Don't Worry It's Not Sunday Yet

House Of Gold

Joel and Benji's grandma lived in a nice little cottage in the woods. The garden was a rainbow of colors and smelt like an all-natural perfume shop. Walking in I felt an overwhelming feeling of Deja Vu, it reminded me of all those times I'd been here as a child.

"Hello?" Benji called out into the silence. "I'm in the kitchen, gran is still sleeping." Joel's voice rebounded. We walked further into the house, the smell of a lasagna enveloped me, bringing with it a sense of home and belonging. Something I had rarely had when I was young.

Joel greeted me with a warms smile and a hug. "Just in time for some good old lasagna!" He grinned. As if on cue the timer on the oven went off. Joel removed the contents and began serving up. I walked over to the fridge to grab a bottle of juice then to the cupboard to retrieve cups for everybody. "So, how have things been?" I asked, carefully filling the glasses.

"Not bad, gran seems to be getting better." Benji reached for a glass. I smiled "That's great!" Benji nodded as he drank greedily, Joel finished dishing out the lasagna and handed me and his brother a plate. "Gran already ate." He explained.

Good old lasagna. It felt like an eternity had passed since I'd had this stuff! We ate on the couch watching the latest episode of Not Very Natural, it was pretty laid back here.

Not Very Natural ended and an old episode of Somebody Likes Ray came on. "You know what we haven't done in a while?" Benji smiled, "Played a good old game of Uno. Yep, we haven't played Uno in a long time." I grinned at this, I used to be amassing at Uno, always picking up the right cards and picking the right colors. Joel gave me a sinister smile, "Why not play...Ultimate Uno." He whispered these last words, trying to make it sound as ominous as possible.

Ultimate Uno was pretty simple but it was a real bitch. If somebody put down a 0 everybody passed their hand to the person next to them, if somebody put down a 7 they could specifically choose a player to trade hands with. Oh and then there was the jump-in rule, if you had a card of the same number AND color you could put it down no matter whose turn it was.

Joel slapped down a 7 and stared me right in the eyes "I choose Nathans hand!" I looked up at him, then back down at my deck, three +4's and a red plus 2 sat happily fanned out. I looked back at Joel. I was stuffed.

I was now stuck with a mini deck, 5 blue cards and 7 yellow ones. How could this happen to me! Benji put down his final card and did a victorious fist pump. It was down to me and Joel. I put a blue 4 on top of Benji's red 4 and smiled at Joel but he shut me down straight away by putting down a +4 and changing the color to red again.

It was unbearable. Worst game of Uno ever. Sure, call me a sore looser but when you usually did as well as me such a defeat was humiliating. Benji got up and plucked an invisible crown from my head and circled the table to place it on his brother. Joel gave me a smug smile and we both laughed.

I let out a yawn and looked up at the clock, it was almost midnight. Benji glanced up as well, "I'm gonna hit the sack." He yawned. Joel and I nodded in agreement.

My room had been set up before I got there and I was glad. I flopped down on the bed and gave a sigh of relief, my mind was overflowing and nostalgia was slapping me in the face every five minutes. After laying there for quite some time I mustered up the strength to change in to some pajama pants and get under the covers.

I let my mind wander for a while and it led me to Josh and Tyler. They were nice. Really nice. In the short time I'd known them we'd grown quite close and I considered them good friends. I was looking forward to seeing them again, not to say I didn't want to be here, today had been one of the best days I'd had in years, it was right up there with meeting Tyler.

It was the night we'd first met. Music and laughter filled the air. It stank a bit but it was a familiar stink, one I hadn't been around in a while. Usually I got really nervous in pubs cause of my history but with Tyler next to me everything seemed alright, being a friend of Josh's I knew he'd look out for me.

The bartender came up to us, "Why aren't you two trying to pick up some ladies? By the looks you'd be good at it!" He laughed, Tyler and I smiled back at him. "None of them are really my type." I declared, brushing it off. Tyler nodded "Same." The bartender gave us an unconvinced nod then smiled as if he'd worked something out.

Why that had come up of all things? To be honest I didn't know, I'd actually kind of forgotten about it until then, not that it was that big...or was it? I pondered about Tyler a bit more when I finally drifted off. The last thing I saw were those beautiful brown eyes.

"NO! NO! WAKE UP! WAKE UP GRAN! N-NO" Joel choked screams woke me up from my peaceful sleep. I burst out my room and almost knocked Benji off his feet as I ran past him too his grans room.

Nothing could have prepared me for this. I'd witnessed death before, hell I'd seen my own father die before my eyes "IT'S YOUR FAULT THAT HE'S DEAD! YOU SHOULD HAVE SAVED HIM! IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOU!" but that didn't change a thing. This was just as real as that had been, just as intense. Just as painful.

I sank too my knees at the foot of her bed. She looked peaceful and serene, if it wasn't for the perfect stillness and Joel's cries she almost could have been sleeping.

The brothers held each other, breathing disrupted, eyes red from crying. I just sat there. The world crumbling. The woman who lay in front of me had been like a mother to me, more so than my biological one, she'd given me a home and family when I needed it. Now she was gone.