Fruits Basket Fan Fiction ❯ Custody ❯ A new family ( Chapter 6 )

The days that followed the accident were a blurry memory for Momo, a succession of isolated events that made no sense at all in her mind. She was sure that they had all led her to be standing now in front of her parents' graves, under the falling snow.

 

The snow was the only thing she remembered as being there all this time. It was constant, unchanging, and it gave her a sense of security. At least some things remained the same.

 

It was snowing on the night of the accident. The police told them that her father had had a heart attack while driving, resulting in their car crashing against a concrete wall. Her mother died on impact, instantly. The paramedics made it to the scene when her father had been still alive, but it took them a long time to pull the bodies out of the wreckage. He died on the way to the hospital. One of the paramedics told her that he had been calling out one name over and over again during the time he agonized in the ambulance. When she heard the name `Momo' she said that it must've been it, though she recalled it sounded a little different… or maybe they were two names instead of one? Momo felt a stabbing pain every time she thought about her parents, wanting to be there for her, driving to their deaths while she got angry at them for being late.

 

It was snowing when she abruptly entered the hospital, the pain of her frozen hands and feet completely forgotten. The only thing she could think of was seeing her parents. She couldn't recall Heidi and her family being there with her, consoling her. She knew they had been there, after all, they drove her there…

 

She didn't get to see her parents alive one last time. She had to be dragged away from the room in which their bodies were kept. She was hysterical. They had to give her sedatives. She stayed at Heidi's since her parents wouldn't let her go to an empty house all by herself in the current situation.

 

It was snowing the next morning when her grandmother came. She didn't remember calling her, so someone else must have. Her grandmother was the type that looks like taken straight from the cover of a magazine: beautiful, ageless, with silver hair done in a sophisticated way. Her clothes gave away a refined, expensive taste.

 

The first thing she did was hug her poor little grandchild as both broke down crying. It was a relief to have her there with her.

 

Her grandmother took care of everything: the house, the meals, the hospital, the police, the funeral… She even called her father's office to tell his assistant the terrible news. She was that kind of woman. She could do anything and everything at once. When she set her mind on something, not even her emotions got in the way.

 

This morning, out of nowhere, her grandmother gave her a black dress and told her to get dressed. She must have bought it for her, since Momo didn't own a single article of black clothing.

 

-`I hate this color.' -She thought as she reluctantly put it on. For the first time in days, she realized that her hair needed some work, and absentmindedly combed it so many times that it shone like gold. She was just putting on her shoes when her grandmother knocked on the door.

 

When she was ready, they left to the cemetery.

 

It was an unusually cold winter. Her footsteps as she had approached the place made the thick blanket of snow crunch under her. The sound of their footsteps was, in fact, the only sound among the mourners. It was so loud that it was deafening her. The wind played with her hair and it tickled her cheeks. She pulled the stray strands behind her ears, but let it back down after a minute. The frosty air made her ears and nose hurt.

 

Many people went to the funeral. Her mother had many friends and acquaintances, and his father was a good man and a fine employee who everybody liked at work. She was a popular girl at school as well, and so, when word got out about the accident, many of her classmates decided to go and just be there for her. Her family gathered around her too, concerned about her physical and emotional well being. It had been a shock for them all. Momo, though, didn't pay attention to the people surrounding her, hugging her, crying or pretending to cry for her, coming and going to pay their respects, etc.

 

Everybody was leaving now. Her grandmother was currently busy hearing the same phrases of condolence from yet another acquaintance of her parents. Heidi had been there, but she had already left, as well as the rest of her friends.

 

For the first time in her life, she felt utterly alone. And she was scared. Her hand gripped her rabbit charm tighter. It was an unconscious act. She had been touching it ever since she got out of the car.

 

-“What am I going to do now?” -Momo asked to the cold graves in a whisper. The snow started to pile up over the newly dug graves.

 

Momo took in her surroundings as if she just got there. This is where she would be visiting her parents for years to come, where her children would get to meet their grandparents. She scanned the area trying to determine if they would've approved of the place. She ventured a look past the graves, to the pine trees beyond. They looked white, snow covering any traces of green. Then, a black silhouette caught her attention. She tried to focus her eyes on it, trying to make out what, or rather, who the figure was.

 

Her eyes widened as the figure started to walk to her and came out of the shadows.