Hard Times Of My Life: A Narrative Fiction

The October sun had long risen when the two sisters arrived. Together they trudged up the hillside in silence, hand in hand as though to share strength with one another. Vines draped themselves lazily across the top of the gate, dancing delicately in the breeze. It’s aged metal bars made a sound of protest, but grudgingly opened against the weight of the two. It became much warmer once past the opening, the hillside protected the graveyard, keeping it safe from the reach of Autumn’s bite. They walked past several headstones, before finally settling before a rather plain looking stone. For a moment they just stared. Everything seemed to come back to them all at once; the familiar hum of the car beneath them as they rolled along, the windows …show more content…
“I met her when I thought I was at the end of my life, but it was really just the beginning. Funny how the world works like that sometimes.” “A while back, I was diagnosed with cancer.” she began slowly, her voice dripping like honey. “It was one of the hardest times of my life; there was a one in ten chance I would live to see another year. When you don’t have a lot of time left, you start to reflect all about the things you should have done when you were able to. When there was still time. Everything becomes this giant game of ‘what if’ desperately wishing that you could go back in time and change certain aspects of your life; live a little more.” “It’s easy to become depressed when you think that way. I was going to die anyway; wasn’t I? So what was the point of torturing myself? I’d seen what cancer did to people; if I was going to die at least I wanted to die me. I was on the edge of giving up entirely when I met her. I still recall the first moment she walked in the room; she looked like Autumn, all fair skin and soft chestnut eyes with long silky waves of strawberry-blonde hair spilling down her back. There was a contagious air of bliss about her, and it really pissed me off. A selfish thought, I know, but right then and there I couldn’t believe the nerve of this woman; that she would disturb my sorrowful demise with her acute …show more content…
She hadn’t realized when she had started crying, but now she struggled to blink back tears as the young girls both mirrored her; their eyes on the brink of overflowing as well. “Cassandra loved you very much. I know they say that the people you love never truly leave you, and before I thought that was just a load of rubbish, but I can see it now. She’s in your smile, your laugh, the kindness in your heart. Of course we need to mourn the dead, but your mother lives in you. She would want you to move on, to go and live every moment of your lives; and to be happy. I think we owe her that much.” It was dusk now. Darkness hung thick around them like a curtain at the end of a play. Although their hearts still ached within their chests, the hollowness seemed to subside. Although a stranger to them at that moment in time; their love for their old woman would soon grow, and lead them into the secureness of a new home and family. As the darkness surrounded them; the two girls walked forth hand in hand into the gloaming with newfound lightness, and hope for what would come