13: Jackie Malik Anderson

Chapter 13:

Hazel POV:

*2 days after

"Seth come on! We're going to miss the train!" I whined and impatiently waited for Seth to get over his hair and just move on.

"I have to look good!" he said for the millionth time and I rolled my eyes.

I grabbed his wrist and dragged him out of the bathroom and down the stairs. My parents weren't coming over to Leeds to visit my Dad's parents since they had a bunch of work to do. I had just finished school around an hour ago. Seth was home for the whole day while I was at school, counting the minutes for me to get the hell out of there. When I arrived home, Seth had just woken up and he was changing his clothes. I had quickly changed into a pair of red skinny jeans and a grey sweater.

"Bye Dad!" I called out and slipped on a pair of short grey Uggs. Seth quickly slipped into his worn our black Converse and we left the house and practically ran towards the train station. We came across Liam on the way towards the train station and after the very short introductions, we continued our journey towards the train station. We managed to buy tickets and get on the train five minutes before it departured and started the half hour ride towards Leeds.

We got into our seats and I sighed out heavily. I rested my head on the window and my eyes slowly started to close and Seth didn't try to start a conversation and soon enough I could hear his silent snores from next to me. I breathed out heavily and rested my head on his shoulder. My eyelids slowly started to close and I found myself drifting off to sleep.

*

"We have arrived at our next destination: Leeds," I heard an annoying voice of a woman call out of the speakers. "We have arrived at our next destination: Leeds."

My eyes flew open and I noticed that some people were exiting the train and Seth and I were still asleep.

"Shit!" I whispered and shook Seth awake but he didn't wake. "Seth, I'm extremely sorry for this!"

I smacked his cheek. Hard. His eyes flew open and I quickly ran out of the exit and out on the platform, laughing my head off. I could hear him yelling my name multiple times in anger but that only made me want to run faster. By the time I was out of breath, I was standing in the familiar train station. Seth's mum was supposed to come for us but I couldn't see her anywhere. I turned around and came face to face with an angry looking Seth, his face only inches away from me. I forced myself to not laugh but I couldn't resist the urge to burst out laughter.

"You slapped me across my face," he said, pronouncing each word coldly.

"You wouldn't wake up! And the train was going to leave again and we had to get off!" I protested with a chuckle. He narrowed his eyes at me but my aunt yelling our names stopped any of his come backs that he was about to say.

I turned around and was engulfed in my aunt's arms. She squeezed me, then pulled back, studied my face with a huge smile on her face then hugged me again.

"I missed you so much!" she said, after she let go of me. "Are you okay? Are you eating!? You're skinny!"

"Aunty, I'm fine!" I said and quietly chuckled afterwards.

She gave me a worried look and turned to face Seth. She gave him a hug and we started walking towards her car. After a half hour drive, she parked in front of my grandma's house and I literally ran out of the car and ran up the driveway and up the steps and repeatedly knocked on the door. Grace, my grandparents maid opened the door and looked surprised to see me here. She cocked one of her eyebrows towards me, then looked behind me and I followed her gaze. I realised that my aunt looked quite pale and Seth was fidgeting with his fingers, something he does when he's nervous or trying to hide something. I turned my attention back on Grace and gae her a skeptical look. She opened her mouth to say something but closed it again, looking as though she was debating on what to tell me.

"What's wrong?" I asked to no one in particular. When no one answered, I pushed Grace to the side and stormed inside. I first walked toward the kitchen and sitting room and when no one was there I walked to the back yard and checked in the shed and little greenhouse room where they mostly spent their time there but they weren't. I walked to the back side, avoiding having to go back through the kitchen door. I pushed open the back door, checked the library, garage and then went upstairs and checked every single room but no one was here either. I went back downstairs to find my aunt and Seth waiting for me by the still open door.

I bit my bottom lip and looked questioningly at the both of them. "Where are they?"

"Honey, we wanted to tell you before but they didn't want you to know!" my aunt protested but I wasn't showing off any sort of emotions, not yet.

"Where are they?" I flatly repeated.

She sighed dramatically and looked at me sympathetically. "Your grandmother had an unexpected heart attack two days ago and she's in hospital at the moment and she's currently in a very good condition," she replied softly. "Yesterday, your grandfather had an epileptic fit and he's in hospital, too."

I stood frozen to the ground, slowly processing the information she told me. Why didn't anyone tell me about this? Why was I always the last one to know about things like this? Did they think I couldn't handle it or that I was too young to know about this or maybe they thought I was too young to understand what was going on around me.

"We can go to the hospital, if you'd like," my aunt interrupted me and I nodded slightly, knowing that I wasn't able to open my mouth to reply.

