The Whimsical World of Wanda

Chapter seven

When Wanda landed back home after her vacation and turned on her phone, her heart stopped. Rather than being greeted with kind "welcome home" messages, the first thing she saw was that Carter had blocked her on all of his social media channels. This act came as no surprise to Wanda but that did not mean it was a painless event. She felt an immense amount of sorrow that was made only worse by the fact there was truly nothing she could do. She thought this moment would shape the rest of her year but little did she know there were much bigger things on the horizon. A month later, her mother received a call from her grandmother saying she was sick and needed Wanda's mother to take her to the hospital. Wanda did not feel bad for her grandmother as she disliked her so much but she did feel bad for her own mother because of the stress she knew this situation would cause her. Wanda was unable to focus on her grief over losing Carter or ask for sympathy from her parents as everyone's focus was on her grandmother.

"Wanda, come here, your grandma wants to talk to you," Wanda's father said. He had been on the phone with Wanda's mother who was at the hospital with Wanda's grandmother. "What the hell am I supposed to say to her?" Wanda pondered as she made her way towards her dad's phone. She managed to pull together some semblance of sentiment that sounded sincere enough to make her grandma happy. "Dad, get real. What are we looking at here? What's actually going on with grandma?" she said after the phone call had concluded. "Well, kiddo, to be brutally honest, it seems like this is it for grandma. The cancer has spread too far and due to her age, they can't operate on it. Do you know what hospice care means? Well, it basically is where they send patients they can't help with their illness so instead they work on making their last leg of life as peaceful as they can," her dad replied. Wanda could not think of what to say and luckily for her, she didn't have to because it was at this moment the doorbell rang. "Nick! I almost forgot you were supposed to come today. I am so sorry," Wanda apologized. "Oh it's no problem at all, especially considering what you're going through," Nick reassured her. He had come to pick up a Star Wars Lego set that her dad no longer wanted. "Dad, Nick is here! Can you get the set and help me put it in his dad's car?" Wanda yelled. Her dad rushed up the stairs with the set and before she knew it Nick was gone, her one reprieve from having to discuss her grandmother and why she was feeling no sadness over her.

"This is it, this is her final night with us," Wanda's mother said on the phone a few weeks later. "Oh geez, sweetie, I'm so sorry," Wanda's father replied. "I know, I know. I'm pretty torn up about it. Can you visit today with Wanda?" she inquired as she tried her best to hold back the tears. "Of course, I'll call an Uber now and we'll be there in half an hour," Wanda's dad stated. "Wanda, we gotta go! Your mum just called, it seems like your grandma only has a day left in her. It's final goodbyes time," her dad informed her. Rather than focusing on her grandmother's impending death, Wanda found herself rather selfishly thinking about her weekend plans. "What about the Morrissey concert tonight? I really wanted to go to that! And we booked tickets for Avengers Endgame for tomorrow! Don't tell me that it is cancelled!?" Wanda moaned. "Wanda there is bigger fish to fry right now! Come on, get ready to go," her dad huffed.

The moment Wanda had been dreading arrived, it was her turn to say goodbye to her grandmother. She did not dread it because she feared experiencing an uncontrollable wave of emotions, as a matter of fact, it was quite the opposite. She feared being unable to conjure up any tears or sadness and that that would in turn disappoint her mother who she loved so dearly. "I should have brought some onions to chop," she thought. As she stared at her grandmother's weak, nearly unconscious body, she felt nothing. She felt no remorse for things she had said to her, she felt no twinge of warm memories coming back to her mind, all she felt was guilt for her lack of emotions. The tears never came and as she walked away from her grandmother after saying her goodbyes, her mother and aunt applauded her strength which made her feel all the more guilty.

Luckily for Wanda, her weekend plans were left relatively unscathed. Her mother insisted her dad take her to see Morrissey because she felt it was unfair for Wanda to suffer any more losses than she already had. What was even more miraculous was that despite Wanda's grandmother dying in the early hours of the following morning, her mother still joined her father and herself to see Avenger's Endgame that very night. The days to come would be less easy for Wanda as it was then that she would be expected yet again to fake grief. First came several days of a visitation period where people could see Wanda's family at the funeral home. This was Wanda's worst nightmare because she was expected to do the very thing she hated: hugging and kissing distant relatives and then having to talk to them. The funeral was about a week after Wanda's grandmother died. Wanda was happy because it meant the end of a chaotic week. "Wanda, you're going to be cold, go get a jacket," her mother said before they left the house that morning. "Dad's still inside, can't he grab one of mine in the entrance?" Wanda replied. Unbeknownst to Wanda until she put on her jacket during the mass, the one her father had grabbed her was her cargo jacket that had all her pins on it, one of which had a satanic pentagram. Wanda looked giddily at the casket and thought, "I guess I get the last laugh,"