This is the second part in a series, so if you have not already done so, you might want to check out Part I before continuing.
Anna slammed the front door behind her when she got home and threw herself onto the couch. Her mother’s voice drifted down from her office on the second floor. “Anna, is that you?”
Anna sighed. “Yeah, it’s me, mom.”
“Everything OK?”
“Fine.” But she was lying and her voice betrayed that to her mother.
Anna turned on the TV – not caring what was on, just wanting some external noise to distract her from the chaos roiling insider her head.
Her mom came down after about ten minutes, which Anna assumed she had spent finishing up whatever she was working on before emerging to investigate whatever was clearly bothering her daughter.
Her mom took a seat next to Anna on the sofa, angled so she faced her daughter. “Did something happen at Grandma’s?”
Anna turned off the TV and let the remote flop on the seat cushion between them. “I’m really worried about her, mom. She can’t even lift a bag of groceries, she’s gotten really thin, and I swear she has less hair than the last time I saw her. Like, a lot less.”
Her mom’s brow furrowed into rows of skin. “Hmm. That sounds worse than just aging.”
“That’s what I said!”
“I don’t suppose she’ll agree to go see a doctor.”
“Of course not! God, she is so stubborn,” Anna said through gritted teeth, gripping the empty air in front of her in her fists. “It’s like she’s stuck in the past and refuses to even attempt to enter the 21st century.”
“Honey, what she went through was very traumatic. It’s not something you can expect her to just get over.”
“But she’s so insistent that doctors are still bad because of something that happened fifty years ago! Why won’t she just accept that the world has moved on from that mistake?”
“I don’t think you understand how trauma works. It’s not rational. She might recognize that things have gotten better, but those experiences are the kind that stick with you no matter what. And even though things have gotten better, there are still a few bad doctors out there. They’re only human and they make mistakes like the rest of us. But, after what your grandmother went through, one simple mistake is enough to send her running for the hills.
“But she…” Anna choked on her words and had to breathe deeply before she could continue. “She’s dying.”
Her mom wrapped Anna in a hug and Anna cried into her shoulder. “I’ll go talk to her tomorrow, sweetheart. I’m not promising I’ll have any more luck than you did, but I can try.”
“It would just be so stupid for her to die if this is something that can be fixed.”
“I know. I know, but we can’t force her to do anything against her will. Just let me see what I can do.”
To be continued …
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