Chapter Six
The week before we would have to leave for Toronto went by so fast that I hardly even remember what I did. It seems when you want to do something the time goes slowly but when you don't want to do something the time goes by quickly. I really wasn't looking forward to visiting La Vie and all the bad memories. I couldn't say the same for Hope and Tyler. They were both so excited about going. Tyler was more excited that he was going to get to miss a week of school. But Hope, she couldn't stop talking about meeting her grandmother. I tried to explain to her that Maxine was her Great- Grandmother but she didn't listen. After awhile I just let her say Grandma. I didn't think Maxine would want to be reminded that she was a Great- Grandmother anyway.
When the Monday came that we were going to leave for Toronto, I had trouble getting out of bed. I was dreading going back there.
"Come on Skye, it's not going to be that bad," Derek prodded. He was already up and dressed, I was still in bed with the covers over my head.
"I'm nervous about this," I grumbled. Suddenly I realized I sounded like a whiny little child who wasn't getting her way. I should be mature about this, I thought. Your grandmother is sick, I scolded myself; you can manage to visit once more before she dies. I threw the covers away and got up. I saw Derek smiling at me in the mirror as I went into the bathroom to shower.
By the time I got downstairs, Derek, Tyler and Hope had already been waiting for a half and hour. Hope was playing on the floor in the den with a Barbie. She looked bored with the doll. You knew she was getting really impatient when she was bored with a Barbie.
"Finally," Tyler said jokingly. He got up and grabbed his skateboard. He never went anywhere without that thing.
"Sorry," I said sheepishly. I hadn't meant to keep everyone waiting.
We were on the road to Toronto in the next ten minutes. Tyler was reading a book to Hope in the back seat. I was sitting in the front beside Derek. I couldn't stop rubbing my hands up and down my thighs. It was a nervous habit I'd had for a while now. Derek reached over and caught my hand in his.
"It's going to be okay," he said.
Somehow I believed he would protect me from anything that might happen. Yes, everything would be fine.
"Are we there yet?" Hope chirped from the back about two hours later.
"Almost," I answered with a mixture of happiness and worry in my voice.
We turned onto the road where La Vie was. The whole street was lined with huge houses that would be better described by the words hulking mansions. They had at least four floors, five bathrooms and some had more than ten bedrooms.
La Vie was one of the largest one on the street. And then all of a sudden, there it was, 56 Greyburg Avenue. Huge and threatening. It looked down on me like it was angry I had come back here after all these years. The white gates that used to be so beautiful and inviting were now rusty and old. I peered through the gates and saw that the grounds had been left to grow. There were weeds where there used to be beautiful daisies, roses and daffodils. The grass looked like it hadn't been cut or watered in years. It was long and brown. It looked like dead leaves had fallen off trees all over the yard.
Derek got out of the car and went to the intercom. I watched him push a button but he came back to the car without waiting for an answer.
"It doesn't work, it's all rusty," he said.
"How will we get in?" I wondered out loud.
"It doesn't look like the gates are locked," Tyler piped up from the back.
"Come and help me push them open," Derek said to Tyler. They got out of the car and pushed on the two gates. They opened slowly and screeched in protest all the way.
"What are they doing Mommy?" Hope asked in a tiny voice.
"They are just opening the gate so we can go in honey," I answered. I looked back at her. She was clutching her Barbie tightly. She looked frightened. I reached back and smoothed her dark hair down. Rachel had done it in pigtails this morning but one had come out and the other one looked about to fall out too.
Derek and Tyler came back into the car and we drove threw the gates slowly. It seemed vaguely like a horror movie to me. The grounds totally overgrown, the gates and intercom too rusted to work like they used to.
We got out of the car in front of the four-car garage and stood looking up at the huge house. It seemed like fifty years had gone by instead of only ten. I chilly breeze blew past us and whistled through the trees. The sky was overcast and it looked like a storm was coming. The weather matched my mood perfectly. I had a heavy foreboding feeling in my chest.
