Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman Fanfiction

Celebrating Life

The weather was much warmer as it was a few months ago. All of the snow had already melted. The temperature only made it up to sixty degrees. Some flowers had started to bloom and the grass started to turn green. Trees started to grow leaves again. It was a Sunday on April 28th. Today was also a special day. An important day, actually. I always had trouble participating on that date. I had to stay home today from Ruff's house because of this event. All four of us stayed, in fact. It wasn't an ordinary afternoon. Aunt Cynthia was blowing up balloons with helium, Kyle was lighting up the candles and Hazel was preparing the card.

"Ruby, can you get the roses from the counter top?" Aunt Cynthia asked.

"Sure." I ran to the kitchen to get the roses we picked from the garden this morning and handed them to her.

"I can't believe it's already been this long," Kyle said as he was holding an old frame.

"I know. Hey, Hazel, where's the card?" I replied.

"Right here." She flew to me and gave it to me.

"I need to hole punch this. I'll be right back," Kyle replied.

"Is this enough balloons?" Aunt Cynthia had at least five balloons tied with ribbons in her hand.

"Yeah, that's enough," I replied.

Kyle came back with the card after he punched a hole in the corner of it. We all signed our names and wrote a short note next to our names. Aunt Cynthia grabbed the old frame and placed it on the table in the living room. Kyle got the roses and the candles and surrounded the frame them. We all got together and started at the frame for a while. We had it for a very long time now. The frame contained a picture of Margaret Light, a family member. It was part of our family tradition to remember her; every year on this date, we would honor her by releasing balloons outside. Today was the ten-year anniversary of her passing. It was a pretty big deal to us.

"If only she were still alive, she would be so proud of all of you," Aunt Cynthia said.

"Yeah, it been a hard ten years," Kyle replied.

"She was a wonderful person," she said.

"I'm sorry for your loss, guys," Hazel replied.

"Ruby, I wish you were old enough to remember how much she cared about you. You were still a baby. In fact, she cared about all of you, including Sadie and your father," Aunt Cynthia responded.

I didn't have anything to say. Instead, I went up into my room and locked the door. I laid on my bed and thought about my entire life. Back in Texas, I remembered Dad telling me about Mom while I was still very young. I just tried to imagine that she was still with us and that she was just on a long business trip, which is why we couldn't see her. When I was younger, I would pretend to talk to her and play with her even after Dad told me the truth. It never really hit me that she's gone forever. We didn't have much left of her since Dad decided to keep everything in Texas. I always kept that old photo of her in my room, sitting on my drawers as a memory. However, the only thing I really wanted was to meet her physically. I tried all of the possible places where she could be at, but Dad always told me that she was gone this whole time. A few minutes later, I heard a knock on the door. I got up to answer it and Kyle was standing there.

"Oh, hey," I sighed.

"Ruby, why aren't you here with the rest of us?" he asked.

"Well, it's nothing," I lied.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Well, yeah...No," I replied.

"We need to talk then," he said. He came in and closed the door. He sat on my bed. "Have a seat." I sat down next to him.

"Kyle, I'm fine," I lied.

"No, you're not. You're not yourself," he replied. "What's bothering you?"

"Mom is," I replied.

"Mom? What about her?" he asked.

"Well, it's not Mom. It's about her. I just want her to be here," I expressed.

"Ruby, she can't be with us. She's gone," he replied.

"I know she's gone. I just can't realize that it will never be the same without her," I sobbed.

"I know it's hard, but we're going through this together," he said.

"I just pretend that she was alive the past ten years," I replied.

"Ruby, you can't live in your past forever. Mom would want you to move on. You have to continue your life without her," he explained.

"But I miss her," I sobbed.

"We all do. It's normal to feel like this when someone dies. However, we can always remember her as much as we want to. We have the picture and Dad never got rid of her belongings. He kept everything in a closet," he explained.

"I know that," I said.

"Here's the thing. Sadness is the clouds in the sky. Sometimes, they'll be there and other times, they're gone. Happiness is the sun in the sky. You can see it sometimes and other times, you can't," he explained.

"Really?" I replied.

"It's true, alright," he said.

"Griefing is one challenge, but moving on is the next step. If you ever need anything, we're here for you," he explained. "By the way, were about to release the balloons. You should join us."

Later, we all went outside into our backyard. Aunt Cynthia had the balloons. The card was tied to them. We decided to say our last goodbye before releasing them. I finally wrote my note on the card. Then, Kyle and I were holding the balloons together. On the count of three, we let the balloons fly on their own. My eyes got watery as I saw them float away.

"I love you, Mom," I whispered.