Memento Mori—U.X.O. Chapter IV
Imported from SF2 with no description.
It wasn't until Christmastime did Jack finally begin to move past Grape. Dad came back from Vermont for the holiday, and the Christmas tree was put up and ready for Santa Claus to come. Jack didn't believe in him anymore, but he still put up the act in hopes that he could get more presents, although as he walked downstairs and gazed at the Christmas tree on the twenty-fifth, that didn't work anymore. Four presents lay under it, one of which he knew was by him for his parents.
“Morning, kiddo," dad said as he walked into the living room. “Ready for presents?"
Before he could answer (he was gonna say yes), mom walked in and interrupted, “It's too early. Wait until we've had breakfast."
And so they did. Jack ate as fast as possible. The blueberry pancakes and sliced strawberries stood no chance against his hunger and impatience. After that was done, his mom finally let him open presents. They all gathered around the tree, and Jack immediately tore into the first present: a green sweater with a moose that said “Merry Chistmoose."
“That's from Auntie Kate." She said, “Hold it up and smile, let me take a picture of you with it."
She held up her phone as he did what she asked. He usually didn't like having pictures taken of him, especially from his mom, who wanted pictures of every small event in his life. But arguing with her was always a losing battle, so he just gave in and had the picture taken.
“Thank you." She said. The next few presents were just as interesting to him, and none of them (including the suspiciously game case-shaped present) was Call of War 4, which was the one he was asking for. Mom opened the present he got for them--two coffee mugs, each depicting a mother and a father. They, not expecting anything of note, thanked him and gave him a big hug. Peter didn't get any presents for his wife, or vice versa, but he whispered to her a promise for a “nice surprise" later. Quietly, so that Jack didn't hear.
“Okay, I want another photo," mom said. Jack sighed silently to himself as he got in position between his parents and put on a toothy smile. After that, they all cleaned up the torn wrapping paper and got ready for a trip to grandma and grandpa's. Before they left, though, dad called out Jack's name.
“And hey, I got something special for you," his dad said as he pulled out a flat square present from his pocket. It was poorly wrapped, signifying that it was the only one he did, in a pink and yellow wrapping paper. Given mom leaning in to get a better look, he seemed to have successfully kept it a secret all this time.
Jack promptly tore into the paper, revealing a Christmas card that had “Hope You Had a Wonderful Christmas" with a hand-drawn Christmas tree. Opening the card, a picture of Grape and Jenny in front of a tree. Grape wore a red and white dress that went to her knees and Jenny had on a green sweater. Jack couldn't help but stare at his friend. Being so long since he last saw her, she seemed unreal, like a dream he replayed in his mind until he convinced himself it was real. The picture was like a pinch that grounded himself in reality, and all the memories flooded back again. He was speechless. A lump welled up in his throat as he continued to stare.
“Do you like it?" Dad asked, “I got it made just before I left. Christmas started early there, so I convinced them to take the picture for you."
Jack opened his mouth to respond, but no words came out. Dad leaned in and hugged him.
“And hey, just like I said when you were in Vermont: don't bring her up to anyone, and that includes showing that picture to people, especially to the people here. She's a secret between us and my friends at work." Jack nodded, having heard those words so many times, it became background noise.
Jack stowed it away in his room and ran out to catch up with his parents as they walked to the car. He completely blew through the trip. The presents, food, and distant family he hardly remembered took a backseat to that picture. He only had a few minutes to look at it, but it was unmistakably her. He had to keep reminding himself of that so he didn't keep thinking it was a hallucination or realistic fever dream. When he made it back from the party, later than he would've liked because of the hours-long conversations his parents had, he ran up to his room and found the picture. It was still real. Her, Jenny, the floral walls. Jack felt an odd, warm feeling in his chest.
A few days went by, and Jack's dad eventually had to head back. At the airport, Jack pleaded, “Why can't I go to Vermont with you?"
“You're coming in the summer. Just be patient."
And from January to May, Jack rushed through the days in eager anticipation over visiting Vermont again for the summer. The thought of hanging out with her again and telling her all about the things he did in the time away was exciting. He never told her about his life when he was there, so now he had a ton of stories he wanted to tell. By this point, he largely moved past the constant excitement over her (or at least tried to move past), but he would be lying if he said he wasn't excited.
Before he knew it, he was on a plane flying back to Vermont. He slept through most of the plane rides, but when he got off the final plane in Burlington, he saw dad there.
