that’s a bit morbid. If I had known I would have been here I probably wouldn’t have written about dying grandparents but oh well. I changed this chapter quite severely after reading it through once more, it’s quite an important one and I wanted to get it right. 

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A seven year old Toni ran down the small stone path that winded up the forest in spirals and loops that were almost impossible to map, not that she needed one, she knew it almost from memory. 

“Toni slow down!” her tired Nana called after her as she struggled to keep up.

“Come on Nana, we’re almost there!” Toni exclaimed excitedly.

They arrived on top of the hill not even minutes later and sat on a fallen tree to watch. As they looked on, the sun slowly began to rise - painting a beautiful ombre of watercolour beauty into the sky, dragging the colours around creating new incredible shapes that were soon to disappear. The colour moved as if being manipulated by a brush, the artist composing the colours into a symphony of art that was beyond just words. The colours called out to Toni, as if angels were singing in a harmony so sweet it tasted like honey and left a sticky taste on the tongue. Choirs of paint circled the morning air and swept the wind out of the sky. 

Toni was awestruck every time, each visit it seemed to get more and more beautiful and outmatched itself. It was almost a tradition they had created. While everyone else would watch the fireworks and celebrate loudly, Toni and her Nana preferred to watch the day change, morphing from one year to another. 

“We’re just in time,” Nana sighed as the sun glistened and made its way up the sky which was a mix of yellow, pink and orange hughes. 

“Yeah,” Toni said simply and she marvelled at the sight. It was a long journey but the view was the most beautiful thing ever to be seen. It was just in the right spot, high enough to get away from the world but low enough to not disappear completely. 

“Happy new year,” she whispered, not wanting to ruin the calm and serenity of their bubble they had created. It was as if time had stopped completely and everything was perfect, the struggles of the real world forgotten in the perfect bliss. 

“Happy new year,” her Nana whispered back and Toni thought absentmindedly that she could stay here forever and never grow tired of it. This was pure unadulterated happiness. 

They stayed for about an hour until Nana slowly got up, silently signalling it was time to leave. Toni followed suit and mirrored her Nana and they started making their way back down the hill and through the winding forest. It was prettier in the night, Toni thought. The nature glowed and hummed, silence only broken by the soft crack of a twig from their feet.