Til Kingdom Come [Harry Styles- Bk 4]

ch.11 Seventeen Again

We all stared at Nonna as she lay under the covers, all smug and cozy, but still a bit embarrased. I looked at the pill bottle and back at Nonna. She cleared her throat awkwardly.

"Nonna" I gasped. I had no idea how to string a coherent question or statement in order to answer or ask what on earth is going on. How could my 60 some year old grandmother be taking street drugs?!

I looked to Danny and Gemma, but they were just as suprised and awestruck as me. The doctor grinned slightly, never having had any experience with grandmothers who had drug problems.

I leaned closer to Nonna and knelt by her bed.

"They're better than LSD" she shrugged her shoulders. "Quite tasty if you ask me" she grinned.

I glared at her in disbelief.

"Mrs. Santini, you have taken LSD as well?" the doctor interrupted.

Nonna patted her chest proudly.

"And hashish when I was in Kandahar in the spring of '66" she added casually.

"Nonna, what the--"

"How did you think I got all those visions?" she whispered loudly.

I dropped the pill bottle. I watched as creases formed around her round brown eyes and her lips turned upward at the ends. 

"Nonna, I-" I shook my head, unable to continue.

"They never gave me any real problems" Nonna reasoned.

"Nonna--"

"Honestly, Angela. They were just for kicks. Old ladies need to have some fun, too ya know" she raised a withering finger.

"Nonna, you had a heart attack because of them!" I screamed.

"No" Nonna resisted.

My mouth hung open.

"I had a heart attack because I'm old, not because of drugs" she insisted.

"Mrs. Santini--" the doctor reasoned.

"No. I'm fine. And I'm not addicted. I'm fine, really, Angela" she nodded quickly.

"Nonna, you need to let us help you" Danny interrupted softly, but still insistently.

Nonna tightened up under the covers and shook her head hurriedly.

"I'm fine, Juliano, I'm completely fine" she insisted yet again.

"Juliano?" Danny murmured.

"Where is Cris?" Nonna asked loudly.

She searched the room frantically. "He told me to meet him after school but I don't want to go. He gave me a rose and I don't want it. I don't want him. No, I do, but my father will never let me love him" Nonna murmured hysterically.

Danny, Gemma, and I exchanged confused glances. 

"CRISTIANO!?" Nonna screamed. She jolted up and ran down the hall, searching for her old lover. But she knows he is dead. She was with him when he died.

"Nonna, Cristiano isn't here" I reminded her quietly. 

Nonna turned to me and blinked as if she didn't recognize me. Well, she didn't recognize the person I really was. Instead, she narrowed her eyes so fiercely, I thought she was trying to poison me with her gaze.

"Momma" Marco whispered to Gemma. "Why is nonna angry?" he asked worriedly.

"Nonna's  ok, baby" Gemma kissed Marco's cheek and took him to his room.

Nonna glared at me.

"I want to see Cristiano" she hissed.

I shook my head and backed away slowly. Danny wrapped his arm around my shoulder, holding me a bit farther from Nonna-- or whoever it was that was in her body now.

"Where is CRISTIANO!?" she screamed.

"Mrs. Santini, please calm down" the doctor interrupted.

Nonna blinked.

"Mrs?" she whispered. Her eyes softened in eager disbelief. "I'm not his wife" she giggled. "I wish..." she mumbled under her breath.

The doctor took Nonna's hand and led her back to her bed. 

"Nonna" I called.  But she wasn't Nonna, she was a younger, deluded version of herself. She was 17 again.

I took a deep breath and walked to her.

"Farasha?" I whispered.

Her glare softened and she nodded like a school girl meeting a fellow school girl.

"How do you know my name?" she asked quietly, but still a bit suspiciously.

My heart sunk in my chest. I lost my nonna. I lost her and she lost herself, too.

The doctor calmed Nonna down and slowly sat back in her bed. When her eyes started to close, the doctor took a sample of her blood and took notes in his journal.

Danny and I sat on the couch, staring at Nonna, completely He scratched his head and sighed loudly at the end.

"She's right; the drugs didn't do much to cause her heart attack, well, the methamphetamines did heighten her nervous system, but other than that, they triggered something in her brain" the doctor explained.

I nodded hurriedly. None of the scientific terms were settling in my mind. I just wanted to know what was wrong and what I could do to fix it. Danny clenched his fist to calm him down.

"You see, sometimes when people take different street drugs over time, their systems never fully clense themselves of the chemicals and they have mini 'sparks' of activity that cause a depletion of the Achtocholine levels in their brains. This causes a mini relapse in the memory" he continued.

Memory?

I bit my lower lip, tearing it slightly and drawing blood accidentally.

"Of course there is no exact cause of this disorder, but there are a great number of contributing factors" the doctor rambled.

Disorder?

"I mean I could be labeling her too early, but from what she has admitted and what her blood samples show--"

"What's wrong with her?" Danny asked bluntly.

"Alzheimers"