When the Heartbeat Stops

Part two: Grandma

It's my granddaughters birthday today, but also the two year anniversary of her mother and father's death. The poor girls thinks it's all her fault, but she didn't know that her parents had already preordered the tickets and were only on their way to pick then up. It was about nine-thirty a.m when she called me. She was telling me how her foster parents did the family tradition of a birthday song, cake, and balloons. She was saying how they were making her life a little more tolerable. She used to be so lively, always smiling, jumping around, being her silly happy self, but ever since they died she's been off, not focusing in school, or engaging in we social life; she cut everyone out. She is a bright kid, but she can't seem to get over the fact that her parents were in an accident.

At the end of the call she had mentioned that she wanted to come over, which I was all for but she must ask her parents.

She put the phone down and I heard her footsteps walking to the area of her parents were I assumed she went to ask, which she did, but what caught my attention was went I heard a loud thump. The next thing I heard was yelling. I put the phone close to my ear and heard her yelling at someone, I didn't know who, but then my heart sank.

"Why? Why did you take them from me? What did I ever do to deserve this?"

I didn't know what to say that would cheer her up, but all I could do was wait it out.

I had made her her favorite dish; cheddar broccoli soup, with shrimp Alfredo.

I heard two knocks on the front door, I opened it, saw my granddaughter sweating bullets so I got a little worried. I asked her how she got here, she said she had to sneak out and come walking. At this point I knew she wasn't supposed to be here so I told her we needed to get home.

I had a feeling her parents were going to be either upset or worried, so I was going to drive her home.

Once we got into the car it started raining, just like it did her last three birthdays; it seemed to be a new tradition of the family, raining on her birthday. She was trying to give me excuses to not go, like that it was raining, a Friday, and that both reasons were making the road too dangerous; but I needed to take her home.

During the car ride she was asking me if I knew anything juicy or new about her mom or dad, so I told her how her dad was a cheerleader, her mom was an athlete, and that they met when they were teenagers. I was in the middle of telling her about how her mother was the only Mexican on the softball team, when her mom and her's song Stand By Me came on.

She started singing and then gave me the 'sing with me' look so along with her I sang. We were right in the middle of our song when.......