The Other Half of Me

Chapter 12 ~ Wilted Tulip

Elliot

I woke up to the sun's rays beaming through the window and aiming right at my face. I could've sworn I closed the curtains. I checked the time on my clock sitting on the nightstand. It was eight in the morning. I was about to go back to sleep until I remembered what today was: Grandma Aurelia's funeral. As I sat up, Trinity knocked on the door. I told her she could come in, and she opened the door. She was wearing an orange dress that reached her knees and white heels. She had her hair tied up in a neat bun, and she held orange tulips.

If it wasn't obvious already, Grandma Aurelia's favorite color was orange. She actually told us that she used to hate the color when she was young. It was because of her father; it was his favorite color. He was in and out of her life, only popping up when it was convenient. However, one day, she was at her grandparent's house, and there was a beautiful field of flowers, and despite all of them, her eyes locked on the singular orange tulip. She told us it was like she found a key to a door. Where did it lead her? I don't know. I guess that'll forever be a mystery.

"It's time to get dressed," she said. "Be ready in twenty minutes."

I nodded before she closed the door. I got up from the bed and went to my closet to pull out the orange tuxedo Trinity got me last week. I laid it on my bed before going to take a shower, brush my teeth, and wash my face. When I was done, I got dressed. I looked in the mirror. I've been here before. The last funeral I attended was my parent's. Me and Trinity didn't want to go, but we thought it'd be nice to say, "Fuck you," one last time.

Their funeral color theme was supposed to be white, but Arthur changed it to red. I remember feeling nothing when we sat and watched people give speeches about my parents. The way they viewed them made me think they were talking about two different people. They saw them as loving and happy, while me and Trinity saw them as abusive and selfish.

At least with this funeral, I actually have something nice to say about the person who died. Although me and Grandma Aurelia bumped heads, I cared for her because she was like a grandmother I never had. She was confident and headstrong—two things that I admire so much.

Before leaving my room, I made sure to grab the flash cards where I wrote down what I wanted to say at the funeral. At first, I wasn't going to speak, but Atticus really wanted me to. Plus, it wouldn't hurt to say a few words for Grandma Aurelia. If she lived long enough to see me die, I knew she wouldn't hesitate to tell stories about me, whether they pictured me in a good or bad light.

I left the house, locking the door behind me, and getting in the car. The funeral home was about thirty to forty minutes away. It depended on how heavy the traffic was. Are you fucking kidding me? The traffic was indeed heavy—like really heavy. I texted Destiny to let her know we might be late.

As me and Trinity moved up slowly, we saw that there was an accident. One of the cars was damaged, but the other was completely destroyed. Most likely, whoever was in that car didn't make it unless they got saved by their guardian angel. I found it ironic that I was heading to funeral, and on the way there, someone dies. I guess Grandma Aurelia was telling the truth when she said, "When I die, I will spread death around me." She said that during our Uno game when we went to visit her in the hospital.

It took a while for us to finally get past the area where the accident occurred. Luckily, not too much happened at the funeral home yet. I wanted to hurry and get there because I told Atticus I would do my speech first. I started reviewing what I wrote on the flashcards, and it made me realize that I probably shouldn't use them. I think I should talk from the heart instead of the brain since it would be more meaningful. Grandma Aurelia would've said, "Look at my demon making progress."