Entry for The Lullaby Book Club.
Theme: Death/Accident that causes two friends to grow closer/apart.

Note: Not my best as I have to cut a lot of words to satisfy the appointed word count.😔

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'Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now, am found, was blind but now, I see.'

The cool breeze in the air tickled my face as I hummed along to the bittersweet hymn we sang that day. Then, the melody that was no longer sweet but instead, terribly sad to my ears, slowly came to an end.

'Was blind but now I see.' I repeated the last phrase of the song then laughed softly to myself. Oh, the irony. My hands reached out to touch my eyes but instead, my fingers came into contact with a thick, gauzy material. I groaned audibly. I wished I could tear these bandages off. I wanted to see! My emotions which were once calm, took a sudden turn. My blood began to boil and I started to wrench at the bandages covering my plain sight.

The moment when a pair of strong arms began to wrap themselves around me, the bandages on my face were nearly undone and thoroughly soaked by my tears. Fear erupted in my heart and a scream was threatening to trickle up my throat. But I swallowed it down when I heard the baritone of the man, whispering comforting words into my ears. One of his hands were trying to pry off my fingers from the unkempt bandages on my face and the other was slowly stroking my back as an attempt to comfort. And yes, I was comforted.

'Who are you?' My hands reached out to touch and feel him as it was the only thing I could do now that darkness was the only thing I could see.

'Shhh.' The unknown man shushed me. 'You shouldn't be doing this. Not today. She wouldn't like seeing you in this state, would she?' I tensed and tears began to form again when he mentioned her. I felt the motions of his swift fingers arranging the bandages back to their original position, around my eyes.

'Who are you?' I repeated but with more unadulterated angst.

'You don't need to know who I am. Come. The pastor has just finished his sermon.' He grabbed both my hands and pulled me to my feet slowly. I wobbled so I grasped hold of him blindly, doubting my own stability.

'No! Let go! I'll fall. I rather sit until Aunt Jas comes get me. Please. I don't even know who you are!'

'Dahlia, trust me. Jasmine isn't very free at the moment. So I'll help you around, okay?' His arm held my shoulder and started to guide me forward.

'Why do you know my name? How do you know who's aunt Jas? Where are you taking me?' I shot multiple questions frantically at him and grabbed hold of whatever I could reach which was coincidentally, his other arm. Sheesh.

'You said you wanted to see. I'll help you see.' He stated simply, answering none of my questions. My heart lurched. How did he know? Did I say everything out loud during my small meltdown?

'You're not answering my-'

'Here. Take this.'

He shoved something soft into my left palm. I touched and felt the smooth, velvet surface of the object.

'It's a daisy. A white one.' He replied when I opened my mouth to speak.

A white daisy? I thought and anger, sadness and guilt hit me like a train.

'Let's go meet Daisy for one last time, shall we?' He said gently and pushed me forward but this time, he did so without me objecting.

After walking a short distance away from where I sat, we stopped. 'Where are we now?' I asked him while he held my arm in his.

'We are at the burial site.' His voice broke a little. I could hear the sadness in his words. I felt my heart breaking all over again with the very same emotion he was having.

'You said you wanted to see. And so you'll see. Dahlia, let my eyes be your eyes.' His grip on my arm became firm, urging me to trust him. I smiled sadly and nodded.

'Alright. What do you see now?' I asked him, putting my trust fully in this stranger I was starting to warm up to.

He sighed in relief and replied, 'Well....they probably dug into the ground yesterday so there's a deep hole in front of you at 12 o'clock. And umm...it's probably....six feet deep?'

'You are horrible at this!' I laughed out loud at his struggle for words.

'I know, I know I'm horrible at descriptions but it's not my fault that I fell asleep during those boring English lessons we used to have in high school-' he halted mid-sentence and his arm went around my shoulders.

'What's wrong?' I asked worriedly.

'Remember the hole I told you about just now? Well, they're lowering Daisy into it right now.'

I stopped breathing as I imagined the scenario in my head but the fingers which were rubbing my shoulders managed to calm me a little. I heard a loud thud and the people surrounding us began to mourn.

'Oh, grandmama.' I finally spoke after a long moment of silence. 'I'll miss her so much.' The man pulled me into his embrace and held me there. 'I'll miss Daisy a lot too. She was always there for me when I needed someone. She was always there. But Dahlia, she's gone to a better place and that's good.'

A better place. A place where she would suffer no more. No cancer. No pain.

We stayed in each other's embrace for a very long time. Finally, the man pulled away from me and held both my shoulders.

'Let's go. Daisy's friends are bombarding her with flowers now. I bet you want to do the same.' His voice reverberated through my soul and brought me back to reality.

I giggled. 'Oh yes, you bet I want to throw this at her.' My thumb stroked the stem of the daisy. 'I have to admit it's not the first time I threw stuff at her. I remember throwing a handful of dirt at her face when she first taught me how to plant. Oh, she was so mad.' The memory brought a smile to my lips and it became much broader when I heard the chuckle from the person beside me.

The bearer of my substitute eyes directed me as I threw the daisy at my Daisy who was sleeping peacefully in the casket that was in the ground.

Goodbye grandmama. I love you.

I tilted my head towards the man beside me.

'Thanks, Leo.' I smirked.

'No sweat, Dahlia- Wait. How did you know it was me?' Leo demanded.

'I didn't. I was guessing. And it seems that I'm right. You coward! So, you finally had the guts to come find me now, huh?' The ends of my lips lifted up.

'Daisy told you about me, didn't she? That sneaky old hag. I specifically told her not to!'

'You got some guts to call a dead old lady an old hag. I bet she'll come haunt you tonight. That's exactly what grandmama would do if she's dead. And well, she is.'

'She told you, didn't she?' Leo repeated, more firmly and ignored the possibility of being haunted by an old hag.

I let out a ragged breath of air. 'Grandmama did mention a guy who volunteered to help out in the hospital just to spend more time with her. And she learned that this guy has had a huge crush on her precious granddaughter since high school but apparently, he was too afraid to confess. So....'

'She said she'll do anything to get us together.' Leo and I said in unison. 'The sneaky old hag.' Again, in unison. We both laughed, chasing away the rest of the sad atmosphere which lingered around us.

'I can't believe that it takes her death to make us grow closer.' I said sadly.

'Yeah....but I still think that this might be some kind of sick joke. I'm waiting for her to burst out of that coffin and shout, 'Surprise! I pretended to be dead so you silly children would realize you are meant for each other.' Leo said while pulling me closer towards him and sighed. ''She told me take good care of you when she's not around. And so here I am.' He placed a kiss on my forehead.

'Hey, Leo?'

'Yes, Dahlia?'

'I haven't forgiven you for ditching me in high school. We used to be friends.' I said seriously while trying really hard not to smile.

'Dahlia, I know I'm wrong but-'

'But I'll forgive you if you let me take you out on a date. I'm finally having my bandages removed next week. And I want you to be the first thing I see when I open my eyes.' As I couldn't take it anymore, I laughed like I've never did before at a stunned, speechless Leo.

Then finally he said, 'I swear, you inherited all that sneakiness from Daisy! Fine, a date it is. I can't believe I'm going on a date to the hospital. I mean, how could you have gotten a cataract during a time like this?' Leo ranted on and on. And as I listened to his voice, I knew I'll never grow tired of hearing it.

I lifted my head heavenwards and grinned broadly.

Thank you, you sneaky old lady.