Silent Pain

When We Went to Visit Our Grandparents

At the end of the year in 6th grade, my parents arranged a family visit to our grandparents in Georgia. The night before our plane left, we drove out to Los Angeles and stayed in a hotel. The next day, we flew out to Atlanta. I remember how Allen and I sat next to each other on the flight. I was by the window, Allen leaned over and we pointed out cloud shapes and guessed what they looked like. Allen pointed out a cloud that looked like a skull and I pointed out a cloud that looked like a cruise ship. When we nearly landed, it cleared up and we looked down at the world below us. There were a lot of houses that looked like our grandparents' but we likely weren't going to fly over their house because of the direction the plane was going. That year, grandma's neighborhood had built a new swimming pool for the neighborhood. Allen and I went out and got water guns and other pool toys. On the hottest afternoon, we spent the entire time in the pool having water fights, racing from one end of the pool to the other and Allen even taught me how to dive. One day while we were there, it was storming, so my family and I just spent the day playing games and watching movies.

I always loved going to visit my grandparents. My dad's parents live in Georgia and every now and then, we go to our mom's parents' house in Minneapolis which is a lot of fun too.

The last time I saw my grandparents was at Allen's funeral. I don't think I've ever seen them that sad in my entire life. On my dad's side, Allen is the one that made them grandparents. On mom's side, it was my cousin Tina, she's about two years older than Allen. When Allen died, that was the only time I saw all of my family members on both sides at once. Tina leaned on my Aunt Avery's shoulder crying. Allen and Tina played a lot when they were kids, like how my mom and Aunt Avery played when they were little. With the impact of Allen's death and his case not solved yet, this has to be the worst time to be having all these flashbacks.

We went home from this trip three weeks later and I always hated leaving. For the rest of the summer, Allen and I rode our bikes around the neighborhood. Every now and then, we rode down to the high school and watched him shoot hoops. Allen was a star basketball player. He was on the boys varsity team when he was in high school and even made a record as the first freshman in the history of our high school's existence to make the varsity team in 9th grade. His college team and coach all said they were privileged to have him and when he died, they lost a strong, talented, and their best player. I remember seeing his team at the memorial. They looked so upset. When I saw his coach, I saw that his coach was trying not to cry. In the middle of my flashback, my mom knocked on my door. I answered it and she told me that there was going to be an investigation to find the person responsible for Allen's death. All I can think of now is how much I want this guy to get convicted and sentenced.