I grabbed onto Hope's hand and we started up to the front door. No one said anything as Derek reached up to ring the doorbell. He pressed the button but we heard no ding-dong from inside the house to tell us that the bell worked. He reached up and knocked loudly. We waited a minute before a very large lady in a black cotton dress opened the door. She had black hair and her skin was as white as paper. Her eyes were dark brown and watery. Her and chin were so pointy, she almost looked like a witch.
Hope huddled closer to my side and whimpered. I leaned down and picked her up. She wrapped her arms around my neck and turned away from the giant of a woman.
"Who are you people," she asked in her low voice.
I knew who she was from her deep voice. This was Mrs. Jenkins, the nurse I had talked to on the phone, "I'm Skye Brooks, Maxine's Granddaughter," I told her.
"Oh yeah," she muttered and she stepped back so we could go inside. The inside of the house was no better than the outside. The chandelier that used to hang above the staircase was gone. The carpet on the step was worn and dirty. The wood floor that used to look so shiny and new was now scuffed and dirty also. What had Maxine done to La Vie? Gregory had loved this house, he would be devastated if he could see the condition it was in. Derek glanced at me. He looked just as surprised as I felt. This was so unlike Maxine, to let her house become dirty and old looking. She'd always prided herself on having one of the largest, most elegant house in the neighborhood.
"Mommy, I don't want to Beast to get me," Hope whispered. She thought this was the house from Beauty and the Beast where the Beast kept Belle until he was turned back into a human.
"This isn't where the Best lives honey," I assured her.
"Mrs. Jamieson is sleeping right now, I'll show you where you'll be staying for the week," Mrs. Jenkins said. She started up the stairs. We followed her and the stairs creaked under our combined weight. I remembered walking down those steps on my seventeenth birthday. It hadn't been the most graceful entrance but Trevor had saved me embarrassment. I could still see the look on Anthony's face when Trevor had prevented me form falling instead of him. I shook the memory of that night out of my head quickly. I wanted this visit to be as uneventful as possible. I refused to remember Trevor this week. It would only make me sad.
"Did this house always look like this?" Tyler asked quietly as we followed Mrs. Jenkins down the long corridor.
I shook my head. I was afraid to speak and disturb the ghosts that were lurking around the corners, just waiting for the perfect time to come out.
Mrs. Jenkins stopped at a door that I recognized as my old room. I was just thankful I hadn't gotten Anthony's old room. All the pictures had had put on the walls before were taken down long ago but I knew I'd still be able to see them. That was the moment I believed Gregory had become depressed enough to commit suicide which he did later on. That room did not have any good memories.
"Will you require your own room?" Mrs. Jenkins asked Tyler.
He looked at me.
"Yes, Tyler can have his own room," I said.
She started to lead him to the room next to mine that used to be Anthony's.
"No," I blurted out, "Not that one," I said quieter when Mrs. Jenkins and Tyler turned to stare at me in surprise. She led him to the room across the hall.
We went inside and the memories flooded in. My room was still the same sky blue colour. My bed had the same comforter on it and it still had the same white canopy. The carpet was a soft ivory colour that had always made me feel like I was walking on clouds
"It's exactly the same," Derek said, "Your clothes are still in the closet,"
I set Hope down on the floor and went over to the closet. He was right; all the clothes I had left behind were still in the exact places they had been when I left. I bent down and looked at the rows of shoes. They all had a covering of dust on them. Suddenly I wondered where Dena the maid and Arthur the butler were. I hadn't seen them since we arrived. And Arthur was usually the one who answered the door.
"This is so strange," I breathed. Derek nodded in agreement. There was a knock at the door and Tyler came in. He had a big smile on his face.
"My room in so big!" he exclaimed, "Wow, and so is yours," he added, looking around.
"Where will I sleep Daddy?" Hope asked. She had gotten up off the floor and come over to clutch Derek's hand.
"We'll get a cot for your sweetie," Derek answered.
There was another knock at the door and Mrs. Jenkins walked in without waiting for an answer.
"Mrs. Jamieson is ready to see you now," she said.
My heart jumped into my throat. This was it. This was what I had been dreading or the last week. I took a deep breath, held onto Derek's hand and followed the nurse to see my Grandmother for the first time in ten years.
