The Death of Grandma Barksdale
In a ridiculously opulent bedroom in an even more ridiculously opulent mansion that would have made Louis XIV say, "This is too much, tone it down!" an old woman by the name of Georgina Veronica Edith Barksdale. Otherwise known to her friends as 'Hissy-Misty' (the story behind it lost in the mists of time) or to her family as 'Grandma Barksdale', was doing what little old ladies do.
She was wrapped up in expensive blankets, nice and warm in spite of Death's icy cold grip on what was left of her heart. In chairs around her were her children and grandchildren, the last remaining family that she had left.
Her eldest daughter Rita was right at her side, providing comfort while her beautiful daughter Erin sat nearby, bouncing in Erin's lap was a baby boy named Liam, the only good thing to come about from her ex-husband, Brian.
Then there was her stubborn middle child Helen, always walking her own path even now with her husband in tow with their daughters, Daria and Quinn, both of whom had clearly taken to college life well considering how they had bloomed into real, young women seemingly right under her nose.
Then a little bit apart was her youngest, Amy, sitting quietly and alone. Even now on her death bed she had to suppress a sigh of regret, the only person who made more mistakes with Amy than her was her beloved husband.
Georgina closed her eyes for a moment, glad that her final affairs had already been taken care of, glad that her family had begun to mend fences even before her cancer diagnosis, glad that her children were getting along now, glad everyone would be able to get on with their lives without her...
Georgina felt her eyes flutter open and smiled, her husband Herbert was there now, as handsome as the day she had first spotted him at the Starry Night Ball all those decades ago.
She smiled and said, "I love you..."
She then closed her eyes and didn't open them again.
She slipped into the embrace of sleep, her breathing slowed down, her heart grew weaker and weaker, and then... nothing.
Georgina Veronica Edith Barksdale was dead.
She was 71.