I watched my grandmother take her last breath. In that last exhale of mortal air, I could barely hear the murmur of her God’s name humming about.
“Lord, save me.” and then, she was no longer.
On cue, my eldest aunt let out a wail that reverberated all throughout the room. Her siblings, along with my stoic mother, followed suit. Their heads hung low, shoulders sagged, and mouths emitting sorrowful sounds from soft gasping to loud bawls of lamentation.
Then, everybody talked about Nana and all the good things she did in this world: how good of a mother she was, how dutiful of a wife she was, how her faith in God was exemplary, something about her being at peace with her God and for her not to worry about us whom she left.
Weird. They never tell her these things when she was alive.
By the windowsill, I see my brother look away from the bed. As I look back, my own serene mother had already grasped Nana’s limp hand. She was rubbing it on her tear-streaked face like a handkerchief.
And then, my grandmother opened her eyes. Her wrinkly mouth was gasping for air. Her feeble upper torso sprung from the bed.
As if on cue, my eldest aunt wailed but this time, it was from fright. That sound reverberated all throughout the room.
My eyes trailed along the other occupants of the room. They were stunned, their bodies stiffened, and mouths hung low from the surreal thing that was happening.
A thick air of dread occurs as they ogle at my newly-deceased grandmother who was gasping for air, sitting on the bed and pallid but pretty much alive. Their faces had a common question plastered on it: What is happening?
Weird. Shouldn’t we be happy Nana was back?
Amidst the stunned chaos, my brother was clutching his IPhone. I could see his fingers shaking as he aims the camera to the spectacle on the bed.
“M-mama?” My mother was still kneeling by the bed. Now, Nana is facing her, wrinkly hands grasping hers tightly. I could see the terror in my mother’s eyes but it wasn’t only her.
Nana was staring at her, a terror far deeper reflected in her blank eyes.
“No one can save us!” In that exhale of mortal breath, Nana spoke as loud as her hoarse throat could make her.
Then as if somebody pressed the rewind button, she lets go of my mother’s hands and slumps onto the bed.
Right then, she was no more.