Her usually calm, peaceful mother sat on the couch. Her head lay on fathers shoulder weeping softly. She walked up and stood in front. Not prying to ask, just waiting. Her mom pats the cushion next to her. She listens and sits down. After what seemed to be quite a long time, which was unusual for their family, her mother cleared her throat and composed herself enough to talk about it. She began by asking a question. "Do you remember Grandpa William?" Her mother sniffed.
"I guess I do but whats whats wrong mom?"
"He....well he.."
"His neighbor Mark found him this morning. They think the injuries were self inflicted but we wont know until some time later this week. Im sorry honey." Her dad assisted.
She sat quietly on the couch. It was a lot to process very suddenly. She didnt have many memories of Grandpa Will. The few she had were spread out and far in between but what she remembered most about him was his ability to listen. Grandpa Will was one of the few if not the sole person who knew what she was going through. They would stay up, sometimes for hours even on school nights, just talking about whatever came to mind. She was very young at the time but cherished every second she had with him. When she was about 7 years old Grandpa had to move far away because of personal reasons. She never fully understood what reasons those were until now. Grandpa was suffering and he chose a way to make it stop. She wished life could be that easy for her, to just decide to be done, but she couldnt possibly stand to see what kind of distress she would leave behind if she did. Will was a great man but he had had enough of it. What hurt her the most was that he could just leave without saying anything.
"Are you alright?" Her dad asked.
"I dont know what I am right now.."
"As long as we all realize it was not our fault. People make their own choices. Some good and some obviously not so good."
Her dad was good with words and exaining things but she felt sometimes he just needed to shut up and stop talking. Of course it wasnt a good decision anyone could tell it didnt need to keep talking about it. He didnt see that he was just making things worse.
What was there to do? On one end she didnt see a reason to be too upset about it, he left them to be on his own it was his fault. But then again could she even say that? He was the only person that would ever listen to or understand her. Would it be like betrayal to not be torn down by this. She felt that due to the absence of a current emotion she had to manufacture one that would work in this situation until she figured out what she was feeling.
