“Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away”.  It was Christmas Eve of the year 2012, I was so excited because I hard remembered the plans my mum had for me today. I couldn’t wait to see my brand new, shiny electric helicopter that my mum was getting me for Christmas. I was up and ready in no time, all I could think of was tearing open my presents and flying my helicopter on Christmas day. For the whole journey I all I did was day dream about the good times I would have with my new toy. Finally, my mum and I were down the West End. There were Christmas lights everywhere you looked, it was amazing, it was lighting up the sky. There were thousands of people, pushing, rushing and grabbing things, all I wanted to do was get home as soon as we had stepped foot in the. I thought about asking my mum if I could go back home but I knew she would not have it at all.

We went from shop to shop and my mum brought me lots of things, clothes, trainers, computer games, you name it I would be opening it on Christmas day. I was so happy I had even forgotten about the crowds of people and I thought to myself that nothing can ruin the rest of the day. But I was very wrong!

As we got home my mum’s phone started to ring, it was a call from the hospital in Jamaica that my grandma had been in for a couple of weeks. Suddenly my mum, started to cry. I did not know what was going on, I knew my grandma was ill, but every time I had asked my mum how she was she always replied “she’s ok” so at this point I felt very confused. It made me up set watching my mum cry, I knew I was not good news. I ask my mum what was wrong and she mumbled to me, with her eyes full of water that my grandma passed away 10 mins ago. I felt a lump in my throat and instantly started to cry I could not stop. My eyes turned blood shot red within seconds I could not believe that my grandma had gone; she was the only grandparent that I still had left. I tried to comfort my mum and let her know that it would be ok! But was it really going to be ok?  My mum would now have to find enough money to book both of our tickets to Jamaica, and at Christmas time this was not cheap. Then there would be the money for the funeral, my mum would also have to think about time off work and school for me. Was it really going to be ok? I was starting to doubt it and think that a good day was now one of the worst days of my life.

The day to fly to Jamaica had finally come. The flight was 9 hour but it felt like the whole day I got put off the food, it was not well cooked and I could not fall asleep because all I could think about was my grandma. I was finally in Jamaica and my mum and I met up with our family in Jamaica. By time we arrived at my grandma’s old house it was very late. It felt weird not having her greet me with a big kiss, a tight bear hug or a few gifts. My family told stories of my grandma and the good old days while eating and drinking some delicious traditional food. We laughed and some cried for hours, I ended up falling asleep while to stories and jokes continued.

The day came when my mum and I went to see my grandma’s body. It was horrific to see a dead body.  My grandma’s skin was very pale and when I touched her hands they felt extremely dry and cold. The body did not look like my grandma, the body looked like a different person. I burst into tears, reality had hit me, she was dead and gone, gone forever.