Granny

...

Almost five hours passed, the wall clock, with a drawing of a sunset, indicates that the time is eight in the afternoon.

The sun on the horizon is beginning to set, painting the sky yellow.

Daniel, who was kneeling the whole time and hugging his grandmother's legs, begins to get up weakly, his legs shaking with numbness.

He takes a deep breath to try to calm himself but the tears come out again, he raises the back of his right hand and wipes the tears away.

Daniel has the edges of his eyes red from crying, dry lips and disheveled hair all over his face making him look miserable.

Daniel inhales and exhales, he feels a lot of weight go away and he feels a little better, but that pain in his heart is not relieved.

Daniel looks at the bedside table next to the armchair and notices a yellow piece of paper being stepped on by the television control, he carefully picks it up and reads it.

""Daniel, if you are watching this, I can only tell you that I am sorry for not taking good care of your grandmother. After your accident and your coma, the grandmother went into a depressed state and did not want to take her pills.

Military arrived to take care of us and they did not allow us to visit you, they will inform us if you wake up and they will take care of you. But your grandmother argued with them because she wanted to see you and she fell ill from her high blood pressure. They offered to take care of her, but I saw that all the elderly were not taken care of and were left to die from a strange disease that made the dead rise again and devour the living. Everything was very strange, I was afraid for myself, for my family, for you, for Grandma.

I didn't want that to happen to your grandmother, so I took care of her at home for a week with my family since she didn't want to leave. She wanted to wait for you here, to see you wake up .

Grandma sits in her favorite chair most of the day next to her phone, waiting for the call to tell his grandson had awakened.

Unfortunately that day did not come, one day, in the morning, I went to wake up your grandmother, but she did not react, she was already dead. I don't know how or why, but she got up and attacked me, my husband saved me and tried to hit her but I stopped him.

In the end I couldn't do anything with her, I was very sad about her death and I knew that you would be too if you see her in this state.

So, before going to a shelter, I decided to fulfill her last wish and we tied her to her favorite armchair, hoping that she would see her grandson one last time ... ""

-I forgive you Mrs. Jiyu, you did everything you could for my grandmother until the end. I hope you and your family are safe-

Daniel drops drops of water on the note and gets wet. He crumples the note tightly, grabs the white blanket on top of one of the couches, and covers his grandmother with it.

The bullet hole in the head is safe to deduce that it was a person that I enter to steal, because many appliances are missing. Daniel does not blame them, instead he is a bit grateful, if he saw his grandmother trying to eat him without remembering it, her heart would break to see that. It is best to give it a quick ending, where you can find eternal peace and rest.

-I'm here granny, you can rest in peace now, I hope you are happy in the next life-

Daniel beckoned as he prayed.

With a very dark and sad face, Daniel walked into the kitchen, grabbed a kitchen knife and pressed it against his neck.

The edge was cold, like Daniel's feelings now.

But in that, he remembers the whole family of him, greeting him.

Daniel puts down the knife, decides to accept the loss of his family and, although with pain, decides to continue with his life.

His parents and grandmother didn't raise him to give up now. They want me to continue living and be happy. His grandmother wanted to see him for the last time, and now that Daniel sees her, he feels it gives him the strength to continue. His life is not only his, it is also the life that his parents and grandmother protected with love.

Only now did Daniel remember that he had to meet Rick. That will do for now, it was late, but he must change his clothes first, he cannot go yet with his hospital gown and barefoot.

Daniel walks into the kitchen and takes four glasses of water from the dispenser. He was very thirsty after crying a lot.

Now with his thirst quenched for him, Daniel goes up to his room on the second floor, opens the door with a danger sign and enters.

The room's walls were lined with posters of famous singers, including Queen, The Rolling Stones, Shakira, Taylor Swift, and a Justin Bieber in the background.

These are people from the world of music that Daniel admires. On the single bed with a blue blanket there is a classical guitar, with which he plays songs as a hobby. His parents bought him that guitar four or five years ago when he became interested in music, at the bottom of the guitar there is a small embedded photo of a 12-year-old pre-adolescent Daniel hugged by his two parents. His mother is blonde with green eyes and his father has black hair and blue eyes.

-First you left and now granny, I hope wherever you are, be happy-

Daniel held the guitar in his lap as he sat on the edge of the bed and fingered the small family photo of him with conflicting emotions, shedding tears.

-These were the last tears, now I must be strong and face the challenges that will come in order to survive, not only for me, but also for my parents and my grandmother who take care of me on the other side-

Should I ditch Rick? I've only known him for a few months after all. I don't have to help him, now I just have to live.

Daniel put the guitar on the bed and grabbed his black school bag and threw all his school supplies on the floor, looked between them and only kept his favorite book from The Adventures of Don Quixote de la Mancha.

Daniel reached under the bed and grabbed his trusty golf club for when there was a fight and placed it in a special elasticized slot that he asked to make in the backpack, in which he can place his golf club or other things, he is in the left part of the backpack where Daniel can easily remove it with his right hand, or drop the backpack and use his left.

Daniel looks at the guitar and wonders if he should take it with him, it is large and takes up space but he has been with him for almost 5 years and it is an important gift from his parents. But that makes it difficult for him to move.

-If it comes to the worst, then I'll have to throw it away-

Daniel decides to try to carry it and places it inside its dark blue case.

Now, lacking clothes, Daniel opens his closet and choosing to change clothes. Then he stands in front of his full-length mirror.

Daniel is wearing a classic red long-sleeved T-shirt, a black leather jacket with many zippers and the Queen logo, a pair of black fingerless motorcycle gloves that he took from a boy who tried to hit him.

Black running pants, comfortable with the white Nike symbol.

