Loved With No Bounds.

𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 7

                                                                                  ~Grace~ 

They say death brings a family closer.  I've seen it. Many years of disagreement, brushed away with the loss of a loved one. However, the Kings have never felt this.  When my grandmother passed away, my parents and uncles, and aunt stuck together to make her last rights as respectful as possible.  

But my siblings and I drifted apart.  Sarah is the oldest sibling, followed by me and leaving Caden to be the youngest. We were all close to my grandmother, but as she grew more ill, we knew we had options, keep her heartbeat running on a machine. Or, let her fly with the birds in the sky. I specifically remember when her weak hand gripped my wrist and her exhausted eyes begged me to listen to her plea. She asked that when we arrived at our decision-making, that we let her go.  She didn't want to suffer on a hospital bed with a machine holding her back. She wanted to fly with the birds.  I understood her request, at first I thought why wouldn't she want us to try everything that we could to allow her to stay with us, but as I placed myself in her situation, I realized that her request was much more peaceful. 

Despite the dying woman's request, her controlling son demanded that we try to keep her with us. When I finally explained to them why they should let her go, to my utter surprise they agreed. 

My siblings, however, did not.  

So, after they pulled the plug. My siblings pulled an imaginary string of hate for me along with them. I always knew it was there. Sarah was good at hiding it. Caden wasn't good, but he didn't rub it in my face. But as of lately, he isn't even trying to hide it. 

"Grace!" Isabel's voice plucks me from my thoughts. I shift my gaze from the floor of the mall onto her. 

"Which one?" she asks me, holding a black lace dress and a black silk dress. 

I study them both and eventually point to the lace dress. Due to my lack of words, she glares at me. 

"Spill it." she says, her hand resting on her hip. 

"What? My coffee?" I ask her innocently and she rolls her eyes causing me to chuckle. 

"You know what!"  I sigh.

"I was thinking about Caden and his utter hate for me." I mumble. 

"Caden is an ass. He hates you for something you were told to do. At least Sarah understood that much si?" I nod.

"Before she killed her father-in-law  and ran away, saying she hated me." I mumble. 

Yes. My sister has killed her father-in-law and ran the heck away. As my father quoted 'Far, far away from the Kings.' It doesn't seem like her. Especially the 'Tell Gracelyn I hate her' part. 

It's nothing like my older sister. She, for starters never uses my full name.  

"What color are you wearing?" Isabel asks  me. 

"White." I mumble, taking a sip of my coffee. We were at the mall, looking for a dress for Isabel, I on the other hand had my dress picked out since last week.  Tonight was the signing ceremony for Ricco.  

Speaking of things from last week, Ricco and I haven't spoken since we hugged. He had to leave and I needed him to leave in order to think. And breathe. 

The hug was physically a normal hug, we hugged before. But this time, the burning sensation on my skin was even more intense than when we'd hug as kids. My heart didn't skip a beat like it did when we were fifteen, it thumped in my chest, over and over again until my breathing felt like it wasn't of existence.