Relocating

Aunt Mary

I exited the cab I took to Aunt Mary's house. Connecticut felt stage to me. I was walking up to a door that felt strange to me. It was more like a dream than reality. Aunt Mary opened the door and hugged me tight. I hadn't seen her in about five months.

"You look so different!" She states.

"So do you." I say. She does look different. She looks sick.

"Well. Come on in." She says and I stare at her.

Aunt Mary has changed. She looks worn out and cold. Like I said, sick. She's wearing a sweater and baggy sweat pants. It's 90 degrees and she's only forty.

"Are you okay?" I ask and she shakes her head.

"No. That's why I wanted you to come." She says and my eyes go wide.

"What?" I say weakly.

"I have lung cancer. I actually have to sell my house and my stuff. I'm moving into a nurse home. I'm, well, deteriorating I guess." She says.

I put my head in my hands an cry. No, I sob. Aunt Mary can't die! She's all I have left. My parents are dead for Christ's sake! How could I be so unlucky! What the hell?! I'm pulling my hair and I feel her grab my shoulder and shake me. She says my name. I hear it, but don't really process it. I'm tearing myself apart.

"Rachel!" She shouts and I look up.

"Don't make this worse than it seems Rachel!" She yells.

"You just told me you have to leave your house because you're dying! How is that not bad?!" I yell back and continue to cry.

"I have awhile. You don't even have to stay here! We'll be fine, alright? You can go back to San Francisco. I'll have my doctor call you if anything goes wrong. You can say goodbye and boom! It'll be over." She says like it's nothing.

"Aunt Mary!" I shout.

"It's almost my time. I've had lung cancer for awhile. I can't change that. I smoked when I was your age and ruined my lungs. It's karma now. Okay? Not your fault. I just need help moving out." She says and I nod.

"Well, lets get to it tomorrow." She says and claps her hands together.

I wake up early and make her breakfast. She decided it was her last day in this house. I partially grew up in this house as a kid. I start to cry when I think of my parents. Aunt May comes down and begins packing for the nursing home.

I wipe my tears. We walk around the house and sort through things. She tells me to put a sticky note on items for the Salvation Army. It's almost everything in her house. The only things decides to keep are some clothes, a photo album, her fathers pocket-watch, and I few pieces of jewelry. Everything else gets put in a moving van for the Salvation Army.

I drive her to her new home and sit with her while she's admitted in. She has her own room on the first floor. It's a corner room near all of the work offices. She's away for the other units a bit. It's a nice green room with a TV, Bathroom, dresser, and bed table. It also has a small love seat. She smiles at me as I unpack her things. I wipe more tears that fall as she rests on her bed. I go sit with her on her bed. She holds my hand.

"I'd like to tell you something else now, okay?" She says and I get worried.

"Yes?" I ask.

"I wrote my will. There's not much to read. Read it after I die. I'll give you a hint, though." She says.

"What?" I ask.

"It's all yours. The money from the house, the money from selling the car, anything and everything." She says.

"No. I don't want to talk like that or think like that Aunt Mary."

She wasn't even dead and I didn't want to be reminded she was going to die soon.