Families logo

Gone for Good

How will I tell the children?

By Duch DeLucaPublished 5 years ago 5 min read
Like

How Will I Tell the Children? October 10, 2018

By: Emily DeLuca

Cassie awoke as she did every day, bright and early and full of vigor. She started her day as she always did, brewing a fresh, strong pot of coffee, awaiting the moment her two children would awaken. It was summer so there was no need to set out clothes or prepare their lunch boxes; this left her time to check out the latest going on in the world of Facebook followed by the daily email check.

As she finished reading her last email, she heard the myriad of musical sounds from her children’s toys. Cassie gulped down the last of her first cup and crept through the hallway; quietly she opened her son’s door, watching adoringly as he sat upon a bed of pillows playing with his superhero action figures. As Devon held Spiderman in one hand and Captain America in the other, Cassie couldn’t help but snicker as her son used two very different voices pretending his toys were again saving the city as they often did. Cassie wondered if he perhaps did this because he loved the way she did the same each time she read the children a story. Hearing the low giggle, Devon leapt to his feet and bound into his mother’s arms, allowing her to smother him in kisses and hugs.

Cassie and Devon made their way to the kitchen as they discussed what they might have for breakfast. Devon situated himself into one of the four barstools, naming the variable of ingredients his mom was to add to their breakfast parfaits. There was yogurt, honey granola, fresh berries, and homemade whipped cream. Cassie loved the creations she concocted in her kitchen probably because her family seemed to adore them even more.

Evie sluggishly placed herself next to her brother.

“Mommy is making parfaits to go with our pancakes,” Devon whispered to Evie, which seemed to perk up the sleepy-eyed girl almost immediately.

After breakfast, Cassie asked her children to watch cartoons for a bit. This would allow Cassie time to pay a few bills and make some important inquires she had jotted on her to do list the evening prior.

She had been on hold for nearly fifteen minutes and was hardly about to call back later as this was the third time the cable company had overcharged them for their phone, cable, internet contracted price. A beep came through, once twice, three times—finally looking she noticed it was her grandmother. She hadn’t really wanted to talk to the cable company, and she so loved talking with her grandma.

“Hi, Grandma,” she said with delight.

“Honey,” her grandmother said, her tone different from normal.

Devon and Evie bolted into her bedroom as they had heard their mother saying hello to great grandma who they so loved.

“One second, Grandma,” Cassie stated as it was clear something was wrong. “Let me talk to grandma,” said Cassie. “I will bring you the phone to say hello in a few minutes... I’m sorry, go ahead,” she said to her grandmother.

“Baby... your mom passed in the night.”

“WHAT!”

Cassie’s mother had been battling lung cancer for four years. She knew this day was to come eventually yet somehow, she figured she had more time. She had only just seen her mom a month earlier, having flown to Pennsylvania to kiss her mother and wish her a happy Mother’s Day.

Cassie began to sob. Despite her attempt to throttle back an immediate flood of tears, her sounds of despair and suffering emotions she could not. Her grandmother after all was so strong, so strong in fact she had never once seen her cry. She could not muster her grandma’s strength.

“I’m sorry," she sobbed. "I will call you back in a few minutes. Is that okay?” she asked.

Her grandmother agreed. “I’m sorry... I’m sorry, I’M SO SORRY” and she hung up the phone. Now Cassie had never hung up on her grandmother. Alas, at that very moment, it was all she could do trying so desperately to sound as strong. The phone slipped from her hands and plummeted to the floor as she too fell as though she were a ton of rocks dropped from a second story roof.

The children rushed in to assure she was okay.

“Noooooo,” she almost screamed. Cassie needed time—she was not ready to tell her children yet. How could she, for she couldn’t even admit the truth to herself. On the cool marble floor, Cassie crumpled into a fetal position head buried in a pillow as she wailed and sobbed as the day's truth crept over her more and more.

It only took ten minutes before Cassie summoned the strength to call her grandmother back and were you to ask her today how she did so she still could not tell you. The phone rang only once, and her grandma picked up the phone.

Almost garbled, “Grandma,” she said.

“Yes, baby?”

“Have any arrangements been made yet?”

“The funeral is set for three days from now. I have taken care of everything, honey, but I will leave it to you to find any pictures you wish to have at the funeral home to memorialize your mother.”

“May I eulogize Mom?”

“You absolutely can, sweetheart, but so you know, she wrote her own eulogy.”

At last Cassie snickered ever so slightly. Of course her mother had written her own eulogy; after all, she had been a writer and more so the most stubborn person she had ever had the pleasure of knowing.

“Sure,” Cassie stammered as she said this. “I will call you back as soon as I have found a flight. Is that okay?”

“Of course, angel,” stated her grandmother.

Cassie hung up the phone and set herself atop her bed, pulling at the newly made up covers, writhing in pain, in agony. Ten, twenty, thirty minutes had passed and finally her tears began to subside. She then thought, “how will I tell the children, I need to call my husband” and with those two brief thoughts, Cassie was again crippled with sadness. “How will I cope, what will I do?” Her mother, after all, had been her best friend, her confidant, her protector, her cheerleader, the one who had taught her to never be afraid to be herself no matter who or what that was.

grief
Like

About the Creator

Duch DeLuca

Wifey, Mommy, Student, Renaissance Woman... I wake each morning with the mindset to be the best me I can be each & every day, so I can make dreams reality & pave new pathways!

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.