The door closed and I could no longer see her face. She was gone forever! Never to be seen again by human eyes. A tear screeched down my cheek and I could hear my sobs getting louder and louder as the music played on and on. I tried not to think about her laughter, her smile, her eyes, her lessons, or even her happiness, but with all she had gone through, she deserved to rest in peace. I tried to think of how happy she would be where she was going. I looked to the left at my mom whose face was red with tears and then I looked at my dad who I had never seen so torn to shreds. I learned a very important lesson that day, you don't know what you have until it's gone, never to be appreciated. After the fact, though, you really stop to think about how much that person meant to you and, if you loved them, how much you already miss them. In the back of the room, I could smell the freshly cooked gourmet food that was being prepared in her honor. My stomach lurched when the very thought of food came to mind. I had to get out of there. I could no longer breath. I pushed and shoved my way through the crowed into the fresh open air. I could hear my mom screaming my name and following me, but at that moment I didn't want to talk to anyone except HER. I had to go somewhere quiet, so all I could think of was her favorite place, her favorite tree in the most peaceful park anyone would fall in love with. I laid my head down on the hard bark of the ancient tree and cried to myself, venting everything I could think of to my invisible grandma. The very thought of her made me cry even harder. All I could see through the blurry vision of tears was her smiling face staring at me with such intent and focus, you could only stare back in awe. I missed the smell of her over-priced perfume, the feel of her cozy, warm home, which was always so inviting with its beautifully decorated interior, her amazing food that I would miss so dearly, and MOST of all, her laugh. That was what separated her from everyone else. Her laugh was always obnoxious, but right now if I could just hear it one more time….it would make me so much happier, but only for a split second. We had all these plans for summer that we couldn't do anymore. I immediately thought back to her sister, my grand-aunt, who was with all of her children, grandchildren, and EVEN great-grandchildren. I couldn't take anymore of this! I ran as far from that depressing spot in time as my legs could carry me. I couldn't, no I wouldn't, ever be able to except that she was gone. NEVER! Then, I did the weirdest thing ever. I started to dance! I danced like I never had before, and I imagined her standing there, smiling at me and laughing at how much I had grown over the years. Then, suddenly, I stopped and froze in my tracks. Right in front of me was a huge dog that looked like it could take on a polar bear and win. The way it looked at me, though, was as if it were trying to tell me something. I started to back up away from the dog feeling every bone in my body tense up with fear. I began daydreaming, thinking about how quickly this dog would end my life, but to my surprise, as quickly as I saw her, she darted the other way with a look of intense fear that not even I could sum up. She looked like a scared puppy dog who had just been beaten as she ran from whatever was scaring her. Then, as I slowly turned around to go back to the tree, I saw him….