Yves, Why are you here?

A tall stature long-haired man walked into my first-period college lecture. His black designer shoes complimented his well-maintained black hair as he walked toward me. He sat in the seat next to me. Talking to him for a bit taught me many things about him, including his name–Yves. He was an international student from France. His clothes made me think that he was well off. His parents owned one of the biggest banks in all of France. I was initially confused as to why he even came here in the first place, his intelligence and wealth made attending college useless. But he attended anyway. Throughout the year he would always be early, with his notebook, taking and studying his notes day by day. One day our teacher also grew curious about his situation, our professor walked up to us, sat, and asked Yves, why are you here every day? He looked up, looked back down, looked up, and pointed at me.

11:52

Tiredly, I slowly turn my head glancing at the alarm clock on my wooden stand next to my bed—7 PM. My parents had just left to check on my grandma in the hospital. This was her second week in the hospital, the doctors said she was lucky for still surviving this long.  I doubted that she was lucky and thought that she was perfectly healthy.

8 PM. I took my empty plates of food to the sink. The smell of burnt chicken lingered while I was washing the dishes. I didn’t know how to cook food properly. I was waiting for my grandma to teach me after she got released from the hospital. I never thought that plan would change. I turned the faucet off and left the wet dishes on the drying rack. Without the noise of the faucet running my house was dead silent. Step by step I walked up the stairs.  Thump Thump. I turned on my computer and watched a movie.

11:45 PM. Laying on my bed I hear the door open. Unsurprisingly, it was my parents, but when I walked out of my room, they stared at me blankly, 11:52 PM. Your grandma is dead. I look at them, confused, I move my eyes away and look back. The lack of blinking made my eyes dry, and soon after the feeling of water covered my eyes like how a blanket covered a bed. I walked down. Thump Thump. My arms wrapped around both of my parents. I could hear their heartbeat beating slowly. We ate dinner that night together, and although I already ate, I didn’t complain.