The family embraced each other, and after the hug broke off, Jack's dad presented him with a moderately large box of sugar-filled candy. A scowl formed on mom's face, although she couldn't do much to prevent her husband from spoiling Jack. They all walked out to the car, Jack munching on the candy along the way. The airport wasn't as crowded as the one back in California, although there were still some congested areas. Despite that, they made it to the car shortly, and they were on the road. The car stopped to get burgers at a fast food place, and soon after, they landed at dad's apartment. It was rather late when they got back, and they were eager to get some rest.
As the family walked up the stairs, Jack's dad piped up, “I got you cleared to visit Grape before you landed. You can visit as early as tomorrow if you'd like."
Jack nodded, “I'll go then."
“Okay," dad replied with a nod. Jack tried to play it cool, as he hadn't mentioned her up to that point to seem “mature" and “not obsessed with a friend he knew for only a few months." Mostly out of insecurity, but also because he knew dad would bring it up anyway.
Dad's apartment was about the same as it was last year, albeit dustier than before. He never was the best at cleaning, although he still managed to keep things somewhat organized. The only major change that stood out to Jack was a new--and slightly bigger--TV in the living room.
Tomorrow, Jack was driven to the facility by his dad. The route was all too familiar to him, he memorized it last year during all the days he traveled to and from dad's work.
And in the span of about twenty minutes, they were there. The outside of the building was the exact same concrete rectangle he remembered. He and dad quickly got out of the car and walked inside, which was also the exact same, down to the receptionist at the front desk and the bland posters lining the sides of the foyer. Jack began running in the direction of Grape's room, but before he could continue past the foyer, his dad called out to him.
“Jack! We'll be going in a different direction," he said, forcing Jack to stop in his tracks.
From there, dad led Jack down the same, familiar white halls. The seemingly lifeless walls stretched on forever, much longer than Jack remembered, and with the sameness of the rooms, it felt like they were going in circles.
That remained the same, until they walked through a large set of double doors. There, they entered what looked like a cafeteria--with benches and a place that looked to be where they handed out the food. It jumped straight out of his school cafeteria, complete with a few elderly foreign women serving the food. They didn't pass that room last year, but even still, the architecture didn't deviate too much from the rest of the building.
Once they walked across the savoury-smelling food and metal benches, it was only a few more turns and they stopped in front of a door. At this point, Jack couldn't tell if it was the same room, but that didn't matter to him. Dad opened the door to see a small group of four people in the intermediary room. Some he recognized, like Will and the old lady, but the rest were unfamiliar. It was different than he remembered, there wasn't any computer in the corner anymore. Instead, there was another door thatstood on the left wall.
Jack walked up to the group, the old lady stepped forward and held her hand out, “Welcome back, Jack. I'm sure Grape is excited to see you."
“Hi," he said while shaking her cold, thin hand. It was a miracle she was still alive, given her skeleton-like appearance and slow movement. He still didn't know her name, but before he could ask, she hobbled through the left door, and a few minutes later, the door began to slide open. Dad got the attention of Jack by putting his hand on his shoulder and whispered, “Grape doesn't know you're here, so keep that in mind when you enter."
Jack nodded in response as the door to Grape's room started to slide open. The floral pattern was still there, although with a different, more pastel color palette, and the room was overall a bit bigger than Jack remembered. The furniture stayed relatively the same, although like the floor, the colors were a bit more muted than the ones from the old room. A portrait of Grape with Jenny behind her sat on the nightstand, and her bed was strewn with torn-up cloth, cotton, and plastic. A small TV laid on the floor across the room, with a video game console of some sort and two controllers in front of it.
Grape was sitting around the table, eating what looked to Jack like a sandwich of some sort, and Jenny loomed over her shoulder. The caretaker glanced over to the door as it opened, and smiled when she saw Jack. Notably, Grape didn't bother to look over, or even acknowledge the sound of the door opening, despite her supposedly superior hearing, or maybe she just didn't care. The only sound was the distant droning of the AC and the sound of Grape chewing with her mouth open. Jenny parted her lips to say something, but stopped herself, and instead motioned him to come over.
Jack remained standing there, but finally broke the silence overtaking the air, “Hey, Grape."
Grape finally looked over. she stared at Jack for a few moments, a mix of curiosity and confusion on her face. She swallowed the food she was chewing, and sniffed the air in his direction for a few seconds. As she did, she stood up and crept toward him. A closer whiff of his scent finally jogged her memory. Her ears flattened against her head and her tail swished back and forth as she practically ran over to him, wrapping her arms around him as tight as she could. Jack was lucky she wasn't very strong.
“Jack!"