My grandmother sat in her bed, old, frail, and withering.

  It was a harsh image, mostly because of how healthy she looked just a few days ago. You could buy time with modern tech. Sometimes you could get years, maybe even a decade if your condition was light enough. Grandma had chosen to give up on that.

  It was interesting. Studies actually showed that people felt more at peace when they chose to be taken off health support.

  “They have me in diapers, Burt. Diapers,” Grandma frowned. “And they come in to change me like a baby!”

  “There’s no shame in that Nana,” I smiled.

  “Oh,” she sighed and reached her hand up to mine.

  I grabbed it and she gave me a soft warm smile.

  “How’ve you been, dear?”

  “I’ve been alright.”

  “Still in that old garage?”

  “Its a comfortable spot.”

  “I’m sure it is. You and your grandfather worked for months just renovating it,” she whispered. “Shame for it to go to waste.”

  “I’m fine Nana.”

  She gave my hand a squeeze.

  “I know, but you’re not happy. You’re in your youth! Your twenties! You're supposed to be enjoying yourself, not locked up in some warehouse!”

  “I’m fine Nana.”

  She smiled, then pulled me in for a hug. She smelled different.

  “What medicines are they still giving you? Painkillers and Neuro Boosters?” I asked.

  “Yes. They offered me mood stabilizers but I told them I didn’t need them.”

  Dying hurt, of course. Your organs were failing, your body was rotting, and you were literally falling apart. Painkillers were a must. But one organ no one wanted to fail during their last moments of life was the brain and all too often, people weren’t lucid enough to talk to on their deathbeds.

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure,” she smiled. “I’m happy Burton. I truly am. It feels like its right. Like my time has come and I have to leave the stage with a bow. Does that make sense?”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  “Yeah, it makes sense.”

  “It might be sad but all I can think is, finally. I get to see my baby again.”

  “He’d be mad if he heard you say that.”

  “Damn right he would! And I’d tell him to come back to life and stop me!”

  We laughed at that, and then her laugh turned into a cough.

  “How are the nurses treating you?”

  “Oh they’re great! Your brother hired them from that hospital he works at. I’m happy and clean Burt! All the way!”

  She smiled again. She was genuinely happy.

  My vision got blurry and I started to blink away the tears.

  “Oh Burt, come here.”

  “I’m okay, I’m alright.”

  “Just come here, son.”

  How do you talk to someone who’s dying? How do you tell one of the few people in the world that they mean everything to you without ruining the moment. She was smiling. She was happy. She had made peace with her death.

  I hadn’t.

  For as different as I was from the last time it had happened, it was all the same. I had watched my grandpa die and it was unbearable. And now I had to do it all over again.

  I didn’t cry.

  She hugged me and I didn’t cry.

  It would be unfair of me to cry. It was her deathbed, her dying moments. Who the hell was I to throw a tantrum?

  The world wasn’t fair. I knew that. It didn’t care about how wrong all of this felt.

  I squeezed my eyes shut and liquid poured out into the sweater.

  “I’ll miss you.”

  “I know, son. I know.”

  We stayed like that for several moments. Then she let go.

  “Now,” she reached beside her bed and pulled out an old wooden box. “Everyone’s been coming by and talking to me, so I have gifts planned, and this is yours.”

  The box was old and made out of solid wood. It wasn’t engraved. It was a simple cube, sort of like a ring box, but even more plain.

  “You don’t have--”

  “Oh just open it,” she cut it.

  I nodded and opened the box.

  It was a ring. It was made out of white rock and it had a green gem at its center, an emerald.

  “Is this a moon ring?”

  “Yes. You always wanted one when you were a child and your grandfather and I always meant to give it to you during your birthday but we never got the chance. We both picked out the diamond though. I’ve had it sitting around for several years now and wanted to give it to you at just the right time. A final gift, from the both of us.”

  I put it on and it fit my middle finger perfectly.

  “Thank you, nana. It’s beautiful.”

  “Oh don’t lie to me. You don’t care about jewelry. We knew you just wanted something from the moon, so we got it for you.”

  “Thank you,” I said again. “I’ll take care of it.”

  “I know, dear.”

  We talked some more about absolutely meaningless stuff. The weather, The Spin, sports, heroes, politics, memories. There was a lot of reminiscing and a lot of laughter. I stayed there the whole night and left at around five am.

  I looked at my hand, then the ring, the shiny emerald ring. I put my hand in my pocket as I made my way back home.

  This was too valuable to let anyone take, even if I could afford a replacement.