Untitled.

"Hello Dear." Her mother slowly walks into the room watching Cassandra's every move. Cass flashes her mother an irritated look.  She had not knocked and Cassandra was busily writing poetry while sitting on her futon.1

"Hello Mom. What would you like?" It appeared to her that her mother had been crying, or was on the brink of tears. At this realization Cassandra immediately regretted her rudeness and smiled warmly and her mom.2

But that smile quickly faded, as her mother did not smile back, instead she perched next to her on her bed and looked down at the blanket. Winding it through her fingers she looked up at her youngest daughter and told her the terrible news.3

"Cass, do you remember your great Grandmother?"4

"Yes of course?" She smiles at the mention of the woman who she loved very much. "Are we going to see her?"5

Darlene flinched and looked away from her child.6

"Baby, You know she was sick right?" Cassie frowned and nodded before her mother continued. "Well her condition just continued to worsen and.."7

"And Mom?"8

"And she passed away."9

She turned away from her mother and recoiled when she dared to touch her. Knowing from her reaction that she would get nothing out of her,  she turned to leave.10

She must have called Cassie's dad while she was gone because the next person to walk into the room was her father. Still in shock she didn't even glance as she heard the door slowly open and the whispered voices outside. She felt as though she had fallen into a black hole and could not climb out.11

"Hey Hun." Her dad whispered in her ear as he sat beside her placing his hand on her shoulder.12

"Don't touch me." She turned her entire body so that she was facing away from him. Nothing seemed real. It was all like a dream, or a night mare.13

Nobody seemed to understand why it had hit the young girl so hard, Cassie herself could not understand this.14

Moments after her father had left, giving up on his attempt to get any words from her, she broke down into tears.15

After a few days of school. Just floating about, barely alive, Cassandra got notice of when the funeral and/or wake would be. She was also informed that there would be any open basket. She kept imagining her Great Grandmother's dead body just lying there... *shudder* Oh how would she make it through these next few days before the funeral.16

Finally she told her friends. I can recall her having broken down into tears as she did so. It took a while for Cassandra to truly realize what had happened. Her Great Grandmother, a woman whom she had loved, Was Dead.17

That's it that's all. No murder mystery. Just an old dead woman... Who she missed dearly.18

I remember the night before the wake. She didn't speak much. She had gotten to see some family members who she had not seen in a  long time.. But... this was definitely not worth losing one forever.19

She floated around tears in her eyes, a frog in her throat, unable to speak more than a few words at a time, without beginning to cry.20

The day of the wake was awkward to say the least. Everyone was edgy... Most were a bit spaced, out of it. Still having not realised what had happened perhaps? 21

When it was time for leave for the wake in that old car, crammed past it's legal maximum amount of passengers... Cassandra was quite frightened. Never having seen a dead person before she did not know what to expect.22

So they got there... and everyone just walked around for a while. She dared not enter the room where she had been told the woman's body was.23

After a while she worked up the courage to walk into this room...it was a crimson colour and it depressed her slightly: made her think of blood.24

As she slowly a approached the coffin she had to go on her tippy toes to see above the woman. It felt as though all of her organs had twisted at once, her face went pale and the tears swelled in her eyes. She ran to her cousin and sit wrapped in her arms. Both of their tears flowed freely.25

After being told this was her chance to pay her final respects before the "service" was to truly begin she walked back into that room. It was more crowded than before...or perhaps she just seemed to have less air.26

She walked past the groups of people tears still flowing freely, towards the coffin once again. The twist in her stomach grew but she still did not move, just stared down at the woman's face until she could bare it no longer and whispered almost inaudibly "Goodbye." Then she turned to leave, keeping to the side away from all of the people. Many of them were smiling...yet another mystery she could never solve when it comes to her family. She was truly disgusted with them. But before she left that room her sister caught her eye. So she watched her. She was surrounded by family, she was barely crying (not sayin' she didn't care) but they were all being so nice to her. She bent down and kissed her forehead then cried some more talking with those surrounding her. This seemed to eat Cassandra alive as no one had even attempted to comfort her other than her cousin. Not even her mother. And yet everyone, her Grandmother, her Grandfather, her Aunt, her mum... all of them surrounding her trying to comfort her and make sure she was okay. She was sixteen and they were making sure she could handle it while an eleven year old girl floated about the place in tears... barely understanding.27

A man came and talked to Cassandra and her sister as well as their cousin. It was awkward. And as he could feel the tension he left quickly. Later that man was speaking in front of all of the attendees of the wake. He told stories about her Great Grandmother and spoke of her like she was an angel... and in many ways, I suppose she truly was.28

A few moments later they left. Cassandra did not quite know where they were going and what had happened in the few moments...which turned out to be about 30 minutes, was nothing but a blur.29

I can recall her sister's coming.. and she had spotted her mother's ex at some point but didn't go up to him though she cared for him deeply.30

So it turns out they were off to the cemetery. This scared Cassandra because she hadn't been to a cemetery since Brad's death.31

They stood in front of the coffin now in the middle of some place in the cemetery surrounded by gravestones and such. That man was speaking again but Cassandra heard nothing. She just kept staring and when he said they could all grab a flower and say good bye one more time Cassandra was frightened. Every bone in her body chilled she walked to wards the casket. She didn't dare reach for a flower but was handed one by a family member. I cannot recall whether it was her sister or her mother.. her aunt maybe? Well that doesn't matter...32

As she stood there she felt so empty. Her heart felt as though it had stopped, her blood had turned to dust.33

she began to cry... her mother and sister looked at her in an odd manner but made no effort to come toward her...34

Her knees feeling weak she turned around and immediately fell into Kevin's arms. (Kevin being her mother's ex)35

Nobody else cared but him. He was the only one who wanted to help.36

And so that was it...she left along with everyone else. 37

She has not been back to visit her great grandmothers grave site to that day... 38

Thank you for listening to my story.39