New Beginnings

R.I.P?

"Why not?! It will just be a few friends!" Polly protests at the kitchen island. She had been hassling her mother all morning about throwing a party over the weekend.

"God damn budget cuts." Alice mumbled as she stirred her coffee, refusing to look up at Polly. She and every other working parent found them to be a major inconvenience. If it wasn't for these cuts, she wouldn't have to be dealing with her screeching 17 year old on this fine Friday morning where she had the day off and planned to relax, but that was hard to do with her rebellious and easily bored daughters around.

"Because I know you Polly, a few friends will turn into 50 friends and those 50 will turn into a hundred, and the next thing you know, we're waking up to our TV and roof missing." She digressed before taking a sip of her hot beverage

The teen scoffed angrily, scowling at her mother before rolling her eyes. "This is bullshit." She mumbles with a mild attitude, furrowing her brow to put emphasis on her feelings.

The sounds of Betty's footsteps coming down the stair case and turning the corner gained their attention. The younger Smith took note of her elder sisters pressed lips and narrowed eyes.

"What's up with you face ache?" She wonders, swinging around the counter and pulling out her chair.

Polly rolled her big blue eyes, turning her head away and continuing her meal.

The loud ringing from their home phone began to draw their attention. It was barely ever called or even used, so this was definitely a surprise to the three of them.

Alice removed herself from her seat, pursing her lips in confusion as she walked over to the device, clutching it into her manicured hands and bringing it to her ear.

"Hello?" She greeted, twirling around with the cord as she awaited a response, but the information she was fed on the other end turned out to be something she could've done without hearing at all.

Suddenly, the atmosphere throughout the room switched from mildly lighthearted to cold and eery, based on Alice's silence and facial expression alone. She had stopped fiddling with the chord and looked as if all the wind had been knocked out of her sails as she stared blankly at the wall in front of her, her mouth falling dry and her eyes saddening.

"And you're sure about this?" She questioned quietly, still in her train of thought. "Okay detective, thank you." She finished with a straight face, refusing to turn around to face her girls as she slowly placed the phone back onto the hook with her trembling hand.

Polly and Betty glanced each other's way the minute she put the phone down, a combination of confusion and concern spread over their faces.

"Detective?" Betty wonders, looking away from her shaken mother and back to her sister. Detective, surely that couldn't have been a good sign.

Noticing the brisk change in her mother's stance, Polly immediately stood from the island, slowly approaching her mother and standing by her. She focused on the woman's face, noticing how vulnerable she suddenly appeared to be. "Mom, what's happened?"

She swallowed the bitter taste in her mouth, gulping to prepare her words as she processed the information she had just heard over the phone.

"Your grandma died." She informs them blankly, keeping her eyes off of them and proceeding straight to the couch.

Polly's mouth gaped as her mother told her the news. She wasn't sure how to react as she watched her clearly shocked mother wander over to the couch.

Betty's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as this revelation hit her in a completely different way. "We have a grandma?" She whispered before placing her spoon down into the bowl and making her way to her Mother and sister. Alice had never spoke of the woman, never even  mentioned her, so finding out she was dead had more of a WTF affect on Betty, unlike the other two.