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Ravenwood Manor (Intro) |
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Cherry Blossom Trees (10)
Tragedy
 Created on 5-11-08
 Views(205)
 Story Rating G
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I watched Grandmary cautiously as she stared out at the moonlit lake. I was unable to comprehend anything that was going through her mind because no emotions played across her face. If I made a book of the makings of her mind and secrets I think it would be a very long one—at least 800 pages, but that is just a guess.
She suddenly craned her neck over to me and smiled delicately. Her dimples pierced through the heavy wrinkles that hung on her face.
“I never noticed how beautiful you were. You do look so much like your mother… same eyes, bone structure, everything.”
“Well, she gets it from you so it is a partial compliment to yourself.” I respond trying to get away from the subject of my mother and onto her.
“I guess,” Grandmary said with an indifferent shrug. “No one would be able to tell that now.” She then peered down into the lake and shook her head at her reflection.
“I think you’re beautiful.” I chimed and she surprises me with a hearty laugh that soon was interrupted by a cough.
“Natalie,” She pronounced my full name correctly; “you do know that I was born during the Great Depression and that I have lived through a war? Well, my point is that those two historic events don’t mean anything at all to me. The little things are the ones that get you here.” Grandmary gestured to her heart and I stared at it for what seemed like minutes.
“Please don’t talk like this.” My voice broke twice. “Stop it now!”
“Whatever do you mean Natalie?” She asked through furrowed white brows.
“Stop talking like you’re leaving, don’t just give up! Please don’t go… I need you!” I said between large sobs that shook my body. Grandmary pulled me into a hug and I cried pathetically in her shoulder.
“We all have to go sometime, and I happen to know that my time is almost up. But you,” She lifted up my chin so that our mirroring hazel eyes would meet, “you have a whole life ahead of you. Don’t let my leaving ruin it.”
“STOP!” I abruptly stood up and began pacing back and forth between the cherry blossom trees. “I love you Grandmary, please just get a doctor… if you won’t I will.”
“Natalie,” She said after a long sigh, “what is happening to me is completely natural. A doctor will just say the same thing. Please understand that I have lived a long life and I need to settle down.”
I shook my head violently which caused the tears to splatter onto the earth and tried very hard not to break into obnoxious sobs. I couldn’t believe she was just talking about it like it’s a good thing!
“I know you’ve been abandoned by almost everyone in your life, but I am not leaving you. I will still be in your memories and heart.”
“Please just keep trying… don’t give up, not yet. I want you here… who will look after the cherry blossom trees?” I began rambling on about anything to try and get her to reconsider.
“Well, isn’t that what yard workers do?”
“But that is just for the summer!” I snap through a mixture of sad and angry tears.
“It’ll all be taken care of Natalie, you have to accept—”
“Accept what? That you are just letting yourself die?!”
“Even if I didn’t want to die I have accepted my fate as should you. I don’t want to die, Natalie, no one should, but it is a natural part of life. Please don’t make this even more difficult when it is a fairly easy topic to understand.”
I said nothing because I could not think of anything while my thoughts were in the middle of scrambling themselves around my brain. So instead I stared off toward the lake with an angry expression.
A sudden darkness overcame the skies as clouds passed over the full moon. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Grandmary’s ashen hair glowing even more in the midst of the obscurity. After the longest time she finally spoke.
“I love you Natalie.” She said in a quiet voice. “I loved your mother too, but she was always the wild one. You are more subtle and I feel that I can relate to you more. Your heart is larger than you think, but every time you open it up to someone they hurt you.”
I stared at her dubiously for a minute and instead of speaking also I let her continue on with her psychiatry work.
“You feel that you are unlovable and that you don’t deserve any of the things you get. Your large heart is like a weakness to you, but you have no idea about what a gift it is. Out of all of my children and grandchildren, I have to admit you are the one I am proudest of. Favoritism isn’t a quality I like about people, but I do favorite you.” Grandmary continued with a sheepish glint in her eyes and I now felt at a loss of words.
“You are the only one whom has stood by my through my final moments and for that I thank you. You do not know how much it means to me… now if you would be a dear and lift me up so that I can sit at the bottom of my favorite tree.”
Since I had nothing to say I obediently grasped her frail body out of the lake and pulled her lightly over to the largest cherry blossom tree. She smiled in wonderment and traced her fingers across the base of the tree.
“I remember when this beauty was first planted… I watched it grow every day.” Grandmary said with a small chuckle. “For a while I even considered it my best friend.”
“You are my best friend.” I said after I finally got my voice back.
“Thank you, Nat.”
We sat in silence for the longest time until it was finally dawn and the sun began to rise above the horizon. The both of us spent a sleepless night together and I think that I will always remember that night for as long as I live.
The next day Grandmary told Jack and Sam to take a break from their hard labor and at first they both protested but after her persistence the two of them accepted. Sam walked over to me happily and suggested that the two of us would take a walk through the trails.
I accepted his kind gesture and we spent most of the day in the woods while Jack swam in the lake. It was mostly quiet and I would’ve been a little more romantic if the fact that Grandmary was ill hadn’t glued itself in my mind.
We finally rested atop a large hill and conversed about little things that really didn’t matter. I wonder how this relationship would last after the summer heat.
After a while he noticed my distress and decided it was best if we’d go back to the cottage. When we arrived Jack was still way out in the crystallized lake and Grandmary was rocking back and forth and the porch.
“Nice day isn’t it Nat?”
And I remembered just how she said it: her voice was thick with double meaning and I couldn’t help but notice that sad glint in her hazel eyes that were at the moment green.
Sam didn’t notice and personally I don’t think he cared because he was too busy shouting clever remarks at Jack who was probably muttering curses to himself so that Grandmary wouldn’t hear.
That was the first night I was actually able to sleep. I don’t know how it happened but within the first few minutes I was lying down in my bed my eyes had closed and the dreams began.
I remember that dream as if it were reality: Grandmary was sitting in the branches on the cherry blossom trees and was saying something I couldn’t understand. I kept going closer to her but she just disappeared into white dust that just floated off into the wind.
I woke up groggily the next morning as the sun pierced through my unclosed window. My eyes trailed over to the clock that read 10:00 a.m.
I had obviously overslept and I knew that Grandmary would be expecting her breakfast. From what I saw out the kitchen window, Sam and Jack were working like usual so today was like no other day. Quickly, I filled the tray and pranced elegantly up the spiral staircase and clicked open Grandmary’s room.
“I know I am late but—” I stopped short as the oatmeal filled bowl crashed onto the hardwood floor. I let it just mess up the room because I was in too much shock.
It felt like I couldn’t breathe and even though I readied for this moment I never actually believed it would happen so soon. August was around the corner and that means so is school.
A light blue smile was curled across her lips and her wrinkled body looked at peace. Tremors coursed through my body as I lunged for her bed.
“Grandmary?” I whispered even though I knew it was useless.
(Author's Note: Yes I truly did cry while writing this chapter. If you noticed I have changed the story type into a tragedy because that is what it is now. If you are interested in the music I listen to while writing this story the playlist is on my main page. Yes there are some songs I would have never listened to if I had never began story but they are my inspirations for Cherry Blossom Trees.)
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