As Grace woke up, she saw some faces which she hasn't seen in a while. Her head was still feeling dizzy. Her body was pulling her down to the bed. She had hopes that what happened yesterday would be a dream but life isn't that easy. She was feeling as if her body was frozen. He muscles were stiffened. Her eyes were hurting, probably from all the crying from yesterday. She tries to move, but find herself out of energy. As she gives herself a shook, she feels a warm grip on her hand. It was her mother. She had tears and worry in her eyes. Grace could tell she was also heartbroken from what had happened.
"M-Mom-", grace tears up. She couldn't move but was still pulling herself to reach her mom. Her mom could see it. She was broken by the fact that she couldn't be there for Grace. She rapidly gets up from the chair and reaches out to Grace. Just like how leaf clings to the tree on a windy day, Grace's mom hugs her tightly. Both of them starts crying.
This is one of the unique times where they both seem like mother and daughter. When Grace was 10, her parents were telling her to come live with them. They were settled. Grace's mom was worried that she was not attached to her parents, she wanted her to bond with them. But Grace refused. She wanted to live with her grandmother.
The ten-year-old girl said the most unexpected thing at that time, "It's not like I don't wanna come with you. But your place is there and Grandma's is here. I wanna stay with her and take care of her. This is where I belong." Grace's parents couldn't argue after seeing their daughter's love for this place. But now, the person whom Grace help onto was gone. The glue that was holding her from this place vanished with a fraction of seconds. Her parents obviously wanted her to come them. Grace didn't really know what to do.
She was ready to do anything because on the inside she felt lost. She recovered from yesterday's accident, but she didn't recover from what had already happened. When she was looking around the house, she couldn't see anything with the same smile as she used to. somehow it was emptier. The flowers in the garden weren't the same as always. The cats who used come every day were not found anywhere. The twilight which was a lot depressing than usual days. Even the chairs were not comfortable. She realized that these imperfections were always there but her grandmother even made them pretty.
'Maybe I should leave after all', Grace thought. In her head, she just didn't want to be there. She wanted someone to tell her the answer to what she should be doing. She opted for the easy way. Her heart was not ready enough to make any hard choices. She kept praying for some miracle to happens so that somehow, she could again tell herself what she should be doing now.
"I should go and thank Mika for her kindness", Grace's mom mummers in middle of packing. The universe does send omens.
Grace's hearing lit up, "Why do you want to thank her?"
"What do you mean why? She was the one who took care of you while you were unconscious", her dad said while still typing his work on the computer. Grace looked at both of them cluelessly.
"I-I don't understand", she said looking at her mom.
"Of course, you don't sweety. You were unconscious at that time.", her mom patted her had.
"When you fell and hit your heard, Mika's parents took you to the hospital. The doctors told them that you won't wake up for the whole night. So they thought of going back home. But all of a sudden, Mika started crying that she wants to stay with you. She ended up staying with you the whole night. She said she didn't want you to feel alone."
Grace was shocked. Mika was the only friend she had throughout school. She met her in kindergarten when Mika caught Grace's attention by drawing a prince and princess on her art book. After that, they were seat partners a lot of times but Grace never really felt that close. Now when
Grace finally gave it a thought, Mika was always there no matter what. She was there when Grace didn't have anyone to eat lunch with. She was there when Grace needed a lab partner. She was there with her when she was bullied by other classmates. At that moment it hit Grace. What her Grandma meant by breaking one's self because of someone else. She realized that she actually had people who genuinely cared about her. But it was her who didn't want to look at things that way. She can't leave Mika or this place. She can't be this bad to Mika. She actually had someone to treasure, a life's gift.
'grandma lived life on her own terms, so will I', Grace thought. Her eyes lit up. It felt as if a big weight was lifted up from her heart. She felt herself once again. She was ready to accept the truth. She was ready to accept the fact that, it's her who needs to lead her life, not her grandma. A curve formed upon her lips. Something which wasn't there for a long time. Her body was flowing with hormones of excitement. Her hand her shaking to take the next step. "Mom!", Grace ran towards her parents.
"I'm really sorry", she bowed, "but I can't come with you guys! This is the place where I wanna be after all. Not because of grandma, but because of me and the bonds that I have here. I can't just throw away life's gift like that. I wanna cherish this my treasure."
These were again some words which were not normal with the 17-year-olds. Her parents knew what it meant. How could they argue with her when their daughter finally got her smile back? Grace had her eyes fixed on her parents, like a kid who had high hopes with something.
Her dad sighed, "she resembles me after all."
"What does that mean?", Grace asked with confusing cute eyes.
Her mom chuckled, "nothing sweety, don't you have someone to tell that you are not going back?" Grace couldn't hold her laugh. She was so happy. Everything was falling into a perfect square and this time without anyone's help.
Grace stormed out of the house and ran towards Mika's house. The place where the strongest and most beautiful friendship started.