It wasn’t my mother.
It wasn’t my father.
It was a police officer.
He asked whether I was their daughter.
I remember saying yes.
Then there was a pause.
That pause lasted only a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity.
He told me there had been an accident.
He told me my parents had been taken to the hospital.
He told me I needed to come.
I knew before he finished speaking.
Sometimes, your heart understands something before your mind is ready to accept it.
My parents were gone.
Both of them.
In one night, the two people who had always been there when I needed them disappeared from my life.
## My Grandmother Became My Everything
After the funeral, my grandmother became my home.
She had always been close to me.
She was the person who knew how I liked my tea.
She knew which foods I hated.
She knew when I was pretending to be okay.
When I was little, she had often helped my parents take care of me.
Now she was doing it again.