After hopping in the car, my aunt drove to the hospital in town and soon enough, I was walking out of the underground parking lot and towards the lifts. Seth pressed the button reading 'Level 8' and the lift doors closed shut and swiftly rose upwards. The ride upwards was silent and I wanted it to stay that way. After a few seconds, the doors swiftly opened and we stepped outside and my aunt led the way towards the room.

"They're not staying in the same room," she said and I nodded sadly. "Your grandfather is in the daily care centre while your grandmother has to be situated here."

"But this is the Critical Care department," I replied quietly.

She looked at me and gave me a sad look. I looked away and looked at my shoes, blinking away tears. I couldn't lose my grandmother, she was important to me. Some teenagers would be embarrassed to be seen around with their grandparents but my story was a total different story. I practically grew up with them, they were always there for me and her cooking was amazing, I love her warm welcoming hugs. The way she has to waddle from one side to the other to walk and her toothy smile with her pink lip stick smeared across her lips, her short black hair and dark brown eyes and tanned skin.

I couldn't lose her.

My aunt pushed open a door and walked inside, Seth and I following. The walls were painted white, on the left side there was a blue door probably the bathroom, a brown cabinet, a sort of tiny wardrobe next to a mini fridge, a large single bed with a TV opposite the bed and mint green curtains surrounding the bed for privacy and two tiny windows on top of each other opposite the main door. It wasn't much and it was small but it was at least warm and cosy.

On the bed was my grandmother perched upwards, staring at the TV, a heart monitor next to her bed and some tubes were attached to different places on her body, mainly her arm and nose. She was breathing heavily and she looked quite pale, considering the fact that she had tanned skin. Quickly, I blinked away tears. Her face turned to look at us and when she saw me, her lips twitched upwards and with a lot of effort, she lifted her arms, indicating for me to hug her. I walked towards her and was quickly enveloped into her warm, comfortable hugs.

I knew that I didn't have much left with her, the weak look in her eyes said it all and her heavy deep breaths she was takinng. It looked as though it was torturing her to just breath and blink.

"I'm going to get some coffee, come with me Seth," my aunt said, leaving me alone with my grandma.

When the doors closed, I breathed out heavily and let the tears trail down my cheeks. She smiled weakly and wiped away my tears with her thumb.

"Don't cry, please," she managed to croak out and I laughed sadly.

"What happened?" I asked her and wiped my eyes with my sleeves.

"I don't know, it just happened," she replied weakly and I knew that she couldn't talk much. "How's life being neighbours with the Malik's?" she asked. She didn't pronounce the word 'Malik' without sounding disgusted. She never did whenever she mentioned them. This was the first time I noticed it. She sounded sad?

"It's getting a bit better," I replied, not wanting to mention anything about Zayn.

"How are the kids doing?" she asked, referring to Zayn and his sisters.

"Alright, I guess," I said trailing off. Why did she care so much about them?

"Hazel?" she asked after a few minutes of silence.

I turned my face to look at her. "Mm?"

She looked straight into my eyes and breathed in a dry breath and coughed. "I'm sorry for everything."

I furrowed my eyebrows together, confused. "Sorry? For what?"

"For turning you against the Maliks," she replied and coughed. "I didn't mean to! Your grandfather hated them so much! I had to continue with him!"

I was completely confused at this point. "Our family hates them grandma, I don't understand," I replied quietly, my voice trailing off.

"I don't," she said and heaved in a deep, dry breath and coughed repeatedly. "I never did. Don't care about family history, Hazel. If you love someone go for it. It's what I did with your grandfather, despite my parents wishes."

She started coughing repeatedly again and the heart monitor's lines started lifting high, indicating the heart was working furiously. She continued coughing and the colour in her face continued to fade and her eyes widened slightly. She lifted a hand and placed it on her chest. She started making weird noises and her eyes grew wider, her eyes almost popping out of her skull. My eyes widened in realisation and I quickly hit the red button, indicating for help. I was practically shaking all over and I tried to help her breath properly and maybe stop the heart attack that was happening again. A few seconds later, a doctor and two nurses burst into the room and shoved me away, quickly giving aid to my grandmother.

A few minutes later, my aunt and Seth came into the room and their eyes widened when they saw me against the wall, staring in horror at what the doctor and nurses were doing to my grandmother to help her breath but the heart monitor was still beeping furiously.

The sound I was dreading sounded and silent teas freely trailed down my cheeks. The heart monitor stopped beeping completely and the line was flat. The doctor breathed out heavily in frustration and one of the nurses checked her wrist watch.

"Time of death for Jackie Malik Anderson, 11.10am," she announced and my eyes slightly narrowed at the mention of my grandmothers surname.

Malik Anderson?

The last sentence she said before dying kept on repeating in my mind as though it was on repeat.

"I never did. Don't care about family history, Hazel. If you love someone go for it. It's what I did with your grandfather, despite my parents wishes."