Luna's Ghost

4

"You're here!" Grandma Marie cried happily as she rushed towards Mom and I.

We barely had time to brace ourselves when we were yanked into a huge, bone crushing hug from Grandma Marie as she wrapped her bony arms around us and squeezed. I wheezed as I felt the air leave my body.

"It's so good to see you!" Grandma Marie said as she squeezed us even tighter. I was pretty sure my ribs were going to crack.

"It's good to see you too, Mom," Mom said, her voice strained. "But let us go. Please. You're going to break our ribs."

Grandma Marie luckily released us. She gently placed her hands on my shoulders, held me at arms length, and looked me over before giving me a warm smile. "Sweetie, you've grown up so much. It was just yesterday I was holding you in my arms in the hospital, now you're almost all grown up. You've become such a beautiful young woman."

Grandma Marie turned to Mom and said, "How was your trip? Any trouble?"

"No, no trouble. Grace got a little carsick on the way, but we made it here just fine, though we are really tired."

"I bet." Grandma Marie ushered us inside. "Come on in. It's almost dark. I'll fix you both something to eat."

I felt my spirits lift (no pun intended) when she said that. My grandma was the best cook in the whole world. She could make a peanut butter sandwich and make taste like something Gordon Ramsay made.

Mom and I followed Grandma Marie inside and down a short hallway that led to a huge living room, with a long, red velvet couch that sat against the far wall, the walls a faint teal blue, the carpet a pale blue, a slick, brown coffee table with a long, crystalized vase holding water and a myriad of colorful flowers, two coasters sitting on either side of the vase, a huge, flat screen TV hanging on the wall, a bookshelf of movies on the left side of it with a huge speaker set on the right set of it.

I nearly gaped at the huge space. This was just the living room. I vaguely remembered Mom, Dad and I coming here to visit, but Grandma Marie started traveling to us so we stopped coming over to her house since Dad always hated driving all the way out here. It had been ages since I'd been in her house, and while I remembered it was pretty big, I didn't remember it being this big.

I heard Johnny give a low whistle from behind me. I glanced over my shoulder and saw him and Helen were looking around the place in interest.

"Luna, your grandma has a great place here," Helen observed as she continued to scan the living room.

I gave a slight, subtle nod in agreement and followed Mom and Grandma Maria through the doorway in the living room that led to the kitchen.

The rest of the night consisted of us all catching up, planning on the movers bringing the rest of our stuff up here tomorrow, eating Grandma Marie's heaven sent meatloaf. Helen and Johnny hung back in the background, watching us as they talked to each other. The dinner was going really well until Grandma Marie brought up that damned subject: school.

"Are you excited about going on Monday?" she asked, staring at me expectantly.

I grimaced. While I was excited about leaving my old school, I still wasn't looking forward to going to school. 'Cause it was, well, school. "No."

She actually looked confused. "Why not?"

"It's school, Grandma."