Thank you for reading and sharing my daily #Storygram short stories! Be sure to subscribe to the Newsletter and check out my film Portfolio!
The Story:
A layer of snow is covering everything, concealing the ugliness of the shivering earth underneath. It all seems too beautiful, too perfect. I brace myself for the onslaught of ridicule from her, covering my heart with a layer of contentment as fleeting as the snow.
The door opens, and my grandmother stands in front of me, adorned with her familiar frown.
“Well, you did make it, albeit very late. We’ve already begun eating.”
Pushing the edges of my mouth into a smile feels like lifting weights with my cheeks.
“It’s good to see you, grandmother.”
She motions me into the dining room, where I am greeted by relatives that know precisely two facts about me; that my name is Cara, and I am divorced. Everyone stares, unsure of what to say.
“Good to see you, Cara! Give us a hug,” Uncle Wade almost tackles me, shielding me from the narrowed eyes in the room. He whispers into my ear.
“Just ignore these fuddy-duddies.”
My grandmother enters the room behind me.
“Well, sit down already. I’ll fix you a plate.”
I take a seat next to Uncle Wade for protection. We all sit in the silence that tends to follow me now, until my plate arrives acheter kamagra oral jelly en france.
“Here. And elbows off the table,” she says, slapping my plate down.
“Did you make sure to… separate all the food for her,” Aunt Prin asks with a tongue so sharp I feel it pierce right through me.
A few people snicker, and Uncle Wade begins yelling at them. The entire room erupts, a trial of my family standing.
The noise becomes muffled to me as I stare into an old picture hanging on the wall. My grandmother is very young in it, and her sister is criticizing her for something, while her father and grandfather survey the land this house would be built on. How could I have expected anything else from her? Her disapproval was predictable. It’s all she knows.
I should leave… stay alone. I don’t know why I came here.
“Everyone, stop it!” My grandmother yells, probably for the first time ever.
“Cara is family! If you don’t see her that way, get out!”
Grandmother smiles at me, definitely for the first time, and I feel like I belong.
Think this story should become a book or a short film? Let me know in the comments below!