Life is really short—so short that it almost feels unreal. Like Grandma used to say, we come and go in a rush.
Thirteen-year-old Mallory looked at the photo of her smiling grandma in the picture frame. Her eyes were red, but she tried hard not to cry.
She could almost see her grandma again, sitting in the rocking chair under the camphor tree in the yard, holding a long pipe and enjoying every puff. Her grandma would turn to her, eyes bright and sharp, lips curled into a mischievous smile like she was playing a trick on her. She'd blow out blue and white smoke rings like she was showing off.
Mallory grew up with her grandma in the countryside. While other kids were spoiled by their grandparents, Mallory was raised to be independent. She washed dishes by the time she was five, started learning to cook at six, and could handle all the housework by seven.
Grandma used to half-close her eyes and act all wise when talking to the neighbors, saying, "The great leaders were right—gotta start training kids young! Look at Mallory, so capable at such a young age. I can promise you, toss her anywhere and she'll survive just fine!"
The night before she passed away, Grandma held Mallory's hand and said, "Mallory, Grandma might go at any time now, so you need to be ready. You're my pride and joy. I don't want to see you cry. Promise me that no matter what happens in the future, you'll face it with a smile. I have a feeling—you're going to live a good life!"
Mallory held back her tears and, a bit upset, replied, "What if your feeling is wrong?"
Grandma's sharp eyes lit up with a playful challenge. "Then go dig up my grave and drag out these old bones to teach me a lesson!"
"Ugh! Who would do that? Besides, who even talks like that these days?"
Grandma laughed softly, then closed her eyes peacefully. Mallory tried so hard to smile, she really did. Her lips curved up, but her tears wouldn't stop.
Mallory's parents took her back to the city. She quickly adapted to her new life. It seemed like Grandma's prediction was coming true—Mallory was doing well. But life doesn't always go as planned. When she was sixteen, she and her mother got into a car accident. Her mother passed away, and Mallory lost her eyesight.
The moment she learned she'd be blind forever, Mallory didn't cry or break down. She didn't shut herself off from the world either. Alone, she touched her grandma's photo and whispered with a smile, "Grandma, I guess I'm not doing so great after all. Your prediction was way off, huh? Should I go dig up your grave and take it out on your bones? But whatever… At least I'm still alive."
Time didn't stop, and life kept moving forward.
At seventeen, her dad remarried and brought home a new stepsister. That year, Mallory asked to go to a boarding school for the blind.
At twenty-two, she graduated from college with a major in broadcasting and became the host of a late-night radio show.
At twenty-four, a younger coworker, said to be very handsome, confessed to her.
At twenty-six, after two years of his persistent efforts, Mallory agreed to date him.
At twenty-seven, they planned to get married the following year. But the night before her twenty-eighth birthday, he told her he had fallen in love with her stepsister. Naturally, the wedding was off.
On her twenty-eighth birthday, Mallory once again held her grandma's photo, thinking about what that man had said the night before, his voice full of hurt and blame: "You're so calm, not even crying or making a fuss. Guess I was never that important to you. And here I was feeling guilty about liking Mallory's stepsister. I'm such a fool."
She had been stunned then, but now she could only laugh bitterly. If something was meant to be hers, it would be. If it wasn't, no amount of effort could change that.
Mallory suddenly wanted to go for a walk. After losing her sight, night and day were the same to her. As long as she had her white cane, walking at night sometimes felt even easier than during the day.
Maybe that confidence made her feel a little too sure of herself. She headed toward the park near her apartment. Her cane moved smoothly—until it hit something blocking the path. A car was parked right on the walkway for the blind. The wall was to her right, so she stepped left to go around it. But just as she stepped forward, there was nothing beneath her foot.
She fell straight into an open manhole—someone had stolen the cover.
For a brief second, she felt herself falling. Just before losing consciousness, Grandma's words flashed in her mind—"We come and go in a rush." She almost laughed, wanting to tell her grandma, Your feeling really was off this time. Mallory's really going to dig up your grave and take it out on you now.