Factors of a Normal Day

January 5th, 2005

Stephen was going to have a fine day today.
Or so he thought.

His parents always stood side by side with him, and to him, the world was nothing more than what he thought of it. To him, he only cared about his family.
That day, he got dressed, and went set off to school. Later, during the lunch period, Stephen hung out with his friends, and life was never better. In the afternoon, he won ten bucks, got a superior grade on his test, and he knew he was going to have a splendid report card.

He went to his friend, Daniel’s house, after school to complete homework and play. At that very moment, though, his mother went to visit the school, to talk to his teacher, Ms. Jody.

“Ms. Jody, Stephen will not be attending school tomorrow, because…”

A few minutes later, back at Daniel’s house, Stephen’s mother called.

“Hello?”

“Hey, I didn’t expect you to pick up the phone. I am coming to pick you up.”

“What? Why?”

“I’ll explain when we arrive home. See you soon. Bye.”

“Wait…”

“Stephen, I have to go! Bye.”

Click.

Later, on the ride home, Stephen felt like he was sick. He wanted to know what was going on.

“Mom, are we in trouble?”

“Of course not!”

As soon as they got home, Stephen, his twin brother, David, his older sister, Christine, and his father sat in the living room.

Stephen’s mom broke the odd silence. “Everyone, I have great news! Your Grandpa is out of the hospital!”

Stephen wished those were the words that were mentioned.

“Your Grandpa died last night.”

Stephen suddenly saw himself in grade 2. It was music class, and the music teacher asked him if he would like to play a song on the piano. Stephen didn’t know any songs, and he never played a piano before.

“Yeah, I know one. But, er, I made it up.”

Stephen was suddenly mindlessly stroking keys, and sucking in the sound. He was so excited to finally play a musical instrument.

“And the title is, umm… My Grandma and Grandpa.”
“My Grandpa.”

As Stehen started to cry, David set off to his room.

His mom piped up, “Where are you going?”

“My room.” He sniffed.

“Don’t go hide in your room. Stay with us.”

“There’s no way to bring him back!”

“That’s why people grieve. To make the sadness go away.” Stephen exclaimed.

Christine quietly sobbed. Stephen went to his mother and sat in her arms.

“Mom?”

“Yes, sweetie?”

“The last time I saw Grandpa? I forgot to tell him that I loved him.”

His mom was silent.

“Now that you say it, I bet Grandpa is looking down at you right now, smiling with a tear in his eye, and wishing he could tell you that he loves you too.”

Later that night, Stephen called Daniel to tell him why he had to leave. He stared at his clock.

8:17

8:18

Once he hung up, he looked at the clock again.

8:18.

Stephen sighed. He was still miserable.

8:17.

Stephen was confused.

8:18

8:17

8:18

Stephen was shocked. The clock had never done this before.

8:17

8:18

8:17

8:18

8:23

8:24

8:25

Stephen unplugged the clock

January 6th, 2005

His Grandpa went unconscious at 8:17, and finally died at 8:18 PM.

The funeral would be held in Winnipeg. During the funeral, the priest decided to use a bell tied to a string. This string would be sent down a hole on the top of the coffin. If the corpse was indeed still alive, he could easily grasp the string and pull.
Cries of people continuously said, “He’s alive! He’s alive!” The coffin burst open.

Stephen woke up. There was still an hour left for the plane trip to Winnipeg. He leaned forward to have some more water. His mouth was dry.
The plane finally started to descend into Winnipeg.

Stephen stared blankly on the car ride to his grandmother’s house. It was raining, and he felt a sense of security. Once they pulled into the driveway, walked into the house, settled in, and talked with Grandma, it felt good to be back with family, or, not all the family. One important person Stephen, now that he came to think of it, barely knew. They all prepared for Saturday.

