Anastasia

Part 3

That night Ana still couldn't sleep, so she laid flat on her bed and watched the moonlight dance on the ceiling above her. The only thing that occupied her thoughts were her grandfather's words. She knew their time together was coming close to an end but it seemed closer now than it ever had before. If he wouldn't be able to watch her graduate high school, even if it was in the confines of their house; then their time was only a few years longer at most. She would miss her grandfather, and she knew time spent with him was precious and needed to be cherished. At that moment in her 13 year old mind she made the decision right there that she would ease his conscious one way or another.

The day after the next, Ana asked her grandmother if she could go shopping for a few dresses; her grandmother was ecstatic with the idea and took her the next hour. 

In a small shop in town Ana picked out an odd assortment of dresses. A long white one with a ball gown fit to it, a navy blue one that was straight and reached the ground to cover her toes and a yellow one that matched the hair ribbon that her grandfather had bought her when she was 10.

 Upon getting home that night she asked both her grandparents what they would be doing the next day or if they had any plans to go out. With their assurance of clear schedules she insisted that both of them were to wear their best outfits. Though this left the two elders puzzled, they agreed nonetheless.

The next morning Ana woke up especially early, even before the sun had made its way over the horizon; to arrange different rooms in the house into what she needed them for. In the most quite manner as possible, as to not wake her sleeping grandparents. Chairs were picked up and carried if possible, and couches were moved in the softest of ways. Each creak was swallowed by the air before it could make its way to the upstairs floor. 

When her grandparents made their way down the stairs in their best clothes, as previously  promised, Ana told them to take a seat in the couch facing the stairs. After a few minutes Anas voice rang out in a deep imitation announcer voice; "And now Anastasia Marie Green will enter the stage to accept her high school diploma, she will be our youngest graduating student this year from 429 Mulberry." Ana gracefully made her way down the steps in her long blue dress. She bowed and curtsied as she walked to the center of the living room and stopped right in front of her grandparents. 

She continued in her regular soft voice saying; " I would like to thank my grandparents for all they have done for me, my grandmother for teaching me all I know, and my grandfather for making me love what I had to learn." She then did a quick bow and announced it was time for refreshments. Set on the dining room table was an assortment of fruits and some sweet bread with jam. While they sat eating Ana told them of her want for them to not have to miss anything in her life, so they would be doing some of it now.

Her grandmother gave her husband a side eyed glance, quick enough to only be seen between the two of them, but meaningful nonetheless. It was evident in the woman's face that she knew what this was about, and she wanted to appease her granddaughters wishes, or rather that of her husbands. So with a quick "that is very sweet of you darling, what is next on the schedule, I'm quite curious" Ana of course kept her lips sealed as to keep it a surprise.

Once Ana had cleaned up after breakfast, she told her grandmother to stand in the living room at the far end; away from the stairs and for her grandfather to stand right at the base of them. She claimed she had to change for the next part and the next time they saw her she was wearing her new white dress. Ana began to hum when she met her grandfather at the base of the steps, they walked down the pathway created by the couches and meet her grandmother at the end of it.

It was a lovely service, all who attended had a wonderful time, and the 'bride' was especially beautiful in the eyes of her grandparents. 

When Ana went back upstairs to change, she never got to reveal to her grandparents what she planned for the yellow dress. She had told them to sit at the dining room table, but on her way down from her room she began to cough uncontrollably.

 Her hair was still in its ribbon when they made it to the hospital, her dress still fully intact, but Anas health had been getting worse the whole ride in the ambulance. She had been in and out of consciousness and her pulse was weakening by the second. Little fits of coughing erupted from her throat, but other than that no noise was made by the girl.

Her grandparents were there, taking turns as if in perfectly rehearsed shifts, one screaming for the doctors to do something while the other cried into their shoulder, and switching off every few minutes. 

Needles were stuck, pressure was applied, CPR was given, but the girl was still getting worse. 

The doctors didn't know how to treat this form of cancer and the only thing they could do for Ana was to make her comfortable. 

When Ana stopped breathing all together, and her heart stoped beating, her dress had still been perfectly laid on her, her hair had still been in her yellow ribbon, somehow untouched by the recent events, and that was how she had stayed. Not a hair out of place, not a wrinkle in her dress, as she laid in her wooden bed. And she was able to rest.