HALCYON

HOYO

The first person I remember telling me a secret was Bao.

It was at the park near his sister's house, June 25th, 2019.

It was practically night time, since it was 8:15 pm.

Only practically because since it was summertime, the sky darkened later, so the sun had only started to set around 8:00. My grandma had fallen asleep earlier that day due to a new increase in dosage of Razadyne.

A medicine that was used to treat Alzheimer's disease, she had only gotten diagnosed a year before then but, her condition only got worse, she had even forgotten that I lived with her just two days before.

After that, I had called her doctor and he had told me that the best thing I could do was get a journal, write who I was (just in case she forgot that too), and that I lived in her house with her. After I wrote that I had to sit the book on the nightstand directly next to her bed, opened to the exact page that I wrote on, and wait for her to read it every morning before I left for school.

It was only natural that soon she forgot to even check what was sitting next to her.

It was a Saturday and I had spent the entire day researching Alzheimer's. I was scared after my grandma asked how I got into her house and when I got there, she usually had forgotten stuff but nothing that big. Needless to say, it was a wake up call. She had a nice doctor, his name was Dr. Caleb and he was about 50. He was a slender black man and he kind of reminded me of my dad when he checked up on me sometimes.

His eyes were bigger than my dad's though.

He always helped me out with her and even visited the house to help us when she was first diagnosed. His advice helped but, what would I do when it no longer did? I had researched and researched but I didn't find anything that could make a grandmother remember her grandson.

I wanted to shake her,

and yell,

"How could you forget me grandma?"

It would've just been futile, I knew that.

I wasn't one to show my anger much, so even though I was fed up with the useless sites and time I had wasted on them, I didn't yell or throw my computer or anything like that.
I just got up and went to sit on my bed. I thought of calling Bao, but I thought he may have been busy-and I heard his voicemail before.

It was just standard, it was not even his voice, and that would've just irritated me even more.

Instead, I remembered when he told me about a park he went too. He claimed it was 'his spot', it was a nice one, and that I should go there one day. That day was the day, I thought.

Anything to distract myself,

anything to leave there.

With the park in mind, I put on my shoes, and left my room. I knew it was warmer outside than in here with my fans on, so I didn't take a hoodie with me.
I made sure I walked quietly to my grandma's room, and made sure she was asleep before I went down the stairs and left the house. My pants pockets had zippers, so I didn't have to worry about my house keys falling out.
It took me about ten minutes to get to the park, and I could see what Bao meant. The playground was a bit small, and secluded behind this big tree, it had a swing set, a bench, and a seesaw. The ground was covered in dirty wood pieces and it smelt like it had rained.