Nike sports shoes with white cotton socks and black stripes.

Under his pants he has a new men's boxer briefs.

Seeing that nothing was missing, Daniel returns to the closet and removing a wooden cloth, as if the floor is sliding, a green chest appears with a yellow star on the lid, unlocks the password and inside there is...

An expensive multipurpose knife with a very sharp blade that has the initials A&D on its platinum frame that means Alice and Daniel, it was given to him by Alicia who was Daniel's first girlfriend in Los Angeles, due to different reasons, they ended up but were very close during their two years of courtship.

Daniel also gave her a silver pendant in the shape of a heart, its interior plated in gold, and some very happy photos of the two of them.

They lost contact after Daniel became distant and cold with her because of the death of her parents, although she came to visit him, but Daniel is cold with everyone and Alicia no longer tried to communicate with him after that.

Daniel grabs the utility knife and shoves it into a pocket in one of his jacket pockets.

There was also a nicely crafted bracelet with red and black colored threads, Daniel's favorites, and E&D gold embroidered initials that would be Enid and Daniel. Enid gave her the bracelet as a farewell souvenir, made by herself for many days and taken care of.

Enid is Daniel's second girlfriend, whom he has known for a year when he came to live with his grandmother, she was his 14-year-old neighbor, two years younger than him at that time since now Daniel has 17.

They started a relationship 8 or 9 months after meeting and they were only dating for two months because Enid's parents had to move to Alexandria for work and she had to go too, Daniel couldn't go because he wanted to be with his grandmother .

The two could not be contacted because Enid's parents were strict religious and did not approve of their relationship from the beginning. Enid had no telephone, only the landline in the dining room that her parents forbade her to use to speak with Daniel, although Daniel secretly sends her letters from her parents with names in codes that only the two of them know. But she stopped doing it when she had the accident.

Daniel gave her a survival kit with both of her initials because she liked adventure very much, but she always got lost or hurt.

Daniel grabbed the bracelet and put it on his left wrist that covers the mark left earlier by the handcuffs.

Daniel found his satellite phone in a small metal box in the chest. He had bought it for her parents to keep in touch while they traveled the world on their honeymoon, he bought one of the same brand for Alicia so if she didn't throw it away then there is some chance of contacting her.

Now Daniel regrets not buying one for Enid.

Next to the bracelet is a sheathed combat knife, Daniel removes the sheath and sees the very sharp platinum-plated combat knife with a firm grip handle and black color that Rick gave him for his 16th birthday. although he only asked for it as a jokes, not expecting Rick to give it to him.

Daniel puts the knife back in his sheath and ties it behind his pants, where he could use it more easily.

At that moment Daniel remembers how Rick saved his life in the hospital.

-I owe you a favor Rick, when I pay we will go our separate ways-

Daniel pulls out the knife and looks at his reflection on the blade with cold, indifferent eyes.

There is also a cassette music player with gold cable headphones, which his grandmother gave him, it belonged to his grandfather, he wanted to give it to Daniel before but he couldn't get to live long enough.

Grandpa won it in a drawing for 100 of those limited and unique players in the 80s, it contained old classic songs and some current Daniel music, kept well preserved until now by his grandfather and arguably looks brand new.

Daniel grabs it and places it inside a pocket of his jacket, on the top that covers his heart, he can place it there easily because it is the size of a palm, although it is risky since it can receive a direct hit and break, But who knows, one day this could save his life.

The highlight is his green family photo album with his parents - his grandmother - Alicia-Lady Jiyu-Enid. All the photos saved there or at least the most important ones.

He keeps the album in his backpack.

There was also a Zippo Lighter in the shape of a skull, he grabs it and puts it in his backpack in an orderly way so it doesn't crash into something else.

Above the closet is a small cardboard box with a black flashlight, and some spare batteries, the box is the size of two hands side by side. He carefully places it inside his backpack, arranges her favorite book and photo album so there is room for food and water, then closes it.

Daniel puts the backpack on his back with the bat in it and with his right hand he grabs the guitar case.

He leaves the room and enters the bathroom, there he opens the first aid kit box and puts everything he can into his backpack:

Omeprazole - For heartburn.

Ramipril - For hypertension.

Sterile gauze - To bandage wounds and keep them clean. Daniel grabs a few more packages.

Hydrophilic Cotton- To cover clean wounds and keep them that way.

Elastic Fixation Bandages- To keep the gauze attached to the affected area.

Hydrogen peroxide and alcohol 96º-For wound disinfection.

Analgesics-Antipyretics- Like Paracetamol, Aspirin and others.

Topical anti-inflammatories. ...

Burn cream. ...

Sting cream. ...

Oral serum sachets

Physiological serum-Very important.

Although it seems like a lot, everything fits in a small shopping bag, you never know what could happen, maybe one of those things does not eat you and instead they die of fever or headache.

When he finished setting up, Daniel closes his backpack and goes out into the hall.

He goes down the stairs and into the kitchen. He puts the guitar on the table and goes through the cupboard, stuffing supplies like mineral water bottles, food cans, and chocolate bars the size of his outstretched hand into his backpack.

Daniel closes the backpack and drops it on the table next to the guitar. He then he sits on a chair and starts dialing numbers on his satellite phone.

-I knew it-

He calls the only landline number in Enid's house three times but no one answers, so he stops trying to call. He has no other numbers to contact her, Daniel regrets more of not giving her a phone secretly from Enid's parents.

He redials another number while, after a few seconds, he hears the sound of connecting the call.

-Hello there?. Alicia, I'm Daniel, do you remember me? - (Daniel)

-...-(Unidentified)

Daniel frowns, it might not be Alicia ...