Mallory Kuchis Catcher Essay I was just getting home from my first scrimmage on the modified basketball team. I walked into the house with a big smile on my face hoping to find my dad there ready to hear about the game. I had an idea that something was wrong because my grandmother picked me up and she never usually did that. She didn’t say anything suspicious and I didn’t think too much into it. I asked her, “Where’s mom and dad?” and she responded; “They are both busy and they needed me to pick you up.” I walk in the door to find my sister and brother awaiting my arrival. They started saying, “When are we going to tell her?” and when my grandmother finally took me into my room to tell me, I never expected to hear what she told me. I was in 7th grade at the time, young and ignorant, and not expecting anything bad to ever happen to me. When she finally spit out what she needed to tell me I didn’t know what to do. By simply stating, “Your aunt had a heart attack at work today and she’s at the hospital”, it was enough to make me immediately well up with tears. My Aunt Laraine was the best. She was always there to encourage my siblings and I through everything we did and she never judged us for a second. She was always there to give us candy even if mom and dad didn’t want her to. She was my favorite aunt at the time especially because a few weeks before she had taken me Christmas shopping where she would give me $100 dollars to spend on whatever I wanted. That was long ago and she was healthy the last time I had talked to her. She was making plans with me to see my games and we talked about good books that we read. Shock set in and I couldn’t
think clearly for a second. When my dad finally got home from the hospital, he was the least bit interested in hearing my news and I wasn’t interested in telling him. When I tried to tell him in hopes that it would lighten the mood, it didn’t do much. That night was the first time I had ever seen my dad cry. Tears streaming down his face and his eyes all red and puffy; it was a sight I never wanted to see again. It broke my heart. The days went by and we waited but soon she passed away. It was 9 days before Christmas; her favorite time of the year. My aunt lived with my grandmother her whole life and when this happened, my grandmother couldn’t handle it. We had Aunt Laraine’s wake and funeral and then we thought, now all we have to do is get through the grief… but it wasn’t the end. The day before Christmas Eve, my dad went to visit Grandma to make sure she was okay but when he got there the door was locked. The door was never locked and so my dad called his brother George, then my mom. They all opened the door to find my grandmother who had died in her sleep. My mom said that from the looks of the bathroom, my grandmother had gotten up at night, for the last time, to go to the bathroom and when she went back to sleep, she never woke up. When I heard this news my body went completely numb. Was this really happening? Two relatives within the same week? It was difficult to handle and it’s understandable why Holden had such a hard time getting through Allie’s death. I was depressed for a long time after this. Everything reminded me of them and I kept seeing my aunt standing in my doorway. Call me crazy but I feel she was watching over me. I also had a dream about my grandmother and she
was telling me everything would be okay. I’m not sure how I did it but I know what was going through my mind. I was thinking about where they go and I was pretty much confused about the whole situation. Just like the ducks disappearing into the pond, my aunt and grandmother had disappeared into the ground and I didn’t know where they went. I’m Catholic but at that age, I wasn’t sure about anything. I wasn’t sure what Heaven and Hell were and I didn’t know if they were even real. I didn’t like the change, especially since I lost two of my favorite family members. My family got very close through this experience but as for my dad’s side of the family, well we don’t really talk to them anymore. It turns out that the only reason we talked to my dad’s side of the family was because of Grandma and Aunt Laraine. With them gone we went our separate ways. We never talked much anyways but it seems as if there’s a missing link to my family because I only ever see my mom’s side of the family. I, to this day, haven’t gotten used to the fact that I never see them but it will never be back to the way it used to and I have to accept that.