Chapter 63

Chapter 63
"Joy!"

I jolted awake, drenched in sweat, my chest heaving like I had been running for my life. My throat burned from a scream I didn't even realize I had let out. The room was dark except for the faint glow of the lamp Grandma had just switched on, her worried face leaning over me.

"Child, it's only a dream," she whispered, her hands shaking me gently. "You were screaming, thrashing like someone was chasing you."

The moment my eyes focused on her, everything inside me broke. I didn't think — I just threw myself forward and wrapped my arms around her. She was warm, alive, solid beneath my fingers. I buried my face into her shoulder and sobbed, clutching her so tightly I thought I might never let go.

Grandma rubbed my back, confused but tender, whispering soft prayers against my hair. "Shh, shh. I'm here. No one can harm you."

But the images of what I had just seen still clung to me — the blood, the gunshot, Eli's lifeless eyes. It felt so real. Too real.

My grip on her tightened, desperate, almost suffocating. "Don't leave me, Grandma," I whispered hoarsely, my voice breaking like glass. "Please don't ever leave me."

She stilled, then hugged me tighter, her chin resting on my head. "I'm not going anywhere, Joy," she said softly, though her voice wavered like she could feel the storm I had been through in my sleep.

For the first time in what felt like forever, I allowed myself to breathe. The nightmare still haunted the edges of my mind, but as long as she was here — alive, whole — I clung to that single fragile truth.

Grandma rubbed my back, whispering, "Tell me, child. What nightmare could shake you so?"

I opened my mouth, but no words came. How could I tell her I saw her blood? That I saw her die with a bullet in her head while I screamed and couldn't save her? The images were so sharp they burned the back of my eyes.

Instead, I only tightened my grip, burying my face in her shoulder. "Don't leave me, Grandma," I whispered hoarsely, broken. "Please don't ever leave me."

She stilled, her breath catching, but then she pulled me tighter, rocking me slightly. "I'm here. I'm not leaving you, Joy," she murmured, though there was a tremor in her voice, like she could sense the weight of what I wasn't saying.

So I held on in silence. 

Grandma pulled back just enough to see my face. Her thumb brushed away the wetness on my cheek, and for a second she looked like she wanted to push harder, to demand what I had seen. But instead, she smiled — a soft, deliberate smile, the kind she used whenever the world felt too heavy for me.

"Well," she said quietly, "if nightmares want to keep us awake at three in the morning, then we might as well not let them win." She tapped my nose gently, as if I were still that little girl who used to crawl into her bed after bad dreams. "How about I make us some hot chocolate?"

I blinked at her, caught between the leftover fear and the warmth in her words. "Hot chocolate? Now?"

"Yes, now," she said firmly, already standing up with more energy than I thought she had at her age. "I refuse to let shadows in your head ruin our night. Besides, I've been craving something sweet myself."

I almost laughed — almost. The ache in my chest loosened just a little, and I followed her into the kitchen, our narrow corridor feeling less like a tunnel of dread and more like home again.

She moved about the small kitchen with ease, pulling out cocoa, sugar, and milk. The clatter of spoons and mugs filled the silence where my fear used to be. I sat at the table, watching her, the image of her lifeless body on the floor still buried in the back of my mind — but now it was being slowly drowned out by the smell of chocolate warming on the stove.

When she set the mugs down, steam curling into the air, she gave me that same soft smile. "See? Even nightmares don't stand a chance against chocolate at three a.m."

I wrapped my hands around the cup, letting the heat ground me. I didn't tell her that the nightmare still lingered like smoke in my lungs. Instead, I sipped slowly, grateful for her way of turning terror into something almost ordinary.

We both sat at the table, the mugs steaming between us. Grandma took a slow sip, then leaned back in her chair, her eyes glinting with that mischievous spark I knew so well.

"You know," she began, "your grandpa used to say chocolate always tasted better at midnight. I suppose three in the morning counts too."

I raised a brow. "Grandpa said that?"

"Oh, yes," she chuckled, stirring her drink. "Your grandpa... he was a shy man, always fumbling over words. But bold in ways that made no sense at all. Do you know how he first talked to me?"

I shook my head, curiosity tugging at me.

"We were at the farm. I was picking vegetables, minding my business, and he walked straight up to me—face red, stammering—and instead of saying hello, he blurted out, 'Do you like goats?'"

I nearly choked on my drink. "What?"

"That's right." Grandma laughed, covering her mouth. "Not flowers, not a compliment, not even his name. Just—'Do you like goats?' As if that was the most romantic thing in the world."

I couldn't help but laugh, the heaviness in my chest finally breaking apart. "What did you even say?"

"Well, I thought it was ridiculous, so I said, 'Yes, I like them roasted.'" She winked. "That shut him up for a whole week."

I pressed a hand against my mouth, giggling so hard I almost spilled my drink. "Grandma! You didn't!"

"I did," she said proudly. "But the next week, he came back, bolder this time. He brought me roasted goat meat wrapped in paper and said, 'In case you're hungry.' Tell me, how could I not fall in love with such a fool?"

I shook my head, still laughing, my shoulders finally relaxing. "That is the worst love story I've ever heard."

"And yet, here you are," Grandma said, her smile soft but teasing. "Proof that sometimes the worst beginnings make the best endings."

Her words settled over me like a blanket, warm and safe. For the first time since waking, the fear faded enough for me to laugh without guilt, my heart steady in my chest.

.......................................

I love grandma so much ❤️😂