The Long Way Home

It was a Friday afternoon and could’ve been described as the perfect day, with the sun
kissing Cynthia’s skin. Who was getting ready to pack up for the day and head home from school
thinking about how the rest of her day was going to play out. Finally, the bell rang and school
was out and Cynthia started on her journey home from school excited to see her grandma who
visited every Friday.
As she walked through the green grass taking in a breath of the fresh air mixed with
freshly cut grass she thought of all the things she was gonna do with her grandma. After she
finally got over the hill she saw the one thing she had been looking for, the little golden,
glistening Corolla parked in her driveway and she started running to get home.
Cynthia barged in her front door; getting hit with the amazing smells of warm apple pie.
Filled with a warm feeling inside she ran into her grandma's arms and gave her the biggest bear
hug she could considering they were the same size and she didn’t want to smash her. “Oh, Mi
Hita you’re gonna break me but, you want something to eat?” to which Cynthia replied, “Oh,
sorry grandma and of course i'm starving.” The pair spent the rest of the day talking and joking
around until Cynthia’s parents came home from work.
Cynthia and her grandma were very close and they spoke to each other every day and saw
each other at least once a week. They had the type of relationship that no one could break; they
were best friends.
One day Cynthia was out shopping with her Mom going from store to store with a big
smile on her face. It seemed like a normal day but that all changed with a phone call. Cynthia
learned her grandmother had fallen. Cynthia and her mom jumped in the car, speeding down the
road to get to her grandma. They both were filled with fear and anxiety, every possible horrible
thing was going through their heads about what could be wrong. In each of their heads, they
thought “What if she hit her head?” “Is she okay?” “How did she even fall” Not a single word
was said in that car. It was so silent that I could've heard a pin drop. As terrified as Cynthia was
because of the uncertainties she stayed strong not only for herself but for her mother as well.
From this point on it seemed like everything was going so fast but Cynthia was stuck in
slow motion unable to fully process what was going on. One minute they were in a hospital
being told that her grandma had a stroke, next she was being told that her grandma was getting
worse and they needed to take her to a different hospital. Cynthia felt guilty that if she wouldn’t
have gone shopping they could’ve gotten to her grandma sooner. After some time the side effects
of the stroke became apparent and her grandma could no longer speak right along with other
challenges.
As soon as Cynthia walked into the hospital room her grandma greeted her, “ Hi Cynthia
how are you doing.”Cynthia responded, “ Hi grandma, I'm doing okay, you look pretty today.” to
which grandma replied, “ that's not true, I look like a mess.” One of the challenges was when her
grandmother’s stroke got worse she was unable to speak clearly and she would put an N in front
of everything she said. This left Cynthia feeling heartbroken and like her world was falling apart,
seeing her aunts and uncle turn against each other like cats and dogs in the time that should’ve
brought them closer.
After a few weeks in hospitals, Cynthia's grandma was going home because there was
nothing else they could do to help. So for the next little while, Cynthia was splitting her time
between school and seeing her grandma.
It was hard for her to see her grandma because she was in so much pain and Cynthia
would’ve done anything to take the pain away. But it all ended within a few weeks and her
grandma had passed away. As hard as it was, she knew her grandma wasn’t in pain anymore and
that made her happy.
Cynthia was no longer excited about Fridays and she was no longer able to see the
golden, glistening car parked in her driveway. She avoided going over the hill that once
symbolized happiness to her since now it just represented her grandma’s death. This was a hard
time for Cynthia and she was going through it alone by never speaking those around about how
she felt. She had struggled with moving on and how to go through life without her grandma but
she played it off. At the same time of losing her grandma, she also had to deal with losing her
family. After the death, Cynthia no longer spoke with her aunt and uncle because of how horrible
they were. Although she felt heartbroken as if her heart had just been ripped out of her chest, she
knew that she had to be strong and instead, thought about her good memories with her grandma.
Cynthia used her death as a motivator and became a better person in school and with those
around her.
Six years have passed since the moment that changed Cynthia’s life. Cynthia was back to
being the happy girl that she used to be and she accepted her loss. One day Cynthia was going
through some boxes when out of nowhere some pictures fell on the floor. As she picked up the
pictures, seeing their content she took a big breath and smiled. What had fallen was pictures of
her grandma smiling ear to ear, and for the first time since her death, Cynthia was able to look at
the pictures and take a big smile making her feel like a weight had been lifted off of her
shoulders.It was the same warm feeling as being in a house full of freshly baked apple pie.