Hide and Seek 3: The Last Game

Chapter 6: The Strange Book

Not a lot people showed up at my mother's funeral. She wasn't too liked around town and had been a known drug abuser. The people who showed up were some people from her old rehab group and my grandmother who we didn't associate with much. Why? No idea. I just knew my mother hated her mother.

I stood in front of the lowered casket, feeling something I've never felt before. A painful and unexplainable numbness. I couldn't even believe she was gone until I saw her in her casket before they closed it. I wanted to reach in and pull her out and in my mind I kept asking God or a higher power to bring her back.

But she wasn't coming back. No matter how hard I begged God. It's never cliche to say we never know when we'll lose someone. Life doesn't owe us a god damn thing and that's the unfairness in life we have to deal with.

I heard someone slowly approaching me from behind. It was my grandmother. Grandmother Jade. She looked older than I remembered. I was surprised she flew out here for this with her cane and all. "Are you alright, Tori?" She asked me. Her voice was soft and calm but I could hear her sadness as well.

I shrugged and wiped some tears. "She was just here a few days ago," I cried the words out.

Grandma took a deep breath. "Your mother did her best to take care of you while also trying to stay above water herself. She was very strong and to tell you the truth, I never thought she would make it this far."

I didn't understand what she meant really. My mother was strong? She had seemed to always give into her drug addiction and pick everyone else over me.

"I'm sure it wasn't easy," she continued. "But she did love you. I know that for a fact. Because when I told her to get an abortion, she ran away with you."

I didn't know that part. I cried harder.

"She loved you. And she always will."

It took a minute for me to leave her there. I didn't want to leave her alone. I was scared for her. Wonderful if she heard our footsteps as we walked away.

"Goodbye mom," I whispered. "I love you."

***

My grandmother stayed over at our apartment, helping me clean and what not. I wasn't sure what was going to happen with me and the place. I didn't want to leave school and was planning to try and stay on campus.

As I was going through my mother's closet, I touched something hard and dusty placed at the very top. Grabbing it, I realized it was a book. A dusty one with strange marks over it and thick pages. I wondered if it was a diary or something. When I opened it, I saw pictures of peoples, faces, weird creatures. The words around it were in a different language. It looked like some weird fantasy genre book or an antique.

"What do you have there?" My grandma asked me.

I threw it to the side. "Nothing," I said. "Junk."

She looked at me with a not so nice face. "Just like your sassy mother, I see. Manners child."

I didn't reply to her. Actually, I was sort of shocked at myself for talking to her like that. I didn't mean to. It just kind of came out in a bad tone and all of a sudden I was filled with rage. It quickly went away though.

"I'm sorry," I apologized. "I just miss her already."

My grandmother blew out a long breath of air. "I miss her already too."

I got up and picked up the book, placing it in my room to keep for later along with some other things. Cleaning up was easy because we didn't have much to begin with. After I had all of her clothes in a suitcase and what not, i stored it all in my room, planning what I'd keep and what I'd give away...