Closed Chapter

My grandmother is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Arguably and undoubtedly more beautiful than my mother. She loves reading books circulating on romance as she never found the right one for her. At least she thought she did until he left.

I never met my grandfather, nor did my mother. And she never kept a single picture of him in this house. "My love for romance novels is comparable to my love for your grandfather. It was all rose petals and serenade." She said, and added "Until thorns spew out of the stems and it chased me away. I was hurt as he drew an invisible wall between us."

I never saw my grandmother cry. Not even shed a single tear. I always thought that she was just nonchalant, or didn't care at all. Or maybe she's just a strong independent woman.

"You know it was as if we were written in a story, only to be erased; like it was our destiny to vanish all along, and yet none of us would have ever known. It was a spell that not even a true love's kiss or a mother's love can reverse.

"Maybe my time has come to vanish from this world. But I know that I will always be in your hearts and minds, just like the characters and authors from the books I've read."

There she is. My grandmother, once full of life, now laying on her deathbed as she spoke her final words. I didn't know what it meant — to die, or have memories from your life flash before you.

As she took her final breath, she smiled one more time.

Then closed her eyes.

And that was the only time I ever saw her shed a tear.