Aftermath

Once the funeral was over, Vera could finally sit on the old sofa in her grandmother's living room.

She had ensured all the threads were untied and that her grandmother could rest in peace before they buried her. All those small rituals had drawn her from every trace of energy, but she had pushed it through.

Death was really the greatest challenge. She had even signed some documents the other women couldn't because they had no blood relation, and her heart had started crying in silence when she had been told the house was hers.

What to do with it? Surely, she couldn't sell it. But she couldn't visit either.

What with the animals? And the trees? She knew they would suffer if no one took care of them...

So many things to think about that she couldn't properly suffer. Only when everything was done and only a few people - mostly women from the neighbourhood - remained could she be alone with herself.