“You still haven’t told me why he gave it to you,” I teased making a laughter blow out of her again.
She shrugged. “He wanted me to hold on to it for him so that I wouldn’t forget our friendship. And guess what? I never did.”
I dropped the ring in the pocket of my brísti.
“Promise me you won’t lose it.”
“I promise, Nana.”
A wind swept by, picking up the old leaves from the ground. Nana gasped, with her eyes wide open, staring out the door. When I looked, there was nothing but some leaves dancing in the air.
“Nana, what’s wrong?” Worry and a deep sadness came over me. I wanted to hug and protect her.
“Repeat after me. This ring is for my beloved, the one I’ll never forget and never stop loving.”
I obeyed her.
She kissed my forehead then smiled. “Remember what I said, Killian, don’t allow them to take over.” I nodded, and in my ear, she whispered, “Will you take a walk with me?”
I nodded in wonder because I had never seen Nana leave her house.
She held my hand as we stepped down the stairs and walked into the woods.
“Nana... where are you going?” Cousin Micky yelled from far behind us.
“Don’t look back,” she said to me. Long roots ahead yanked themselves out of the dirt and moved to the side, splitting a path for us to walk.
“Where are we going, Nana?”
“Just a short walk to a safe place.” I looked around me, but the trees were so thick and tall, the canopy bending down as if it were admiring us, there wasn’t a hint of the sky above them. It was dark but I could still see where my feet walked. “When I’m gone, I don’t want you to be sad. Celebrate my life, make me proud, Killian. I’ll always be looking after you. Okay?”
“Where are you going?” I asked as we headed down the small hill that led to the edge of the river. The rush of it muted the music far behind us, but somehow, I could hear Nana clearly, even though she wasn’t bending down to whisper in my ear.
“To be with your great grandfather. I haven’t seen him in too long. Do you mind if I go be with him?”
Somehow, I knew I would never see her again, and it tightened my chest. The tears filled my eyes right away. “But then… I’ll miss you.”
She studied me with a sad subtle smile. I thought about it. It wasn’t fair of me to insist on her staying here if she needed to be with him.
With a heaviness and ache in my chest, I said, “I understand.”
Cold sand wet my back, waking me from a deep sleep that kept my eyes too heavy to open.Where has Nana gone?
BOOM!
The subtle shaking of the ground and the pain in my ears willed me to wake from a very heavy dream. For a second, I looked at the sky, and as I shot into a sitting position, with my heart running at a million kilometers per hour, the stars swerved. What was that?
“Ahhhhhh!” Many screams echoed from the clearing where the music had stopped.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Boom!
I turned around. A cloud of fire rose high above the trees, illuminating the forest. More people screamed.Mum…Terrified, I stood, realizing I didn’t have shoes on when my feet slammed into the sand as I sprinted up the hill, heading to where all the commotion was happening.
A few meters before the clearing, Mum ran at full speed toward me, her eyes wide and filled with panic and horror.“Killian! No! Don’t go over there,” Mum yelled. She took my hand and ran with me toward the river, farther along the water’s edge away from the clearing. Not too far away, we had a choice: either jump into the water and let the rapids freeze and drown us, or find a way to hide between the trees in the forest.
As Nana had told me, I didn’t look back, but I heard them running behind us and yelling, “Where is she?”
