"Was I able to change?" Episode 17
When I selected the next scene, a familiar sight appeared. It was the scene after I hung up the video call with Sara.
Darkness spread, and there was a sensation of cold wind piercing my skin. As the screen brightened, the familiar kitchen appeared. I had been on a video call with Sara. After the conversation ended and I hung up, the moment I took out a cup to make tea, my chest suddenly tightened. A sharp pain shot through the depths of my chest, making it difficult to even breathe.
Before I could even think, "What's this?", my body wobbled, and I collapsed from my knees while still holding the cup. The cup slipped from my hand and hit the floor with a sound, but that sound only echoed in my body and did not reach my ears. As my consciousness faded, Sara's face came to mind. Whispering "Sara, I'm sorry" in my heart, my vision blurred. The last thing I saw was the familiar ceiling and the light swaying above it. Lying on my back, feeling the cold floor, my consciousness drifted even further away.
I remember this sensation vividly.
I didn't know what happened afterward, but Sara noticed something was wrong immediately, and bringing Anna, who had just returned from school, she rushed to the house. Seeing me collapsed on the floor, Sara screamed and was more distraught than I had ever seen her, as she was usually calm. Meanwhile, Anna picked up her smartphone and quickly called an ambulance.
I saw Anna, avoiding Sara who was crying out, "Mom, move!", and beginning the CPR she had learned at school. It was the first time I saw her small body desperately performing chest compressions. Her hands were shaking, but she kept pushing with all her might. Watching that scene, I felt my heart tighten.
The paramedics arrived and took over my body. Thanks to their quick response, I was taken to the hospital by ambulance. Under the bright lights of the hospital, the doctors worked desperately to treat me, but my consciousness gradually drifted away.
When I opened my eyes, Sara signed to me, "Are you okay?" There were Sara and Anna with worried faces. Sara held my hand tightly, and Anna stood next to her, placing her hand on my body with a face that looked like she was about to cry.
"Sara... Anna..." I couldn't even make a sound, but seeing their faces, a sense of relief spread through me, and tears overflowed. Seeing that, Sara said gently with tears in her eyes, "You scared us. You'll be okay."
Anna also whispered in a small voice, "Grandma, get well soon." At those words, even more tears spilled from my eyes.
In the hospital bed, I felt a strange sensation. Although I couldn't speak, I could clearly hear the voices of Sara and Anna, which I shouldn't have been able to hear. This was the first time, but their voices were so cute and precious. The voices of the two I had always wanted to hear. Through the warmth of the hands Sara and Anna were holding, I conveyed in my heart, "I'm sorry for being a bad mother and grandmother. Thank you for staying by my side until the end."
I felt my breathing becoming shallow. A nurse rushed over, and the doctor provided treatment, but there was no improvement. As my consciousness faded, I thought of Sara and Anna's faces. I whispered "I'm sorry, thank you" over and over in my heart. In my final moments, the Sara and Anna reflected in my eyes looked like they were about to cry, but in the scene beyond that, I saw their happy smiles. Wishing for their happiness from the bottom of my heart, I quietly breathed my last.
Ah, is this what they call a life flashing before one's eyes? Memories of the past surfaced one after another, and there were things I regretted. However, my gratitude was greater than my regrets. I felt worried about what I was leaving behind, but I believed that Sara and Anna would surely work together to overcome it.
The next thing that appeared was the scene of my funeral. I never thought I would see my own funeral. There were Sara and Anna, standing firm without shedding a single tear. Sara was trying to follow my instructions and proceed with a simple funeral, but it became a bit chaotic because my son contacted people around us. However, it turned out that my son, the chief mourner who made the contacts, used work as an excuse to push everything onto Sara and didn't even come to the wake.
In the end, just as when I was alive, Sara and Anna worked together to manage the funeral. I felt that Sara was calm, but she was harboring deep sadness in her heart. Seeing her, I felt gratitude once again for her strength and kindness.
After the funeral, Sara and Anna returned home. While looking back on memories of me, they discussed how to proceed with their lives from now on. Looking at my portrait, Sara said to Anna, "Let's cherish her carefree smile and not forget it." Anna also replied through tears, "I will never forget Grandma."
The screen went dark again, and wrapped in quiet darkness, the item display appeared once more. It said "Chrysanthemum." The chrysanthemum was the flower my mother loved. And it was the flower that was in full bloom on the day I collapsed. I reached my finger toward that icon and tapped the screen. The icon glowed, and Sara and Anna's smiles seemed to shine even brighter. Watching that scene, I whispered in my heart, "The time I was able to spend with you both was truly happy."
At that moment, seeing Sara and Anna looking at me and smiling, I felt the strength of our family bond, and my heart was so full that tears overflowed and wouldn't stop.
In the darkness, a screen appeared with the message, "This scene has been cleared. The lock has been released. Would you like to proceed to the next scene?" However, what I felt in my heart was the sense that there were no more scenes. This was the final chapter of my story. I decided to continue wishing for Sara and Anna's happiness forever, and I faded into the quiet darkness.
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