Let's Meet In the Next Life

Anna looked at the letters in her hand for a while and started to pack all of them inside her school bag. When she entered the house, there was a pin drop silence as usual.

How can anybody live in a place like this? It gave a kind of chilly feeling as if it was the house of a dead person. Anna took off her shoes and silently passed the hallway. There was complete darkness. Looks like the people in this house don't even bother to light the hallway.

When she was crossing the study room, she found a small source of light that was coming from the table lamp inside the room. Her dad was engrossed in reading a book with great concentration, wearing his glasses. He didn't know his daughter was home. Or he didn't care?

It was already past dinner time. So, they probably realized by now that she was not home. But who cares? They don't have that much time for her, maybe. They are already very busy with their life, why would they care about her when they already are providing her with food and clothes? Who needs anyone's attention when they already get what they want without even asking, right? She is not dying, so it's okay to not have someone by her side or something.

Moreover, she is not someone who deserves to have any special care. The one who deserved those was forced to leave this house by her. No matter what she does, that person's place, she can never get that.

Anna slowly got up to the second floor bypassing the stairs and strode towards her bedroom. She sat down on her bed and threw all the things from her school bag beside her. All her stationeries and textbooks scattered the whole bed along with those letters.

She never replies to them. Actually, she never even bothers to open them. Or should she say she is scared to open them? She just receives those and stores them in her closet, that's it. What good will happen if she reads those or replies to them? Nothing gonna change.

She is not afraid to reply to them. It's just she lost her right to read them let alone replying to them. Anna is so happy right now. Then why is she doing that? Reminding her of her sins from time to time by sending these?

Come to think of it, Annabelle didn't see her mother when she was coming upstairs. Is she out?

Soon after changing her clothes and freshening up, Anna came downstairs to have her dinner. When she reached the dining room, she saw a bowl of soup and some spaghetti beside it kept covered in the dining table. She sat there and started to eat her dinner slowly. It's been a long time since she ate with her family. No one in this house is actually interested in eating with her or talking to her.

Why is she even living here? Does she deserve this house?

Anna was muddled in her thoughts while having her dinner when someone from behind called her.

"Annabelle."

She turned back to see who it was and found that it was her mother. She didn't call her by her name for several months. She almost forgot how it sounds like to hear her name from her mouth.

Anna looked at her but didn't ask anything. Her mother also didn't move forward towards her, only started at the door. Something must have happened that made her talk to Annabelle again.

"Your grandpa, he is feeling very unwell. He wants to see you."

Is she sure that he wants to meet her but not her elder sister? She is not here right now. So, maybe they are trying to make her a substitute? But it can also be possible. Because her grandfather, who can not walk anymore and is laying all the time on the bed, is someone who still loves her in this house. Her grandma also loves her, but sometimes, she feels hesitant to adore her as her mind is forced to see Anna as the culprit who is responsible for her elder granddaughter to leave this house.

These days, Anna's grandpa wasn't feeling well. She knew that, so why is she making excuses now? If her old grandpa desires to be someone by the time he is sick, then she should be there without having any other thoughts, right?

Anna stood up all of a sudden passing her mother and rushing towards her grandpa's bedroom. There she saw two nurses and a doctor checking up on her grandpa who was laying in his bed.

Anna stomped towards the bed and sat beside him. The old man felt someone sitting beside him and then moved his fragile hands towards the person.

"W..who?" Grandpa said in a husky voice.

"Grandpa, it's me. Annabelle."

"Oh my… little… prin…. Princess…. You are h..here?" He tried his best to finish his sentence.

"Don't take so much stress. I can understand what you wanna say," saying that, Anna grabbed his one hand and gave it a little press.

The moment she touched those hands, she was astounded. The next moment, she looked at her mother who was standing behind her.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Anna tried her best not to speak loudly but she really felt very angry this time. Her grandpa's body was burning up so hot that it felt like some kind of boiled flesh. He was in this bad condition but no one in the house even bothered to tell her? Why are they always like this? This time, she was really hurt and disappointed by their actions. It's okay not to be good to them, but isn't it too much to hide the whole condition of her grandfather to her?

Anna's mother said nothing but looked at her as if she had said something which didn't make sense. Yeah…Why would they even tell her when they don't even consider her as a family member? But still, without her grandpa, she has no one in this house to care about her. How can she live from now on, if something happens to him?

He was unwell for several months. The doctor already told her parents if his body condition worsens, he won't be able to make it through anymore.

When she got no response from her mother, she stood up and bent a little closer to her grandfather.

"Wanna hear a song, grandpa? I will play your favorite one."

Her grandfather didn't say anything as he had no energy left to say something but tried to smile a bit. He knew what song she was talking about. This was one of the secrets between the granddaughter-grandfather pair. Though Anna didn't like singing 80's or 90's songs that much, somehow she came to practice the 'Exchange of Hearts' song by David Slater as her grandfather liked that song very much.

That song, it wasn't that bad. Sometimes, she thinks her grandfather has some refined and unique taste in music.

Anna rushed towards her bedroom to grab her guitar and went back to grandpa's room. She again sat beside her grandfather in the same spot again as she started to adjust the tone of the guitar a bit and started singing from the middle of the song as she was afraid that she won't be able to make him hear it fully. Before that, she clicked on the button of her grandpa's recorder, in case storing the last memory.

"Oh girl, you'd understand if your heart was mine…

If we had an exchange of hearts,

Then you'd know why I feel the pain,

When the memories start….

If we had an exchange of hearts…."

Her song sounded so soothing to all the people in the room that they couldn't help but feel an unspeakable sadness at that moment. Even the doctor and the nurses couldn't help themselves from admiring her melodious voice. How can someone's granddaughter be so sweet to sing the favorite song for her old grandfather who is just dying?

Anna couldn't finish her song, but before that, the parameter stopped beeping, making her skip several bits of music. Her grandpa was no more. She could see him smiling and his moist eyes as he was listening to her song a second ago.

Why isn't her grandmother here? Then maybe this song, wouldn't be feeling so incomplete right now with her being here. Maybe they could really exchange their hearts for the last time. Because as far as she knows, her grandpa loved her grandma the most in this world. She was taken somewhere else as her own health condition turned towards the bad side all of a sudden hearing her grandfather's condition. Her mom and dad had to transfer her into an intensive care unit at the hospital too. So, it was both fortunate and unfortunate that she wasn't here today at this crucial moment.

Why did her grandpa refuse to admit to the hospital? Though the doctor said there was no hope, she still would have felt a little bit more confident there than in this cold house. Now, what will she tell her grandma? How can she ever accept this great loss? Annabelle just didn't know anymore.

She didn't notice when her father entered the room and stood beside her. She didn't even realize when she started crying. Her tears were falling like rain droplets making a great mess out of her face. She didn't know how to console herself, how to console her grandma for this loss. She was feeling empty, very empty.

Mr. D'Costa moved a little closer and patted his daughter's head, suppressing his tears. But it was in vain. When Anna turned back and hugged her dad, he couldn't resist anymore. It's been a long since Mrs. D'Costa saw the father and daughter like that, hugging each other though the moment can not be considered as a joyful one.

"Papa….. Grandpa…. Hick… he…."

"It's okay, Anna. Look, I am here, you don't have to cry. He is resting in peace now, Anna."

"Yes…."

Anna tried to hold herself from bursting out in tears again as she wiped her tears. She then wiped her grandpa's tears from his cheeks which happened because of him crying earlier and kissed his head.

"Goodbye, Grandpa. Let's meet in the next life, okay? That's a promise! You can't break it."