Max
My life is a total mess. I have lost the only friend I have in my life. Today, she was getting married to her boyfriend of six months, and I, as her maid of honor, did something stupid.
I confessed my love to my best friend.
Janna and I have been friends since we were five. I saw her as only a friend until she drunkenly kissed me in 10th grade during prom. I knew it was a mistake. I knew she was straight. But that kiss made me look at her differently.
I stopped seeing her as my best friend and started seeing her as a crush.
Yesterday, I couldn't take it anymore. I told her how I felt. I tried my best, but I just couldn't watch her stand at the altar and get married to someone else.
She told me the one thing I already knew... she was straight.
I accepted it and left.
Now I am at my grandmother's house because we are celebrating her 100th birthday.
I watched as everyone congratulated her. They danced, sang, and showered her with love and wishes. My grandma may be 100, but she still looked like she was 50, young and vibrant.
Some people say she must have drunk from the fountain of youth to look that young. My grandma always laughs it off.
After the celebration, everyone left and my dad and mom had already gone home, but I stayed back. I needed time to think… to figure out what I should do with my life.
My grandma was in her study. I heard her talking. At first, I thought she was on the phone, but when I barged in, she wasn't.
She was talking to herself, as always.
When she saw me, she paused.
"GG, is everything alright?" I asked, standing by the door.
"Yes, my little Bee. I was just…" she said as she opened her drawer. In her hand was a white scroll. "Come here, little Bee."
Only my grandma calls me that, even though I've told her multiple times I'm not little anymore.
I moved closer and sat in front of her desk.
"This has been passed down for generations, from mother to daughter. I had sons, none of them girls. But when you came into this world, I knew you were the one who would inherit all my life's work."
The moment she said that, my face lit up.
Grandma made me her successor... her heir.
To all her estate.
Damn… I was going to be rich.
Best news of the day.
She handed the scroll to me. I didn't even know people still wrote wills on scrolls. Grandma may look young, but she's definitely old school.
"Make sure you take care of them… They are your responsibility now."
I frowned.
Was I inheriting money… or people?
I opened the scroll.
A bright flash of light shot straight into my face. I thought I was going blind. My heart hammered against my ribs, and for a second, the room vanished behind a wall of pure, stinging white.
When the light faded, I looked down. My hands were shaking, the paper rough against my palms.
The scroll was empty. Nothing was written on it.
Just like the scroll, my mind went blank.
What the hell am I looking at?
I turned it over, checked the back, even looked closely in case the writing was tiny. I ran my fingers over the parchment, searching for a hidden texture or a secret ink.
Nothing.
"GG, looks like this is the wrong scroll…" I muttered, looking up at her.
And froze.
My breath hitched. The woman sitting across from me wasn't the vibrant person I'd seen a minute ago. Her hair, now grey. Her face, no longer young, but wrinkled and old. The skin hung loose on her jaw, spotted with age.
But that wasn't the worst part.
Her chest didn't move. No whistle of air, no slight rise of her shoulders.
She wasn't breathing.
My grandma was dead.
After her body was taken away, I sat outside on a bench. The night air was cool, but I felt numb.
I couldn't cry. I couldn't react. My eyes felt dry and heavy, staring at the dark grass.
I just… couldn't believe it.
She died on her 100th birthday.
And I was the last person she saw.
My grandma spent her whole life working, making sure her family was okay. Whenever I ran from home, I came here. When I realized I had a crush on my best friend, I hid here, trying to get over it.
She made me hot cocoa. The steam would hit my face while she listened to me rant about school or girls.
She was my rock.
And now she's gone.
The memories kept coming, one after another, until I couldn't hold it in anymore. A knot formed in my throat, tighter and tighter until it snapped.
Tears ran down my face. My chest ached with every jagged breath.
I was crying.
I wiped my face with the back of my hand, and suddenly, someone handed me a handkerchief. It was soft, smelling faintly of sweet lavender.
"Thank you," I said, taking it. I pressed the cloth to my eyes, trying to catch my breath.
Then I froze.
The house was empty. The guest and my parents were gone. The medics were long gone. I was the only one in the house.
I slowly turned. My neck felt stiff, like a rusty hinge.
Sitting beside me was a girl dressed in white with long blue hair and a bright, almost too-cute smile. She leaned back on her hands, kicking her feet back and forth in the air.
I blinked. I blinked again, hard.
Where did she come from?
"Who.. are you?" I muttered. My voice sounded small in the quiet night.
She didn't stand up. She didn't walk. She floated into the air beside me, her hair drifting around her like she was underwater.
Yeah… I must be dreaming. This is some kind of grief-induced hallucination.
Or high.
But I didn't smoke today.
"Hello my lady, I'm Ally," she said cheerfully. Her voice was light, like bells. "You are our new keeper."
Why is a girl floating in the air…?
I swear, I was speechless. My head started to spin, the world tilting on its axis.
I think I blacked out.