Week 9! Flash Fiction

The hardest time of her life

It was January 2013, on a stormy winter's night. A young girl sitting on her couch had began to worry, as her parents were gone to visit her sick grandfather in the hospital. "Shouldn't they be home by now?" she thought, looking at the clock, wondering what could be taking them so long. 7:03pm the clock read. Thoughts of potential disasters that could've happened on their way home began to float through her head, as she thought of all the possible reasons why they weren't back yet. Then, at around 9:30 the sound of keys turning in the lock echoed through the house.

"They're home!" she thought excitedly, as her parents walked through the door. Knowing they were okay gave her a piece of mind, as she knows they had gotten home safely. However, that excitement quickly faded as she saw the painful look on her mother's face..

"He's gone...." her mother choked out, as she began to cry"

She knew what that one phrase had meant, and there it was. The true reason why her parents had taken so long to get home that night. The one person who had meant the most to her had been taken away, due to a terrible illness that couldn't be helped. Her world had come crashing down around her in an instant, as she realized her life would be forever changed. 

Questions of why, and how ran through her mind, as she ran to her room to spend her time alone. She could hear the sobbing from the kitchen, as her mother mourned the loss of a very special man. Oddly enough, she didn't shed a tear, due to her anger at the world she bottled it all up inside and sat in the darkness for hours. 

The following few days, as one would imagine would be the hardest days that this 16 year old girl would face up until that point. As she had to deal with strangers, and people she had only seen a handful of times in her life, coming up to her offering their condolences. Nothing helped, and she sure as hell did not want to deal with the hoards of people putting in their two cents worth about the situation. On the final day, as everyone gathered around the casket to say their final goodbyes as the casket was lowered, a sense of sadness flooded through her, and that's when the first tears she cried had fell. From that moment on she knew she would never see her grandfather again, and that she would never feel his loving hugs, or hear his sweet voice. From that moment on, she would be the withdrawn, incredibly unenthusiastic girl she is today. If you haven't already guessed it, that girl is me, and that had been the hardest time of my life