Oh, How They Forget.

An angel recalls the moments of remembrance in her afterlife and discovers what truly happens once you've passed.

Oh, How They Forget.               

 

It had been a long day; a hectic day; a stressful day. Not a peaceful day of remembrance like I had pictured it. My family couldn’t even take the time to mourn in any way that would be considered proper.

                Elizabeth, my cousin, was too busy flirting with my too-young-for-her but just-right-for-me neighbor, Joshua. Oh, Joshua wasn’t anything shy of perfection. That is of course if perfection were possible. He’s seated at my families kitchen table, munching on my favorite food that momma used to make for me: sweet and sour meatballs with rice.

                He’s making small talk with Elizabeth about her uncle, my father, who died of Alzheimer’s disease at 70. He was a great man, my father. Always told me that death was nothing to fear, especially if you couldn’t remember the names of those you’d be leaving behind. But, it was never a funny joke; not to me.

                After his death, I planned on becoming a nurse so I could help in old-persons homes. I wanted to work with Alzheimer’s patients. It was always a fear of mine that I’d grow old and inherit the disease. But, I suppose I avoided that one.

                You see, I don’t have to worry about dying the way my father did, alone. I don’t have to worry about seeing Elizabeth with my Joshua. I don’t have to worry about anything anymore. Sure, today has been hectic and stressful and no one seems to be doing it right, but I’m not the one who needs to mourn.

                I’m along side of my father now. Right now, my body is some six feet under the ground. My red hair is groomed perfect on the top of my pale, freckled, cold-as-death head and I’m not in that house. My spirit is here, in heaven, beside my father.

                I guess he was always right. There is nothing to fear in death ‘cause when you go, nothing changes. You leave behind the same family, the same friends; and they move on in the best way they know how: they forget. They forget just like Daddy forgot them. And now, I’ll do the same: I guess I’ll forget.

Author's Note

I wrote this the other day in Creative Writing Club at my college. I thought I might as well post it for some extra critique. Please let me know what you think!