If This Works

23

An entire month went by like the snap of fingers. Aki finally got his cast off and I've done my best to teach him to cook (he still calls me his wife). It would have worked too if he didn't get so distracted and started kissing me all the time.

Not to mention today is March 16th the day I was born, 18 years ago. I am officially an adult. I don't feel any different. That's probably because I have to go to school and I'm been lying awake in bed for the last hour and a half. I might as well get up now.

I took a shower and thought about Aki. Did he want to take my virginity today? I wish he would tell me what he had planed. I stepped out and got dressed. I stopped working about Aki and started to think about my present form Grandmother. The other day she told me that she would answer the only question I had for her in years.

"What happened to my parents?" I said siting down at the dinning table across from her.

"Kioshi I raised you on my own for years. It shouldn't make a difference in whether you know what happened to them or not. If I tell you it will hurt you to your core. Are you sure you want to know?" She asked carefully.

"Yes. I need to know. I need closure. There's this hole that's been in me for the last 18 years. I need to know so I can move on with my life." I said looking her in the eyes with tears forming in mine.

"They didn't abandon you. Let's get that straight. They were good people that loved you to pieces. They gave me something to give to you. Very peculiar people. It's almost as if they knew." She said getting up and going to her room. When she came back she was holding this wooden box . "They kept this box and each year they would put something in it for you. Here."

She handed it to me. The first thing I saw a picture. It was of the three of us. I was on a swing and they were behind me. It was the place I ran too way back when Aki wouldn't talk to me. I thought it looked familiar. The second thing was a bottle of half used perfume.

"One night I was babysitting you, while your parents were at work. They only had one car so they pooled. Your father, my son, was driving when they got hit. It was an accident, I know. It was late and dark everyone was tired. They died that night." She explained.

I cried. There was nothing else I could do. They died a senseless death. I suddenly don't feel very well. I had the urge to throw up. I ran to the bathroom. Grandmother followed me.

"I'll call the school and let them know your not feeling well. Go to bed. I'll make you some soup." Grandmother said.

I walked back to bed. She was right to not tell me. After all this time I wanted to know, they died. Grandmother handed me the box.

"You were three when they died. You already have one of the keepsakes. Mr.Neddy, your old stuffed bear. I refused to take you to the funeral. I wouldn't have that memory engraved on your head. Kioshi remember that I love you. Nothing you ever do will change that. I'll go check on that soup." She walked out of the room.

"Grandmother, I don't think I say this enough, but thank you. I love you too." I said just before she left.