The week before we would have to leave for Toronto went by so fast that I hardly even remember what I did. It seems when you want to do something the time goes slowly but when you don't want to do something the time goes by quickly. I really wasn't looking forward to visiting La Vie and all the bad memories. I couldn't say the same for Hope and Tyler. They were both so excited about going. Tyler was more excited that he was going to get to miss a week of school. But Hope, she couldn't stop talking about meeting her grandmother. I tried to explain to her that Maxine was her Great- Grandmother but she didn't listen. After awhile I just let her say Grandma. I didn't think Maxine would want to be reminded that she was a Great- Grandmother anyway.
When the Monday came that we were going to leave for Toronto, I had trouble getting out of bed. I was dreading going back there.
"Come on Skye, it's not going to be that bad," Derek prodded. He was already up and dressed, I was still in bed with the covers over my head.
"I'm nervous about this," I grumbled. Suddenly I realized I sounded like a whiny little child who wasn't getting her way. I should be mature about this, I thought. Your grandmother is sick, I scolded myself; you can manage to visit once more before she dies. I threw the covers away and got up. I saw Derek smiling at me in the mirror as I went into the bathroom to shower.
By the time I got downstairs, Derek, Tyler and Hope had already been waiting for a half and hour. Hope was playing on the floor in the den with a Barbie. She looked bored with the doll. You knew she was getting really impatient when she was bored with a Barbie.
"Finally," Tyler said jokingly. He got up and grabbed his skateboard. He never went anywhere without that thing.
"Sorry," I said sheepishly. I hadn't meant to keep everyone waiting.
We were on the road to Toronto in the next ten minutes. Tyler was reading a book to Hope in the back seat. I was sitting in the front beside Derek. I couldn't stop rubbing my hands up and down my thighs. It was a nervous habit I'd had for a while now. Derek reached over and caught my hand in his.
"It's going to be okay," he said.
Somehow I believed he would protect me from anything that might happen. Yes, everything would be fine.
"Are we there yet?" Hope chirped from the back about two hours later.
"Almost," I answered with a mixture of happiness and worry in my voice.
We turned onto the road where La Vie was. The whole street was lined with huge houses that would be better described by the words hulking mansions. They had at least four floors, five bathrooms and some had more than ten bedrooms.
La Vie was one of the largest one on the street. And then all of a sudden, there it was, 56 Greyburg Avenue. Huge and threatening. It looked down on me like it was angry I had come back here after all these years. The white gates that used to be so beautiful and inviting were now rusty and old. I peered through the gates and saw that the grounds had been left to grow. There were weeds where there used to be beautiful daisies, roses and daffodils. The grass looked like it hadn't been cut or watered in years. It was long and brown. It looked like dead leaves had fallen off trees all over the yard.
Derek got out of the car and went to the intercom. I watched him push a button but he came back to the car without waiting for an answer.
"It doesn't work, it's all rusty," he said.
"How will we get in?" I wondered out loud.
"It doesn't look like the gates are locked," Tyler piped up from the back.
"Come and help me push them open," Derek said to Tyler. They got out of the car and pushed on the two gates. They opened slowly and screeched in protest all the way.
"What are they doing Mommy?" Hope asked in a tiny voice.
"They are just opening the gate so we can go in honey," I answered. I looked back at her. She was clutching her Barbie tightly. She looked frightened. I reached back and smoothed her dark hair down. Rachel had done it in pigtails this morning but one had come out and the other one looked about to fall out too.
Derek and Tyler came back into the car and we drove threw the gates slowly. It seemed vaguely like a horror movie to me. The grounds totally overgrown, the gates and intercom too rusted to work like they used to.
We got out of the car in front of the four-car garage and stood looking up at the huge house. It seemed like fifty years had gone by instead of only ten. I chilly breeze blew past us and whistled through the trees. The sky was overcast and it looked like a storm was coming. The weather matched my mood perfectly. I had a heavy foreboding feeling in my chest.
