Gentleman ♀

A Horrible Twist To A Happy Tale

Hey,

Soooooooo umm, we had to cut our trip to Virginia short… You know my grandma Vickey? Well she’s in the hospital right now in the ICU because of an infection due to surgery. She’s quote “got tubes all over her body and is bleeding out of all of them.” Great. Just what I needed to hear. We’re not even sure if she’ll make it till when we get home. According to her she’s ready to die. She says she’s sick of being in pain. I almost understand her feelings but she’s not just an old lady who spends most of her days with a nurse passing on, it’s a mom, still living with her underage child passing on. Jaylan (her son) barely even goes outside, how is he going to be if she dies? Where will he go? Who will he talk to?

All of this is what we’re for. Nobody else is fit to take care of him like we are and we’ll do everything in our power to make sure he comes out okay. We might not be the closest but I love my cousin and I’d do ANYTHING for him. If that kid needed it I’d give him my kidney. So I’ll do everything in my power to help. He’s probably going to stay with us for a while if worse comes to worst and I’m preparing myself for that. I might be the most awkward person ever but I’m ready to let him know that I’m here if he needs to talk. He might not talk because we’re not that close but I figured it’s worth the words.

It’s been a few days now and… Grandmas gone… Yesterday I went to the hospital and saw her. She was swollen and just as said, bleeding out of a bunch of tubes. There was blood on her clothes, on the floor, on the sheets, in her urine and spit, it was everywhere. She wasn’t even conscious. After that I went with my dad and Jaylan to some lady I’m related to’s house. There were having a bonfire and me and Jaylan were standing in the back corner of the yard talking about everything while some inconsiderate adults were playing beer pong and screaming.

At first I figured we were just dropping Jaylan off to be taken home but after around an hour of Jaylan telling me all of his concerns and how tired he was I decided to tell my dad to at he needs to go and sleep. Of course, I didn’t want to say it in front of Jaylan so I lied and asked my dad to take me to the car to get my phone. There I told him how Jaylan was tired and really needed to get some sleep. This kids mother was dying and he was stuck at 10:00PM at a bonfire. He agreed and we walked back where he waited a minute then told his sister (who was taking Jaylan to sleep at her house) that either he could take Jaylan home or she should. She said she was leaving soon and we left at the same time. I slept soooo long that night.

Today I woke up at around 10:00AM we straightened up the house and then got ready and went to the hospital. Everyone was there except my dads brothers. They’re odd people anyway. We talked about everything from who’s the best spider man (Jaylan says Toby McGuire but I say Tom Holland) to where’s Jaylan going to stay after Grandma passed away. Eventually though, the nurse came and got us and we all walked into Grandmas room. We said a prayer and stood around the bed. Jaylan went from silently looking to crying to looking to crying, only interested by the occasional sob breaking everyone’s hearts. I didn’t cry but every time he did I had to force myself to take deep breaths and focus on only that. My dad and his sister were hugging Jaylan and making sure he was at least some semblance of okay.

My mom took Hailey and I out of the room even though I wanted to stay so she said she’d take me back. My dads youngest sister went out of the room as well but before we could go back in everyone joined us and grandma had passed. Jaylan was the first to join us and he was crying and giving my dads sister a hug. She was crying too and promised Jaylan that everything was going to be okay and that we’d make sure he was alright. After that we all just stood there in complete silence other than the sniffles of most of us. It felt like hours that we were just standing there in silence but it wasn’t really silent. Although no real sound was made, everyone was speaking paragraphs. It was one of the most surreal moments in my life. All I wanted to do was leave and yet I never wanted that moment to end.

Eventually though, everyone had to leave. By the end it was just my dad, mom, Hailey, Jaylan, and I. My parents went in the waiting room to gather the rest of our things and Jaylan started quietly crying. I gave him a hug and told him I was so sorry. On the way home my mom and Hailey rode in one car and my dad, Jaylan, and I rode in another. At first we talked about how we were all in disbelief, then Jaylan told me how Grandma thought I was a nice kid but needed to quote “loose the hair” (since I have a pixie cut), then we just rode in silence. We talked occasionally but it was mostly quiet. Sad but comfortable silence.

Jaylan’s going to be staying with us for at least the rest of the summer while he transitions into living with his new family. It’s some guy named Steve (I think) and his wife and kids (15 girl, 10 girl, and 7 boy I think). They have LOTS of money, live in a nice area, and get out with their kids a lot. They live 2 hours away but I really think this is the best decision they could have made. They really are perfect and they’re giving Jaylan an amazing opportunity for an amazing future as long as he accepts it. I told him that it would take some getting used to but hat it WILL be okay in the end. Not better per say, but not worse.

When we got home Jaylan sat on the small couch and I sat in the big one. I had the Guinea pig out and he fed her a pepper. He told me that he was tired but when I offered to get him a blanket so he could sleep he declined. My mom went up to the store and got sodas and candy for us and then Jaylan and I went to the basement, where he would be sleeping. He had to call his neighbor to inform him what was going on so I offered to put something on as background noise. He decided on Game Theory, Food Theory, and Film Theory on YouTube.

My dad made spaghetti for dinner and Jaylan ate a full plate of that plus garlic bread and a bottle of water so at least he’s eating. After that we went to the basement to watch a bit more YouTube and sleepily crack a few jokes before we went upstairs to grab his clothes and he changed downstairs and is probably sound asleep right now. After I went upstairs and got ready for bed I joined my dad in his room to look at old pictures of my grandma. She really is just a gorgeous lady. One of the prettiest people I’ve seen, honestly. My grandpa was pretty handsome too, at least till the 80’s got to him lol. At first he looked like the popular kid who gets murdered on prom night in a horror movie but the 80’s made him look like the murderer OMO. Then the 80’s left and he went back to looking great.

It’s almost 12:00AM by now, I should really go to sleep. I don’t usually ask for stuff like this and I’m usually not a super religious person but please pray for Jaylan. You don’t have to, I’d just really appreciate at least some one-off half-hearted thoughts. Not for me, but for a kid who’s whole world just got shattered in the matter of 2 days. I’d really appreciate it. I’ll update you and maybe write about my time in Virginia soon. Buh bye.

~ Gentleman