January 8th, 2005

The morning of the funeral. The big and sad day. Stephen glumly woke up, put on his formal clothes, and everyone piled into the car. It was a cold, winter day, and it was sunny out. The snow glistened in the sunlight. As the car pulled into the church, making the crunching sound from running over the snow, Stephen knew this was going to be a long day.

They walked inside, and waited in front of a door closing off another room. Stephen didn’t really know what was going on, but he didn’t care. He was depressed, and miserable. The door opened, but Stephen didn’t care what was inside. But when curiosity turned him around, he quickly spun back. He had just lost his breath. David had wide eyes, and Christine’s face was red. Stephen couldn’t even walk into the room, but he did, and rushed towards a chair. There was a water fountain, and he quickly drank out of it. It helped him get his breath back. His dad and grandmother leaned over the corpse, and Grandma gave him one final kiss goodbye, and Stephen sat, once again, in his mother’s arms.

“I can’t look.”

“It’s alright. You don’t have to.”

Stephen felt that he was showing disrespect for the dead.

During the funeral, he was crying restlessly. He rest his head upon his mother’s shoulder, and listened to the whole celebration. He learned a lot about his Grandpa. He learned that he was a kind and honorable man. He sang in a choir. He taught his son how to drive, just so that he, himself, wouldn’t have to drive. But Stephen already knew a lot of things about him. The rocking chair he always sat on, the first time he played a game boy, and all the exciting trips to the hospital to witness his pain, which wasn’t very exciting. But now he was out of his pain, and in a better place.

After the funeral, there was food waiting to be eaten upstairs. People continuously told him that he looked just like Grandpa when he was his own age.
Stephen thought that after this, things would be better.

He was only half right.

March 18th, 2005

March 18th. The day before Stephen’s birthday. It was also the day of report cards, and a pep rally. A pep rally was usually an afternoon of games and fun. This pep rally, according to Stephen, sucked. All they got to do was watch people play basketball.

Stephen didn’t like basketball.

He was suddenly reminded of a very powerful thought, and he went to the bathroom, shut himself from the outside world in a stall, and sobbed.
Daniel, curious of what was going on, came to the bathroom, and asked what was wrong.

Stephen never told him what was wrong, but he had the urge to do so. He was afraid he would look stupid if he told him.

That day, he also celebrated his birthday with his friends. But that didn’t make that thought go away. As they sat through the movie “The Pacifier”, Stephen was still reminded of the thought.

Before he went to bed, he looked out of his window, and whispered a message that he hoped was carried out to heaven.

“Happy birthday, Grandpa.”

July 2005

A wonderful day at the beach. Their family was lighting a bonfire, and they were going to roast marshmallows. The date of the newspaper was January 5th, 2005.

Stephen woke up, had a shower, brushed his teeth, ate breakfast, and got into the car. It was a rainy day, and Stephen drew his attention away from the continuous splatting of rain on the window. Once they arrived, they all came out of the car, when another vehicle pulled up right in front of them.
It was a priest.

They walked over to a cremation garden. Inside the bag that Stephen’s dad was carrying was an urn. Flowers were surrounding everybody. All the different colors didn’t seem to blend in during this rainy day. They approached a wall, and beside the wall, there was a loose tile.

The name on the loose tile said Albert…

Everyone was focused on the priest. He said a few blessing words, and sprayed the urn with holy water. Afterwards, Christine was asked if she could remember any events that happened with her Grandpa. Her face was bloody red, and she started to cry. David stood there, and Stephen started to sniff. Everyone was then asked to put his or her hand on the urn one last time. It was then placed into a wall.
While the priest continued to talk, Stephen looked towards the wall. A dragonfly was trying to get into the wall! Stephen closed his eyes and wished for it to leave. It then flew away, far away into the distance.

As everyone started to depart from the cemetery, the sun emerged from the clouds, right onto the wall.

As they drove away, he didn’t care whether that dragonfly had flown away on its own, or some supernatural force drove it away, but he didn’t care. He had never felt happier in his life.