I grabbed onto Hope's hand and we started up to the front door. No one said anything as Derek reached up to ring the doorbell. He pressed the button but we heard no ding-dong from inside the house to tell us that the bell worked. He reached up and knocked loudly. We waited a minute before a very large lady in a black cotton dress opened the door. She had black hair and her skin was as white as paper. Her eyes were dark brown and watery. Her and chin were so pointy, she almost looked like a witch.
Hope huddled closer to my side and whimpered. I leaned down and picked her up. She wrapped her arms around my neck and turned away from the giant of a woman.
"Who are you people," she asked in her low voice.
I knew who she was from her deep voice. This was Mrs. Jenkins, the nurse I had talked to on the phone, "I'm Skye Brooks, Maxine's Granddaughter," I told her.
"Oh yeah," she muttered and she stepped back so we could go inside. The inside of the house was no better than the outside. The chandelier that used to hang above the staircase was gone. The carpet on the step was worn and dirty. The wood floor that used to look so shiny and new was now scuffed and dirty also. What had Maxine done to La Vie? Gregory had loved this house, he would be devastated if he could see the condition it was in. Derek glanced at me. He looked just as surprised as I felt. This was so unlike Maxine, to let her house become dirty and old looking. She'd always prided herself on having one of the largest, most elegant house in the neighborhood.
"Mommy, I don't want to Beast to get me," Hope whispered. She thought this was the house from Beauty and the Beast where the Beast kept Belle until he was turned back into a human.
"This isn't where the Best lives honey," I assured her.
"Mrs. Jamieson is sleeping right now, I'll show you where you'll be staying for the week," Mrs. Jenkins said. She started up the stairs. We followed her and the stairs creaked under our combined weight. I remembered walking down those steps on my seventeenth birthday. It hadn't been the most graceful entrance but Trevor had saved me embarrassment. I could still see the look on Anthony's face when Trevor had prevented me form falling instead of him. I shook the memory of that night out of my head quickly. I wanted this visit to be as uneventful as possible. I refused to remember Trevor this week. It would only make me sad.
"Did this house always look like this?" Tyler asked quietly as we followed Mrs. Jenkins down the long corridor.
I shook my head. I was afraid to speak and disturb the ghosts that were lurking around the corners, just waiting for the perfect time to come out.
Mrs. Jenkins stopped at a door that I recognized as my old room. I was just thankful I hadn't gotten Anthony's old room. All the pictures had had put on the walls before were taken down long ago but I knew I'd still be able to see them. That was the moment I believed Gregory had become depressed enough to commit suicide which he did later on. That room did not have any good memories.
"Will you require your own room?" Mrs. Jenkins asked Tyler.
He looked at me.
"Yes, Tyler can have his own room," I said.
She started to lead him to the room next to mine that used to be Anthony's.
"No," I blurted out, "Not that one," I said quieter when Mrs. Jenkins and Tyler turned to stare at me in surprise. She led him to the room across the hall.
We went inside and the memories flooded in. My room was still the same sky blue colour. My bed had the same comforter on it and it still had the same white canopy. The carpet was a soft ivory colour that had always made me feel like I was walking on clouds
"It's exactly the same," Derek said, "Your clothes are still in the closet,"
I set Hope down on the floor and went over to the closet. He was right; all the clothes I had left behind were still in the exact places they had been when I left. I bent down and looked at the rows of shoes. They all had a covering of dust on them. Suddenly I wondered where Dena the maid and Arthur the butler were. I hadn't seen them since we arrived. And Arthur was usually the one who answered the door.
"This is so strange," I breathed. Derek nodded in agreement. There was a knock at the door and Tyler came in. He had a big smile on his face.
"My room in so big!" he exclaimed, "Wow, and so is yours," he added, looking around.
"Where will I sleep Daddy?" Hope asked. She had gotten up off the floor and come over to clutch Derek's hand.
"We'll get a cot for your sweetie," Derek answered.
There was another knock at the door and Mrs. Jenkins walked in without waiting for an answer.
"Mrs. Jamieson is ready to see you now," she said.
My heart jumped into my throat. This was it. This was what I had been dreading or the last week. I took a deep breath, held onto Derek's hand and followed the nurse to see my Grandmother for the first time in ten years.