The Life of Charlotte Diaz

Chapter 6. Don't Leave Me

"He seems like a nice, young man," my pencil jerked to the side at the sound of my grandma's voice. I breathed in deeply through my nose, before turning my pencil in my hand to erase the line that curved past my paper. "Are you two friends?" She asked politely, while I just shrugged in response. I could practically see her lips pulling into a small frown. "Come on, Charlie, give me something. You haven't had friends over since..." she trailed off, while I stiffened up and gulped.

I shot her a deathly glare. I heard her audible sigh, before she walked over and sat in front of me on the bed.

It felt as if her eyes were piercing into my soul, with the way she stared at me. Yet, I still didn't look up. I didn't want to. I didn't want to see the pain in her eyes. I didn't want to have another one of these conversations.

"I know, it's hard, but having friends isn't so bad." I scoffed at that, a dark smile slipping onto my lips, though I made sure she didn't see it. "He seems like a good guy, Charlie. All I'm saying is that you could use a friend-'

I clenched my jaw, biting the tip of my tongue to stop from speaking the words that wanted to flow out so suddenly. My eyes filled with anger at her weak attempt to get me to talk.  I licked my dry lips, my eyes finally gazing at my grandmother's own narrowed ones. I rolled my eyes in annoyance at her pleading expression.

Suddenly, her's darkened with her own annoyance. 

"Ya'know, I may not be your mother but I am your grandmother and legal guardian, so you will respect that." Her voice was so stern, it had my insides cringing when I realized I had caused that. My grandmother usually never uses that voice with me, but when she does, it's because she's either really stressed or she knows she needs to use that kind of tone.

Her eyes softened at my expression, and she sighed out loud. "I'm sorry, baby. I don't like using that tone as much as you do. I'm sorry for snappin' at you though, I didn't mean it." She let out, and my eyes zeroed in on the purple bags beneath her eyes. Concern bubbled through me at how tired I realized my grandmother really was. I put my homework away in my folder and then proceeded to scoot closer to her.

I wrapped my arms around her waist, as her own arms came around mine. A small smile played at my lips when the warmth of the hug began to seep into my bones. My grandma always had that loving and caring effect though. She was from the South, so she was raised with a southern accent and loved making home-cooked meals filled with love.

I rested my head on her shoulders. Then, I gestured to the door. She knew what I was trying to say. Sleep. A weak chuckle left her lips, and she craned her neck to look at me.

"I don't need to sleep-"

Before she could finish I already cut her off with a shake of my head. I gestured to her room, which was right down the hall from mine, knowing that with all of the stress going about, she needed it.

Finally, her eyes softened again, and she nodded her head. "Alright then, baby. I'll sleep just so you can stop worrying 'bout me. I love you darling. See you in the mornin'." With those words left to linger in the air, she leant down and placed a gentle kiss on my forehead, before getting up slowly, and limping to her room.

At that moment, worry struck me hard. She was weakening, my grandma. Her muscles were tiring out more, her skin was turning pale, her movements were becoming slower, and she wasn't getting a lot of sleep.

Soon.

I knew it would be soon. I knew the inevitable would happen at any moment. Which meant that I could have to prepare for it. I would have to prepare for the death of the only family I had left.