Unexpected

New Responsibilities and Old Memories

"Hey, I'm home!" I called out into the house as I entered it, having found the spare keys hidden in the fence near my grandparents' garage as I usually did. As soon as the words passed my lips, though, I wished I could suck them back in, because the house was empty. No one lived here anymore. The occupants, my Grams and Grumps, were gone and they wouldn't be coming back.

My lips trembled as this realization fell heavily on me. Kicking off my shoes, I tried to hold back my tears as I ambled through the house, letting my finger trail over walls, countertops, and furniture. Everything in this house was so familiar from the leather couch in the living room to the pristinely made bed covers in what was once my grandparents' room. It was all too still, though. The house was too quiet. There were no words of greeting, no humming, no bickering, and no calls of "Jacob" as Grams called for assistance with something. There wasn't even the slight whisper of book pages being turned. The house still smelled like them, like coffee, mature perfume and cologne, and age. I wanted to bury my face into the covers so that I could commit the smell to memory, but I didn't, afraid to even put one crease into fabric. It would be like disrupting a shrine it seemed. I knew that eventually I would have to go through the house, through my grandparents belongings as part of the process of taking care of their affairs, but I wasn't ready to do that yet.

That night I stayed in my old room, which was the only room I didn't hesitate to touch and move things in, but I hardly slept. I was too afraid of the nightmares the empty house and my grief would spawn. Instead I lay awake, staring at my ceiling, my fingers mindlessly twiddling with the pendant of my necklace as I considered what the next day would bring.

Aunt Lori called me out on how tired I looked when we met with my grandparents' lawyers to go over the reading of the will the next morning. Family from both Grumps' and Grams' side had come, including Aunt Lori and her husband. It was no great surprise when the lawyer told us that the house along with most of my grandparents' possessions went to me. A few guns went to Uncle Bob, some of Grams' mother's jewelry to her sisters, amongst a few other things to various family members.

For once, unlike at family reunions, no one seemed to have any complaints. No one fought for 'their right' or whatever. Maybe it was because of how small I had become in my chair as my shoulders slumped forward as I tried to contain my tears. They probably kept their tongues simply because they thought I had gone through enough as it is.

The lawyer set up for my grandparents' possessions to be transferred to me, telling me where to sign and assuring me that everything would be in order by the end of the work week. I followed their instructions blankly, though Uncle Greg, Aunt Lori's husband, kept an alert ear on the lawyers as they explained everything to me in their jargon that I probably wouldn't understand even if I could truly focus on what they were telling me. I was grateful for this, but also because while everyone else had left, they were staying with me to go to my appointment at the funeral home.

I hated the place as soon as I stepped into it. The AC felt like it was turned on even in the freezing end of February and the halls were far too quiet. It smelled of strong chemical cleaners and every worker we met seemed waxy with fake smiles and clothes that were far too neat, almost like the corpses they dealt with regularly. The funeral director spoke quietly to us like he was afraid of waking anything up should he speak too loudly; his balding head shining under the lights as he showed us caskets and the hall where the funeral would take place.

My grandparents' combined will had given a few instructions as to their funeral. They didn't want an open casket funeral, and they wanted to be buried side by side with a headstone designed for both of their names to appear on it. I couldn't refuse their final wishes.