Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Soft rays of sunlight peer through your kitchen window, illuminating the granite countertop with a large bowl of fruit placed on top of it. Birds chirp outside and it all seems so pictorial. You hear laughter coming from upstairs, wrestling and rapid feet padding. You smile to yourself, a warm feeling in your chest.
You're facing the sink, hands wiping a plate free of jam and peanut butter from the youngest ones sweet sandwich earlier. "Grandma?" A soft, delicate voice asks from behind you, your head peeking over your shoulder to be met with a pair of blazing green eyes and long ash blonde hair. Isabella.
"Yes honey?" You ask with a warm smile, wiping your hands on a maroon dish towel before resting against the sink, facing her and watching with kind eyes as she walks closer. She's just turned 16, her skin youthful and glowing. She has his features, sharp cheeks and full lips.
"I'm writing a paper in school, it's about our grandparents and how their lives shape their grandchildren's. I was hoping you could tell me about grandpa? What was he like? How did you guys fall in love?" She asks, a small, hopeful smile spreading across her thin face, rounded and soft at the edges even with how prominent her facial structure is.
Your heart fills with happiness, something that has taken an entire decade to form. It was like fire at first, the love of your life passing away. It sent waves of shock and pain coursing through your chest every time you thought about him. You always said picturing your life without him felt like hell on earth, and when he was actually gone, you truly knew what it was like to burn from the inside out. But as you got older you realized that no one is ever really gone, the memory of him lives on every single day, as cliche as it sounds.
"Well," you begin, thinking back with a sense of nostalgia dancing in the highlights of your eyes. "He was funny, very funny. There was never a day I wasn't laughing. The first time we ever met he told the funniest joke that I still can't seem to remember after all these years, but I do remember it being so funny tears were pouring out of my eyes and I- I remember thinking 'this man is going to be the love of my life.' "
She listens with wide, adoring eyes, her heart full of hope and wonder. She's a hopeless romantic, just like you. Her expression wills you to continue, and you do so with complete joy. "I always described him as the sun. He was bright, and warm and full of light. He walked into a room and no matter how dark, it seemed to just burst with life and bliss. When I saw him for the very first time, my heart nearly exploded in my chest." She laughs at your statement, both of you giggling at the expression on your face.
"He was ginormous, six foot four with cheekbones that were fit for a model. His eyes were just like yours, so green when you got up close you almost couldn't believe they were real. That same night, when we were complete strangers who'd just met at a friends engagement party, it was nearly three in the morning, and I still remember it perfectly."
"You know, I can predict the future." His eyebrows quirk up as a smirk tugs at the corners of his rosy hued lips, elbows leaning on the counter in front of him so he can become more level with your face. You let out a laugh, pushing a strand of loose hair behind your ear as your fingers dance along the rim of the glass you're holding, filled with sprite since you aren't a huge fan of alcohol. "Is that so Mr. Skarsgård?"
"Mr. Skarsgård, I like that. You know you could be Mrs. Skarsgård one day, and that brings me to how I can predict the future." He begins, turning towards you with his elbow holding up his weight. "Picture this, big lawn, not a white picket fence, a red one, because our house is gonna be made of classic red bricks. Three little ones running around, two girls one boy. And then the grandchildren will come, two boys and one girl, to even it all out you know? Our granddaughters name has to be Isabella, it's my favorite girl name of all time, other than yours of course." Despite his humorous blabbering, his words sound nothing less than profound and-and honest. They sound honest.
"So that's why mom named me Isabella?" She almost looks like she's going to cry, and you pray she doesn't or else you'll follow right along after her. "It sure is. He knew that when we had a granddaughter she would have everything in the world, even if he wasn't in it." You reply, a soft look of sympathy finding its way onto your face. "Grandma, what's one of your favorite memories with him? Like, that stands out?"
She pulls out a stool and sits down, propping her head up with her hand. "Hmm, that's a hard one-oh! I know!" You say with a smile, pulling up a stool right in front of her so you can tell the story comfortably. "He took me to his home, Stockholm Sweden. I had never been, and it was just stunning. Everyone there was so beautiful and striking, a little scary if I'm honest since they all looked like they could kill you with their eyes, but still beautiful." You both laugh, placing your hands on top of each other. "But I remember walking through the streets when music started playing...-"
"Where is that coming from? Don't tell me the hills just radiate with sound frequencies, you guys aren't THAT cool." You say with a laugh, clinging onto his strong arm, buffed up due to a heavy black coat lined with wool placed on his slim, but trim body. "There is a music store just around the corner, every afternoon he plays a different song for cash, people wait around just to hear it." He says with a bright smile, looking down at you with adoration and joy. He feels so much pride in the fact that he's getting to share his culture and home with the love of his life, his heart almost can't take it.
You freeze in your tracks as you notice people around you gathering hands, clutching their lovers close and beginning to dance, causally, as if they're all in a movie and not in the middle of the sidewalk. "C'mon, don't be a foreigner." He says with a scrunched up nose, giving you a humorous expression as he holds out his two large hands, warm and welcoming. Though you act annoyed, in reality you just can't fathom how such a beautiful human being is real, and how he came from a place just as gorgeous. His eyes are like emeralds in the sunlight, skin like silk.
You give him a reluctant eye roll, a joyful smile spreading across your lips as you take his hands, warm and welcoming like they have always been. He twirls you around like you're made of the wind before gathering you in his warm embrace, spinning you back out again as violins play in the distance. The scent of sweets and floral filled your senses as you both danced along the cobblestone sidewalk, bumping into others that seemed just as delighted as you two. It was a dream, a dream that you wanted to last forever.
"I want a love like that." She says with lovesick eyes, her heart melting at the story. You gently reach up and stroke her soft cheek with the pad of your thumb, before pushing her golden hair behind her ears. "Darling, a love like that will find you. It always does. Loving another soul like your grandpa loved me, and I loved him, is one of the most beautiful experiences a human can have. When a love like that finds you, and it will, don't let it go." You reply with a warm, motherly smile, her expression softening as she listens and takes your words in.
You still feel him every day, when you wake up and make a cup of coffee, remembering him always saying "Don't let it sit, I like my coffee hot, like my women." You'd laugh out loud sometimes at the memory, almost being able to feel his lips on your cheek and strong hands on your hips. He was an angel on earth, and that is a title no one can take away from him. The love of your life was and never will be gone, and leaving him was never goodbye; it was simply an until we meet again, my love.
Hey y'all, I'm sobbing so that's great this made me emotional
But I HOPE YOU ALL LIKED IT! I haven't done one like this and my hopeless romantic heart was knocking on my chest like "open da fuck up, write this shit." So I did.
