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In Loving Memory
“Lex, I want you to meet my grandmother because without her, life wouldn’t have gone on. She held my hand through my darkest times even when her own demons were battling against her. In the end, I lost her, but I need to tell you now why I was so afraid to fall in love with you again. Why, from the moment I saw you in the restaurant, I tried to deny any feelings I still had for you. Why I pushed you away, why I lied to you that day in the hospital.”
“It all started during the summer break, exactly sixty days since the last time I had seen you…”
LEX
Since the moment I first ran into Charlotte at the restaurant, I knew there was more to me leaving than what she was letting on. I never thought I would be standing in the middle of a cemetery in the dead of night.
Unsettled by the surroundings, I remain silent, careful with my footsteps, allowing her to
release the burden weighing her poor shoulders down.
I follow her lead to a section of tombstones sitting underneath a large willow tree. She stops and stares quietly before kneeling on the cold ground. Gently, she raises her hand and wipes her palm across the stone, its words now visible as I read them with my own eyes.
It’s her grandmother’s gravesite.
Charlotte shows no sign of being scared. It almost looks like she’s at peace sitting on the cold, dirty ground, not at all affected by her eerie surroundings. As she begins to speak, I kneel beside her and listen to her words, the words I know will finally explain the missing piece of the puzzle.
“Lex, it all started the summer break when I moved to Connecticut, exactly sixty days since the last time I saw you…”
I sat at the dining table, staring at the envelope in front of me. It was thick with the Yale logo stamped on the top left corner.
When I had arrived here two weeks ago, I immediately applied to some community colleges hoping my late admission would be accepted. With the help of Gran, and the fact she was a Yale alumnus and still friends with some of the head faculty, I knew this thick envelope only represented positive things ahead, and her assistance had paid off.
I looked up at the clock, it was a quarter past three. Gran said she wouldn’t be home until three-thirty, so I waited, unable to do this alone.
At exactly three-thirty, she strolled through the kitchen carrying a basket of apples. She was making her famous homemade apple pie, my favorite. She saw me anxiously sitting at the table. Placing her basket down, she put the kettle on the stove. Apparently, tea solved the world’s problems. With a steaming cup of tea placed in front of me and one for her, she finally sat at the table.
“Sweetie, take a sip, please. We knew this day would come. What lies inside this envelope does not define who you are.”
I took her words in—she was right. No matter what happened, I would do what I wanted to do, and that is to study to be a lawyer. I took a sip of my tea and opened the envelope reading the words out loud, ‘Congratulations, Miss Mason.’
Jumping off my seat, I kissed the letter thanking my lucky stars I had been accepted into Yale. Never in my wildest dreams had I ever thought this would happen, and even though I knew Gran had done or said something to the gods of Yale, I welcomed this acceptance exactly as I would have if I had been accepted in the first round.
“Honey, you did it. What a great achievement.”
“I can’t believe I got into Yale. This is… just wow!”
“This is your path. Trust it in all its glory. Big things are going to happen from this, you mark my word.”
She was right, as always, and that night I lay in bed unable to contain the excitement over where my life was choosing to turn.
Yale, I still couldn’t believe it.
It was one in the morning, and sleep evaded me. I was feeling slightly ill, but I kept passing it off as excitement. It was a new chapter of my life, and no matter what, I had to move on. The possibilities were endless, and for a brief moment, I wondered what he was doing. Was he with her? What did it matter anymore? I was going to Yale. Fist-pumping the air, I couldn’t believe my lucky stars. I turned over, falling asleep, dreaming of this new life I was about to embark upon.
The next morning, I sat there quietly staring at the bowl of cereal which looked like a pile of vomit.
“Honey, is everything okay? You look awfully pale today.”
“Yeah, um, sure… just didn’t get much sleep… you know, too excited.”
“Well, eat up, and then let’s take you to Dr. Flannigan, just to make sure everything’s okay?” Worried, she pushed a strand of hair away from my face.
“Gran, I’m fine… now. Just the cereal looks… can you please move it away?”
It was too late, I projectile vomited into the kitchen sink, stupid nerves. Now she would definitely send me to the doctor. What was it with old people and their obsession with visiting the doctor for the tiniest little thing? I knew it was just nerves, that’s all.
