Grace Matters

Chapter Sixteen

Grace curled up in the back of Ant's car on the way home, they had left straight after her father's demise and she hadn't uttered a word since. There were no words that would help her come around to what had happened or what she had witnessed with her own two eyes. It was an experience that she wouldn't have wished on her worst enemy. The two of them had only just been reunited and he was taken away again just as quickly, but this time she knew that there wasn't going to be another chance for them to bump into each other again, especially in this lifetime.

The council had cleaned up what was left of her father and put his remains into an urn for Grace to keep, she didn't think that it was very thoughtful and caring of them at the time yet at least she would be able to have a piece of him near her whenever she needed to talk or let him know what was happening in her life. She hadn't spoken to Grayson since during the council meeting, it wasn't anything against him but there was still a hint of anger residing inside her and mixed with the grief she didn't think that he deserved the wrath of her unhinged mood swings.

The car finally came to a halt, causing Grace to stir in her already restless state and groggily sit up, keeping the urn close against her chest as she looked out of the window, realising that they were back home. "I want to have some sort of memorial for my dad." She finally broke the silence, being as it was only Ant and her in the car, he must have felt the awkwardness hours ago but he was a more than understanding man the majority of the time. She glanced back out of the window, seeing the old willow tree a distance away from the house. She remembered when she and Grayson used to visit, they would spend hours sitting by the lake underneath the willow tree. It was a peaceful place and she thought that was what her father deserved. A peaceful ending. "I was thinking near the willow tree. I mean, if that is okay with you...I keep forgetting that this is your home and not mine." She turned to face Ant once again with a hint of a warming smile, looking into his tired green eyes and she realised that he had been through a lot as well as the rest of them. He was the leader of their small group and it was his name that was getting plastered because of the council.

Ant's shoulders dropped immediately when hearing Grace's words, he didn't want her to feel as if she had to ask permission, especially for something like she was asking for and there wasn't a chance that he would refuse her request. "Of course, you can, it is as much your home as it is mine, you don't even need to ask. Even though I didn't know Michael very well I would still like the time to say goodbye to him. What he did save a lot of people and I will be forever grateful for his actions." He reached over and placed a hand on her knee, wanting to give her some reassurance at least, knowing that she had been through it the worst. With what happened with Grayson and now her father, he knew that she needed support from all of them. "I'll get everyone together and we shall meet at the willow tree."

Dusk was starting to fall as Grace arrived underneath the willow tree, it wasn't long before everyone was there and she gave Ant a more than an appreciative nod of her head for letting her do this, it was for her sanity that she wished to do such an action, a last thank you to her father. She couldn't help but notice that Grayson was keeping his distance and stood further back than everyone else, she was thankful for the fact that he understood she needed space. Even though they were able to get inside each other's heads, they didn't even try to invade the other thoughts at this time. Yet, there was a small part of her that missed hearing Grayson's voice in her mind, many times before she had remembered it being comforting and feeling that void of emptiness that she sometimes carried in her mind.

She crouched down beside the trunk of the willow tree, the sound of the crickets echoed in her mind and that content feeling was something that she enjoyed. Peace. She took her time in opening the small urn, a part of her knew that it wasn't all of her father but it was all that she had left of him and that was all that mattered. "Dad, I'll be truthful for a moment..." Grace spoke softly, not minding if anyone was able to hear her, in these few seconds she was talking to her father alone. "Back there I wanted to die too, I wanted to go wherever you are and hug you." She started to let the contents of the urn fall to the ground, causing her to exhale heavily as she watched the ashes start to collect on the soil. "I wanted to hug you tight and tell you to stay with me, to never leave my side because I only just got you back and I don't know what to do with that..." The last part of her sentence barely came out as a whisper, letting herself fall back against the soft ground in a sitting position. Her head fell back, looking up to the stars that were starting to appear. Even though her father wasn't there in person she could feel that he was close in some kind of way. Grace sat there in silence for a few hours, in a world of her own, resting against the large tree and watching the mood, she didn't even notice that everyone else had said their goodbyes and left.