The man with two hearts.

A short story I wrote about my grandfathers death

 I’ll never forget it. Your last breath. That haunting sound. I knew what happened. I knew the condition you were in. I knew it was your time. 

 

The sun had come out. The cloudy rainy day we had was gone. The clouds had parted and the sun had come out. 

 

Your long lost love was welcoming you. She was telling you that it was okay, it was your time. 

 

I knew what was happening. I was young, but I wasn’t that young. I could understand. But not only could I understand, I could feel. 

 

And then she pushed me out of the room. “It’s going to be okay,” she said. “Everything will be okay. He’ll get better.” I just glared at you as you handed me your cell phone and I walked though the halls into the waiting room.  I knew what happened. I knew. I knew you lied to me. 

 

A sixth grader isn’t that stupid. 

 

And I sat on an old green couch, with pink fading flowers. It faced the door and I watched as people walked in an out. My aunt rushed in. Tears were falling from her eyes and she didn’t even notice me as she pushed passed people. 

 

She couldn’t even see me. 

 

I knew why she was there. 

 

And I couldn’t believe that it had happened. More aunts came. No one saw me. 

 

And I thought about you. The person you were. There was so much I wanted to know about you. So much I never got a chance to ask. So much that I had already missed, even though you had only been out of my life for a few minutes. 

 

You had two hearts. One that you wore on your sleeve, and showed to everyone. And one that you won, but you kept it locked up. No one saw it, but everyone knew. You never talked about your past, but we all knew it was there. It’s what made you. 

 

What created you. 

 

A sixth grader isn’t stupid. I knew something happened. I knew the worst happened. I knew you lied. I don’t know what you thought they were going to do to make it all better, but it didn’t help. It only made it worse.

 

Because once a person is dead, once they go into that darkness. They don’t come back. 

 

It was his time, I knew that. I had known that for a while, I watched for years as he slowly left us. I knew.

 

But I still miss that hero, the man with the two hearts. I wish I had more time with him. I wish that I could still see his face. 

 

I wish you didn’t tell me that it would be okay. Because I knew it wouldn’t be, and I don’t know why you wanted me to believe it. 

 

I heard his last breath. I watched for years as his mind left, and he could no longer move his body. I knew nothing would be okay. I knew things would only get worse from there. 

 

Not for him, because he was with her now, but for us. Because you’re the one person who shouldn’t have lied to me. But you did. 

 

You always do.