What happened?

Part 17: Granny Phyllis

Amy

It's been two weeks since Christina arrived in Africa. I felt so secure and... protected next to her. Unfortunately I had to work anyways. I had one day to show her around and talk. I felt bad for leaving her alone throughout the days, but I couldn't just leave the students alone either. Christina usually spent her time sitting on the bed reading the letter over and over again to figure out what to do. Once I came home to her making cookies. She desperately tried not to look at me, but I saw that she cried. Nothing unusual to see. It became part of our lives.

"Katherine loved to make these..." she said while holding herself up on the sink and added "I always burned these when we were younger..." She tried to laugh up a little. I didn't say anything about her crying, because it would only make everything worse.

"Yes, I remember this. The entire house smelled like it's burning down." I laughed.

"Katherine hated me for that. She used to chase me through the house after."

"And then you ran into your little innocent sister... who was me." I said and after that Christina turned quiet.

"You... you remember? That's awesome!" she smiled and hugged me. I didn't think about it, it was just there. The smell or even the spirit must have reminded me.

"Is there anything else you remember?" she asked. I focused and thought about that cookie situation.

"Yes, there is something but I think it was much later. I think I loved sitting on the roof and the dock near our house. When was that?"

"I think you were around 10 or 12 years old. And yes, you definitely loved it. Mom always panicked when one of us was missing and you hid on the roof, so Mom didn't think it was funny. I had to find you everytime when it was around dinner time or something. When you sat on the dock all by yourself... crying, I refused to go back, I just sat next to you and we talked or just stared at the sunset. But that was back in Sacramento. When we moved to Malibu in 2010, you arrived at such a low point of your life. We all had a hard time moving away from El Dorado Hills.... that's why I don't really understand the Tennessee part. I would go back to California if I could. I couldn't cope with another place to live in. Not after all this. So many changes.."

"Well, our parents who lived there with us... die... em, are gone now. Maybe there are too many memories...for me there would be too many." I said.

"Did you ever think about why our family members didn't come to find us? Or why we never heard anything about them?" Christina asked. I didn't expect that question... and to be honest, I never thought about it. Life flashed in front of my eyes. I lost everything. I didn't really know who I was and where I came from... so of course I don't really remember my family. I probably wouldn't even recognize them.

"No... why do you think they didn't take a search?"

"Well, we don't know if they tried or not, but I still wonder why. I wished they were beside me...." she said and added  "but maybe they think we're dead.." and lowered her head. I stepped up to her. She had so much pain in her eyes. I was scared for a moment. I saw her crying and I know what we've been through but  that moment was terrifying.

I made her sit on the bed and she grabbed her pocket. She pulled out a crumbled piece of paper. She handed it to me. It was a really old, scratchy and dirty picture. You could barely see the persons face anymore.

"That's Phyllis. She's our grandma. I found this picture in my pocket back then. I didn't even remember putting it into it. I think mom gave it to me the day of the concert. She told me that Phyllis was sent to the hospital. She didn't want you or our sisters to worry but I heard her talking to someone on the phone that day. That picture survived a tsunami and stayed with me for 5 years. I wonder if Phyllis is still alive. I prayed for her every day. She gave me hope but I never told anyone about it. Since 2016, theres a different feeling. I don't know, I just have a bad feeling. Am I going crazy?" she said while I was just staring at the picture. I didn't know what to say. This woman seemed familiar to me. I thought I know her. But not from years ago. I felt like I've seen her before. But in my new life... not from before everything happened.

"Amy?" she smoothly poked me.

"Sorry, I just thought I know her." I answered.

"Of course you know her, she's our grandma." She looked at me. She seemed confused about my confusion.

"No... I mean yes. But I don't mean it like that. It's not like I saw her in my memory. I have clear memory of seeing her in my every day life... now. Not in the past."

This time she took the picture out of my hands and looked at it thoughtfully.

"What if she's actually here? What if she's taking care of us?"

*ding*...the cookies were ready. Christina stood up to get them out of the oven.  We both were kinda scared - I mean - speaking of ghosts and then having an alarm going off. I remained on the bed to think about it once again.

Who is that lady I saw multiple times before? Maybe it's just someone who looks similar to our grandma. But if I think about it, most of the people around me are black skinned.

"Ouch!" Christina screamed up and dropped the baking sheet. She burned herself. Seems like she was a little destroyed.. and yes, right after that she started crying and was about to slip down the kitchen counter. I stood up to catch her and got her a wet towel. I thought she cried because of the burn, but turned out the burn wasn't even that bad.

"Why is nothing working the way it was planned? I'm sick of this." she whined. It was not a new situation, but I really understood what was going on in her mind. I gave her a tight hug and waited until she calmed down. I was picking up the cookies from the floor when the phone started ringing.

"Hello?" I answered. A young lady replied.

"Ms Cimorelli? Lynne Cimorelli?"

I smirked and said it out loud. "Lynne". Christina got up and walked up to me. I looked at her and she whispered "Mom.."

"Hello?" the lady asked once again.

"Hello. No, not Lynne, but it's Amy Cimorelli. Her daughter." I replied.

"Oh, that's a pity. I read about your name on the internet. I thought I finally reached Ms Roche's daughter. Seems like I reached her granddaughter at least." Who's Ms Roche? I turned back to Christina and whispered that name to her.

"GRANDMA PHYLLIS??" Christina answered shocked. I turned on the speakers and waited for the lady to continue talking.

"Hello?.. well, okay since you're the first person I reach here's what I have to tell you... I'm so sorry, but Ms Phyllis Elaine Roche passed away last year. She seemed to have no family members that were in reach. We had the name Lynne Cimorelli, but no one else. We've been trying to find any remaining family members for almost a year. She was alone and isolated. One of the caretakers found her lifeless body in her bed that day. My sympathies."

Christina walked up to the window covering her mouth wit her hand and I just stayed quiet. Is that still coincidence? We talked about her just a few minutes ago.

"Miss? Are you still there? I'm so glad I finally found remaining family members. But as far as I can tell you are out of the US, is that right?"

"Yes, we're in South Africa and probably can't fly to the US anytime soon. What happened to Phyllis?"

"She was refrigerated for a few weeks but we couldn't find any next-of-kin. They buried her with other corpses of her case. You might wonder why I still come up with this. I didn't give up searching. My grandpa lived isolated as well. My agency stopped looking for Phyllis' family after she was buried, but I just didn't want Phyllis' to have the same lonely death as my grandpa had. Do you have something to write next to you? I want to tell you where her grave is."

"Colfax Cemetry, CA, Grave Number 325, Mass Grave of Unclaimed bodies." she said and added "I'm really sorry for your loss."

"Thank you.. Goodbye." I said and hung up.

I can't remember her the way I do. Did she really take care of us? After being near to death and finding all of my sisters, I think that everything is possible.