The Forgotten

Chapter 7

Right on schedule we heard a car pull up in the driveway, and a few seconds later, a knock at the door. I ran to open it, as my mother was lying on the couch watching Dr. Phil.

I opened the door. "Hi Aunt Joyce." I said. "Hey honey. Where your mom?" She asked. "Watching Dr Phil, over on the couch" I pointed to her. Aunt Joyce smiled. "Hey sis" she said in her playful tone, which I knew wouldn't last. "So where are your suitcases, and Jackson and Maria ?" Jackson and Maria were Aunt Joyce's kids, my cousins. Jackson was 16 and Maria was 14. There was another sister, Carrie, but she was 19 and had moved out. "Well my bag is in the car still, but I was only planning to stay the night. What's going on anyway?" She asked. "It's a long story, Joyce. Come sit down" my mother said. Aunt Joyce sat down, clutching her purse in a nervous way. "It's about Sarah." My mom said, "She went to the doctor one day, and since I lost my job we'd been really low on money, so the kids hadn't been to the doctor for a while, and it was about time Sarah went, she needed to get some shots and stuff" she explained, though it seemed she made the story unnecessarily detailed to avoid the ending. "The doctor told us she had leukemia, but it was too late to properly treat it and we could never afford the treatment." At this point my aunt was seemingly in shock and my mom was about to burst into tears, and so was I. I truly hated this story. "They kept her at the hospital and she was doing better each day, it seemed." She went on, "until one day she was doing worse then ever. The doctor called me in and said it could be her last day. I rushed to the hospital, but by the time I got there..." My mom just stopped and began sobbing. My aunt nodded in an understanding way, she didn't cry. But we could see tears welling up in her eyes. She was obviously in shock, it was so sudden. She excused herself to the bathroom. And within a few minutes she came out, her makeup ruined by tears. She calmed herself and walked over to us, "Well I'm going to need to stay a few extra days. I'm going to have to go back home to get the kids and some extra clothes." She said. "And I know you're not going to want to make the funeral arrangements yourself, so I can help with that also. I'll call the kids and tell them I'll be picking them up tomorrow. I will spend tonight here." She said, her once cheerful tone was completely gone. I wanted to cry again, but held back the tears.

Aunt Joyce called her kids and Carrie would come down for the funeral which was to be on Tuesday, the viewing on Monday. It was Thursday night now. Tomorrow Aunt Joyce would pick up Jackson and Maria and her extra things.

It was only 9:00, but I decided to go to sleep, I really didn't want to be around anyone right now.