Just Knowing

Everyone knew that Kristy was going to die, even complete strangers on the street. Kristy herself knew that she was going to die. However if you asked anyone, and again that included Kristy, how they knew none of them would be able to tell you. It was known just the same and no one ever doubted it. It was because of this that Kristy went back to where her family lived for what she knew to be her last days.

There was very little fuss, the definite nature of what was going to happen removed all that. Her mother cried a little, her sister patted her on the shoulder and that was that. Kristy herself didn’t do anything except quit her job, it seemed kind of pointless all in all. She wasn’t as upset as she would have thought she would be, the aura that surrounded her was one of peace and acceptance and people who normally would have been upset were calmed the moment that they saw her.

The only thing that Kristy’s father insisted was that she went to a doctor and get looked over but the doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with her. They didn’t understand it themselves but they couldn’t help but have the same feeling that everyone else did that she wasn’t going to live longer then another few days. It filled those scientific men with frustration that they couldn’t label it, or say what gave them that feeling but that was how things stood.

And so, since she knew she was going to die, Kristy got to the business of tying up loose threads and taking care of final pieces of business. She gave away everything that she had, and what she had left she donated to charities. It meant no one would be fighting over the stuff and she could see the looks on their faces when they got it. The only things she kept were a couple of changes of clothing and toiletries. She didn’t think anyone would want her half used toiletries anyway.

Kristy spent a lot of her time with her family; they went out to eat, watched movies together and carefully avoided the entire subject of death. Kristy had always scorned the movies where the family bounded around someone’s sickness or their eminent demise but she was forced to admit that it happened. She and her sister grew particularly close with one another over those few days and her sister took some time off of work “so she could be there” as she said. Though she didn’t say be there for what, Kristy knew.

It was a glorious summer day that the entire house woke up knowing that this was the day Kristy was going to die. It was almost a relief after all the suspense and tension Kristy yawned and stretched luxuriously in her bed, it was the same bed she had slept in her entire childhood. Her parents had always kept her room the way that she had left it, with its posters of strange boy band singers, and its tasteless clothing items. She looked around it with satisfaction and put on the outfit she had been saving for the big day, her favorite.

Kristy’s mother had lain out all of Kristy’s favorite foods for breakfast and then, searching for anything to do, her sister suggested that they go for a walk since it was such a nice day. It did seem like a shame to be inside, and somehow Kristy knew that she had to be outside anyway. They walked hand in hand by the lake front just like they had when they were really little and hadn’t cared what people would think.

To be continued...