Treasures and Tragedies

Dearly Loved

He held her granddaughter's hand. He had always been so proud of her and raising her as his own was a gift he had been given. And he was— is, very grateful for the time she was in his life.

"Grandpa?" She looked at the man, his face hardly covered with wrinkles yet he was leaving her. Like everyone did.

"Yes, Katie."

"Please don't leave me alone." He saw, from the corners of his eyes, tears being hastily wiped away. "Who will be there when I get lonely? Who will hug me when I cry? I don't want you to go, please stay, Grandpa. Please stay."

She was on the verge of sobbing and nothing more could have aggravated her more. Katie squared her shoulders, she was a big girl now and as her parents used to say: Children should not be heard, only seen.

"Dear Katie," he lifted a hand to her cheek, "I will never leave you. You will never be alone. I will be there, always in your heart."

She took his hand and laid it back down, seeing the energy it took away from him. "That's so cheesy, Grandpa."

"I know." He laughed and ignored the pain that it brought along. "But I do mean it. If you won't accept that then I'll tell you I'll be your guardian always watching over you. But take this in case you ever forget."

Her eyes drifted down to the locket. Enclosed was a single crystal —a diamond, she knew— that came from her grandmother's ring.

"Your grandma gave it to me when she passed. She had one of the diamonds from her ring in an envelope. I bought the locket and had it glued shut —didn't want it to fall out." He coughed, showing a spot of blood on the hospital bedsheets. "I left a letter for you too but I wanted to give you the necklace personally."

"It's beautiful, Grandpa!" She kissed his cheek ever so gently, "Thank you."

Sixteen-years-young and she had more wisdom than the oldest person alive. Had experienced more things so vividly and cruelly than he ever had in his lifetime.

He felt things dimming. His breath slowly fading away. Darkness creeping in. And peace settling.

She saw that glazed look come over him and knew she was loosing him. "Thank you for everything you've done for me, Grandpa. I'm very grateful. I love you."

"I know." He smiled, weakly. "I love you too. And I'm very proud of what you have grown up to be. Don't stop being who you are, Katie but don't forget to be happy."

"Never," she whispered. "Tell Grandma I miss her."

"Of course." He looked at her one last time and was struck to tears when he saw her face forming a smile but tears as they fell from her eyes. "You always were stubborn, weren't you? Despite that facade you wore."

"You taught me to be."

"Yeah, I guess I did." He squeezed her hands that gripped his. "I'll always be there Katie and I'll always love you."

"So you've said, before." He laughed, as she said it. Gripped her hands as the wave of pain washed over him.

"I love you too, Grandpa." She murmured against his slack hand.

He took one final breath and only seconds after, the monitor he was attached to,  went blank. Nurses came in and checked and did their thing while the young girl stepped out of the room.

Death was a funny thing. Life was weirder.

She slid down the wall of the hallway and curled up. Moments later a doctor came up to her and against normal protocols, Dr. Medows bent down to hug her.

"Your grandfather was loved by everyone here," she whispered, "and he always spoke of you. He loved you dearly, Katie. He loves you very much."

She clutched onto the necklace in her hand and held it close to her heart. She could almost imagine what he would say if he could hear what the doctor was saying.

Doctors, he would say, always so melodramatic.

It made her smile, knowing that's what he was probably saying right now.

You really will never leave will you? she thought.

And with the sound of his laugh bouncing around in her head, she held on to the thing that held a promise. She held on to his never ending love.

*=*=*=*=*=*=*

This is not pt 2 of Raining Roses... obviously :}

Totally different story thing. I will work on that later, once I have a thought on how I want it to be.

Thanks for reading ~ Don't care if you're not.

But I still wuv you, buggy-booo ♡ Mwahhh :*

okey. bye now.

~дчге