Farewell Gran

My gran said that my parents and sister died because a drunk driver ran into their car late one foggy night. They died when I was still only a few weeks old. She was watching me while my parents took my sister Silvia to a rock concert near the state border. Gran said that they had died before they even got to the concert hall. Her cracked voice always mimicked the conversations of prior.

“They went on Thursday night. The concert was that Friday night, but they had to travel a few hundred miles South. The cops said that they died only about an hour away. I wish I could have been there, but alas, I was taking care of you. I couldn’t leave you alone in the cold, the dark, all alone. If something happened to you, I would be responsible. I just couldn’t do it.”

“Who did they go to see?” I would ask.

“I don’t know my sweet, sweet Annabelle. I’ve told you the story many times. Why is it that you keep asking? I’ve told you all I know about that fateful night when James had died.” Gran cried exasperated.

This last bit was new. She had never been frustrated when I asked this question before. It was quite odd. I believed her before, but now it seems as if she may be hiding something. I only wished to hear the story once more, maybe she forgot to tell me something. It was the best way for me to remember them. I had seen very few pictures of them. Gran hid them in the locked attic. No matter how much I asked her, she said no. So, I resorted to asking her about their death. I now see just how much it hurt her.

I did not know that at the time, so when I went to school, I decided to investigate my family’s death. I went to the library at school, but they didn’t have any death records, unless they died in history. Not giving up, I decided to look online, instead of the boring typing task I was supposed to be working on. Every so often the teacher would come by to monitor my progress. I just switched tabs whenever he came by. Progress was slow because of it. I only found an article on their death right before the bell rang. I copied the URL into a word document and printed it. The printer was on the other side of the room. Mr. Mortiz was making sure that everyone was going out of the door on my side of the room. Damn. I’ll need to come back later to get that paper.

Two hours had passed before I was able to come back to the computer lab. My History and Science classes were in the other wing of the school. Even if I were to go into the lab during that time, The teachers would have asked why I was interrupting their class, and why I wasn’t in mine. So I stared at the clock willing the red hands to move faster. Each tick lasted an eternity. When the clock struck four-o-clock, I bolted from my seat.

“Annabelle! Sit down! Class isn’t over until the bell rings.” Mrs. K. glanced at the clock. “Anyways I dismiss you not the bell. Why are you in such a rush? Am I boring you Miss Perez?”

“No I- I-Uhm Uhh” Annabelle stammered as the bells’ hammers stuck themselves violently upon the red domes.

“Ok, Fine, go. That clock has always been fast. But next time do make sure to stay seated until I dismiss you.” She said dismissively.

“Thank you, I will, yes ma’am, of course” Those final words hardly heard as she bolted out of the classroom into the cacophony of chatter.

Annabelle raced down the halls. At one point she bumped into a guy carrying his books into his locker. Papers flew like a bomb went off, and fluttered down to the ground. A sorry was called behind her, falling on deaf ears as people aided him in picking up his notes, and textbooks. She got to the computer lab right as the custodian was going to lock it up.

“I need to go in, I accidentally forgot something in the lab. I shouldn’t be long. I’ll leave everything the way it is and I won’t make a mess” she cried.

“OK fine, just close the door when you are done. I will leave it open so you can get in, but don’t expect me to open the door if you accidentally lock yourself out.” The custodian boredly stated.

“Thank you Mister!”

Annabelle went right over to the printer. There were no documents on the tray.

“Shit, shit, shit, were is it?” She cried “I just printed it two hours ago. Maybe someone saw it and put it into the recycling bin.”

So looked into the bright blue bin and saw that it still had some papers in it. The custodian had removed the trash, but not the recycling. It was not full enough to warrant the effort. Most of the pages were just scrapped prints. Prints that just were blank or misprinted. There was one crumpled up ball. She took it, and used her tiny fingers to unfold the ball. On the top, was the URL she copied to the page! Someone must have seen it, not known what it was and discarded it. Excited she left the room and made sure to close the door behind her.

She then got onto twinkie number five: her bus. As the bus jolted her around, she typed the URL into her phone. She typed it wrong twice before finally getting the sequence correct. The page opened an obituary. It was written by Gran. She was saying all of these kind things. Underneath the obituary, was a news article. It was talking about how two parents and their daughter were killed in an accident after the unconscious driver was driving the wrong way on highway 42. Poison was found in their blood. It was a slow working poison that would have taken about an hour to take effect. The case was closed after no suspects were found.

“They were murdered? But gran always said that they were killed by a drunk driver. Wait, she also said that they died about an hour away. She never wanted to talk about it. Did Gran kill them?” She wept.

When she got home that day, she confronted Gran about the article.

Caught in a corner Gran sighed,” Yes I did kill them. I never enjoyed that Satan music they liked. I knew that they would not raise you right, so I did what I had to do to ensure your safety. James was such a good boy before he met Susan. I could not let her ruin you just like she did with James and Silvia. You should be thanking me. Because of be, you turned out to be such a wonderful girl! I love you my sweet Annabelle”

“No you don’t! You murdered my family! I hate you. I’m packing my things. I can’t even look at you anymore. GOODBYE WITCH!”