She made her way across the room and stopped before Nana’s door. Her hand hesitated above the knob. Nearly fourteen days had passed since she’d last crossed this threshold—fourteen days since she’d found her grandmother’s small frame collapsed on the floor.
Taking a deep breath, Catrina opened the door. Her nostrils were immediately assaulted by a waft of staleness—the smell often found within a room that’s been closed off for a long period of time. She gagged and ran to the window.
After throwing open the sheers and lifting the pane, she leaned out and gulped in large drafts of fresh air. Catrina wasn’t sure what turned her stomach the most, the horrible smell or the memory of Nana’s body sprawled across the braided rug next to her bed. Perhaps if she lit some candles…
Sucking in another deep breath, she closed her eyes and counted to ten, willing her nerves to calm. Feeling a little more at ease, Catrina approached the small dresser in the corner—Nana always kept some incense handy.
She poured some emersion oil into Nana’s stainless steel bowl, then added a small pinch of dried lavender leaves. Next, she placed a tea light candle in the base beneath the bowl and lit the waxed wick. Almost instantly, the calming aroma drifted upward.
Catrina turned around to face the rest of the room. Her gaze first went to the empty cast iron bed.
Its quilted coverlet was pulled neatly back to the foot, folded in an accordion-type manner. Its rectangular pillow lay fluffed and centered, waiting for Nana’s coarse gray curls to grace its comforting down. And its ivory sheets were smooth and flat, all indicators of the bed’s recent state of loneliness.
She bit her bottom lip as a fresh tear trailed down her cheek, leaving a wet path for others to follow. Swiping the renegade drop away with her fingertips, she forbid herself from crying. She had to be strong—Nana wouldn’t want it any other way.
“Oh who am I kidding?” she wailed, letting loose a whole floodtide of sorrow. She needed something to calm her nerves and give her strength. Maté tea…
