Virgin Sins | Harry Styles

Brother's Antics

There was an old two-story house which sat at the end of a twisted, dirt road. The narrow path was bordered on each side by a terrace of tall pine trees, and it was the home of Nina's grandmother, Mary. It had been for years.

Driving down the long driveway, the house was a blur behind the rain-washed window of a deep blue, shiny pickup truck. The house was large, in a generous way, due to housing being so cheap in such an unknown town. The car also belonged to the elderly lady, but unlike the rusted house, it was much newer.

On the outside of the rain-stained car window, the building took a more detailed form, the paintwork on the wooden, outer layer was a washed up white, looking more of a light grey as it cracked along the edges of each window.

The driveway wound to a double oak front door, that creaked in the harsh wind and the wide windows, which were glazed with the light that escaped through the thick curtains from the inside. 

An old, rusted car was parked up around the side of the two-story, framed house. The car was old, having faded and discolored paint and dirt printed along the dusty sides as it stood out among a clump of trees behind it. Nina always presumed it was her grandmother's old car.

The elderly woman sat beside her, having picked her up from the end of a long school day, much like everyday before this one. She was quite tall and slim, her long grey hair neat and styled in a long ponytail as it was clasped together with a black scrunchy. Her face is made up with discrete make-up, except her lips which were thickly painted a cherry red. 

Were she any paler, her blue eyes would substitute for the ocean next to untouched sand. Her eyes against her skin looks just right. She would've been beautiful in her younger years, but today, her once smooth face was a cracked and wrinkled one. When she extends her cold hands to place something into Nina's own, she notices the soil beneath her finger nails. She's a passionate gardener, as well as cook, but the garden which surrounded her own was ruined and soiled due to the harsh weather lately.

"Lolly?" She croaks, offering Nina whilst popping an old candy into her mouth, the type of candy that is rock-solid and bitter in a wine taste. The type of candy every elder has lying at the bottoms of their purses.

"No thanks."  Nina smiles. 

She can hear the hard lolly in Mary's mouth as it swipes against her teeth but then she bites down into the hard surface of it, and the sound almost echoes in Nina's ears. She grimaces. 

It was a relief when they finally parked in the gravelled drive way. Both hopping out of the tall, pickup truck. Mary taking much longer than Nina.

The pair spoke only little to each other. They respected and loved one another traditionally, but grandmother Mary was never somebody Nina felt comfortable enough to confide to, her grandmother had enough problems of her own.

She was a weak lady. Nina always thought.

Nina and her brother grieved for the loss of the woman they did not know, the woman that was missing from their lives. But their grandmother mourned to a point where she also lost herself, much like her daughter's life was.

The grief came in waves and threatened to consume the woman entirely. It was like a silent monster which would come to her in the night as her mind swirled before she could fall into a deep sleep. She was at the mercy of it's whims and at times it hit her with such ferocity she feared it would leave her an empty shell.

She can never discard the feeling of emptiness in her, a shear of nothingness that somehow takes over and holds her soul and threatens to kill her entirely. Everyday her heart is replaced by a heavy feeling that is like the weight of the world is resting the on the woman's shoulders and there is nothing she can do to get out from under it.