Blood & Sugar

Chapter 9

 Despite how happy she was to see her mom and sister, Sofia excused herself fairly quickly choosing to go sleep. There is no way in hell she could make it through the events that will take place in the next few days without properly resting. At least that is what she tells herself to not admit that she needs the momentary escape from reality.

Sofia sleeps through a good portion of the day until her mom vacuuming somewhere in the house wakes her up. Instead of getting up right away, Sofia stays in bed hoping to fall back asleep. It's not until she's spent nearly 15 minutes under the covers that she sighs heavily and resigns herself to the land of the living.

Sofie knows she should try to crawl out of bed and see how she can help her mom with funeral arrangements, and all the other countless things that likely need to get done, but at this moment the warm bed feels like a sanctuary. Outside are a lifetime of memories contained within the walls of this home. She keeps waiting for a complete breakdown to come where she falls apart and reality fully sinks in. Part of her knows it won't happen now, most likely once the funeral is over and everyone goes home, once she is all alone with nothing but her thoughts, that is when it will all really hit her.

A knock on the door brings Sofia out of her thoughts and she quickly rolls out of bed. On the way to the bedroom door, she catches her reflection in the dresser mirror. It is almost funny how she looks the same as always, yet she feels so different like all of a sudden a part of her is gone. She rubs her face tiredly and brushes out any tangles in her hair, changing into light denim shorts, a faded David Bowie band tee, and slippers since they avoid wearing shoes inside the house.

Walking out and into the kitchen she finds her mom and sister eating a late lunch. "Hey sweetie, I'm glad to see you're up," her mom says as she leans over to hug her once she takes a seat. "Yeah, I really am sorry. I know you guys probably had to keep finalizing plans without me, the night was just brutal." Sofia grabs a sandwich off a platter in the middle of the table and pours herself some sweet tea.

"It's all good. We figured you might need some extra sleep once you got here. Plus, it meant I got to have mom's pancakes all to myself" Lara teases, sticking her tongue out. Sofia is obviously obligated to throw her napkin at her sister, causing them to giggle. Gwen rolls her eyes at her daughter's antics although she is trying, and failing, to fight back a smile.

Taking a bite of her sandwich, Sofie takes the time to look around at the place so infused with her grandfather's spirit and instantly feels bad for laughing. She and Lara share a look and can tell they are thinking the same thing so she reaches out and grabs her older sisters' hand, giving it a squeeze. The rest of the day goes by in a blur as they make countless phone calls to distant relatives and old friends of her yéyé. There was also a trip to the funeral home to pick out the casket and square away a few other details then set up payment for it all.

Close to evening time, they order a bunch of hors d'oeuvres for the people coming to the house to pay their respects following the funeral. At the end of the day, she is grateful to have had her mom and Lara with her. Sofie honestly can't imagine them doing all of this without the support of each other.

Dinner consisted of a couple of burgers they picked up from the local diner and brought home, After such an emotional day, they each just took theirs and went their own way to eat in contemplative silence. Sofia manages to get through half of her meal before laying down in bed, looking at the ceiling, replaying old memories in her head.

One instance that she vividly remembers is her yéyé staying with them during the spring instead of summer, she must have been eight and Lara eleven. For a whole week, he waited until they were marked as present in school around 8:45 then he signed them out and took her and Lara out. One day they got ice cream and went bowling, another day he took them to swim at the lake.

It was so easy to get lost in the memory until she feels the bed dip and looks to see her sister laying down next to her and for a while, they are quiet until Sofia breaks the silence "I was just thinking about the time yéyé helped us ditch school for a week so we could hang out with him."

Lara chuckles lightly with a look of fondness on her delicate features. "That was great. Just like when you were five and he surprised us with a trip to Disney land. For months you wouldn't stop wearing the mickey ears he bought us."

Sofia smiles, recalling that magical moment "I still have those too. I really should wear them more often." She bumps her shoulder with Lara's and they turn to look at each other, foreheads touching with sad smiles on their lips. Lara grabs Sofia's hand and they are once again surrounded by silence, both absorbed in their bittersweet memories. That is the exact position they fall asleep in, taking comfort in each other's presence.