Chapter 5

Grace grew up to be a rather normal child. Her hair eventually turned black, saved the tip that stayed white even after trimming. It was like ink in water. No matter how unmixed it was, the moment you tried to remove it, it just spread the more. So they gave up and made up a doctor's report whenever she changed school or moved to a new educational system.

Grace stayed and grew up with her grandmother for as long as she could remember. She only got to see her parents during video calls through Skype and FaceTime, and also the videos they send to her from time to time. Especially when it became more popular. They'd talk for hours on end and she finally got to see her elder siblings who were abroad.

Whenever Grace asked her grandmother why she was here while her siblings were abroad, she would always answer the little girl in a weird and mysterious fashion. She never told her if she behaved like a good girl or anything along that line of thoughts. All she ever and always told her was "Soon, when you are ready."

And as Grace grew up to be a gorgeous lady, she didn't know whether it was because she was raised by her grandma or it was just her eyes playing tricks on her, although a lot of people had confirmed on her own that it wasn't just her eyes playing tricks on her, her grandmother never seemed to age and she knew it wasn't any special cream or serum. No one needed to know how she knew. That's classified.

She also knew that it wasn't genetic. Her mother was approaching her fifties in a couple of years and she looked like a woman who had advanced in years. Her siblings also looked their age from what she saw. So did her uncles, aunts and her cousins. None of them looked as though they were paused in time but her grandmother.

Her grandma Lami's hair was full of white. She had beautiful dark skin and wonderful obsidian eyes that seem to be the color of midnight in the light. Often at times, she caught herself staring at those eyes whenever she conversed with her. It was as though she were being sucked in by those eyes and honestly, she didn't mind. She knew she wasn't the only one and she had the testimonies of all her mates and teachers to back that up.

Another thing was that her grandmother had no wrinkles. None. Even her mother was already having wrinkled skin on her neck something her grandmother commented on in passing during a family video all and she watched her and her father go at each other. Well, that wasn't the first of those and her grandmother kept on reminding her that it won't be the last and Grace secretly hoped that too.

She never wanted to think that there'll be a day when she'll have to say goodbye to her grandma. She loves her too much and her presence was already everywhere in her life. Especially on her birthday.

Every birthday of hers, Grace would wake up to her grandma's cooking and soon they'd end up on the story of her birth. It was almost a ritual. To her m, the night of the meteor shower that happened and the dreams and prophecy prior. Something always moved in her body whenever she heard the story and, as she could sense hee body's response, her grandmother would beam down at her with her thousand watt smile, making her regret that they were related.

Grace had a very neutral feel to everyone. Her feelings towards her parents was so-so but towards her grandmother, it was pure love. Love so much and so pure that she could burst. She always made sure to tell her grandma and the older lady only smiled at her, not before laughing ever so elegantly. Just like how her father hated.

But everything turned upside down when her grandmother suddenly disappeared and she was sent to boarding school for the last year of secondary school. It was right after her SSCE that her life changed even more, but not for the better.