The Plan Part 1

We arrived home, and I ran to my room. Once I sat down and looked across from me, the journal grabbed my attention.

My eyes squinted in disdain. Right, I remembered quite pertly that I gave Grandma the cold shoulder the last time we saw each other.

My groan never fully expressed how remorseful I felt. I knew what I had to do. The journal was taken up. I ran back down to the kitchen, where my sister waited to spend some more time with me.

"Sis, if you are okay with it there is somewhere else I'd like to go." I said, showing her the journal.

She looked at the journal, and her face lit up with realization. Annie nodded as a smile pulled her cheeks up.

We made our way to the door and set off. It was quite a walk, but eventually we arrived, tapping lightly on Grandma's fragile door.

"Grandma!" I called.

"Come in, it's open!" her shaky voice yelled.

We stepped in and smiled at Granny rocking in her chair. Annie walked up to her and planted a kiss on her cheek. "Hi, Grandma," she said.

I followed, standing before her, extending the journal. "Thank you for this, it helped a lot."

She looked me up and down, then slowly a smile formed as she retrieved the journal from my hand. Those fingers cradled and turned the book in tandem with her smacking lips. "Good, good," her ancient voice replied.

"I just wish I knew what happened next to him, though. Did he find the antidote? Did he live or die?" I asked.

"Ah, the mysteries eh sweet boy? You're hoping to live?"

"Well…" I hesitated, as the fear I was running from all day today started roaring inside me. "Yeah," I said softly, nodding.

"Sweetheart," she started. "We do not know if he lived or died. As the story travelled down to us, we were told that it's possible he didn't continue writing, because he lost hope."

I shifted in my stance. Hope, even now, I was losing that myself. If a grown man could not have held the faith, what good could I have done myself with my feeble, childlike mind?

It was a tall order and honestly; I surprised I was pushing myself as it was. What willpower pushed me so far?

She continued, "He was so overcome with grief over his impending doom that he could not bring himself to write another word, because hope was too bitter a thing for him at the moment. Others have said that he went off in search of this place he wrote about and may have dropped his journal on the way there."

I squinted my eyes at the thought of climbing that mountain. My ignorance was high, because I knew deep down climbing that mountain was going to be feat.

Grandma waved her hands and said, "The journal found by passersby who returned it to the family after identifying him as the owner, but he himself was never seen again. So, we don't know. It's best not to fear death, since it must inevitably come. My day will soon come too."

Me and Annie traded concerned looks.

"I know you're young, but therefore you can make your last days whatever you want it to be, because you have the youth, the strength and the imagination to do so. Don't waste it being locked in your room, afraid to die. Live your final days fully," she said.

I nodded, because I knew it, but it was always going to be hard to accept. My smile met hers as I told her I was one step ahead through. "Actually Grandma, we're on the same page. I have designated each day to a different family member and friends to enjoy time with, but on the final two or so days, Joel and I are going to begin our trek to the purple mountain."

I beamed as I said it, and she nodded with her face shifting between surprise and concern. Her eyes widened at last as they moved side to side in wonder. It was as if she was daydreaming things right in front of me. Those eyes hit me though and asked as if unsure, "You're going to the purple mountain?"

"Yes Grandma, have you ever been there?"

She shook her head with gusto. "No, no… I've heard many stories about it. Many have disappeared trying to get there since it's so detached from everything, there isn't really a trail, it's like it almost sits in the middle of the ocean." She said. Her eyes shifted away as face shouted an element of horror.

"Oh," I said. I mean, I didn't mind going still since I already knew the timeline of my fate, but I had to think about Joel. My sister couldn't lose us both at once.

"Oh no," Annie murmured.

"That's okay, sis," I stroked her back. Then I joked, "Joel doesn't have to come."

"But there's no way you can go on your own!" she bellowed. I would have laughed, but I left it alone. It was hard enough thinking about my depressing situation.

I turned to her, and her eyebrows quirked upward. "Annie, it's time for me to be a man", I said then in a softer tone as I tried to convey my emotions. "Remember, we already know when my time to pass is, we don't know Joel's, he has to stay here with you."

Annie said with a whip of her hands. "I know that he has to stay here." Annie turned to Grandma. "I meant; you shouldn't go. Right Grandma?"

Okay, her panic set in again. I saw her doubts were stirred once more. I was still going no matter what, but I stayed silent and looked toward Grandma. Her head was held down as she clutched the pendant on your necklace, a piece of amethyst.

She allowed the energy of the stone to calm the thoughts in her mind and birth clarity; she whispered softly to herself as though contacting her ancestors. Then she looked up. "He has a point," she said.