4: 4
4
In the two days it took to handle Grandma's funeral, Sybilla never once showed up.
Getting the death certificate, calling the funeral home, choosing the urn. I did all of it alone.
Malcolm's feed, on the other hand, didn't go quiet for a single day.
In the photos, Malcolm was wearing the groom's suit that should have been mine, and Sybilla stood in front of him, head bent, fixing his tie.
The caption read: 【Nick's throwing a tantrum again and won't come, so I'm stuck trying on the groom's suit for him.】
【Honestly, my teacher has great taste. This suit fits me like it was made for me.】
Someone egged him on in the comments:
【If you didn't know better, you'd think you were the groom tomorrow.】
Malcolm answered right away:
【Shh, don't let Nick see. He takes everything so personally.】
I was at the funeral home, waiting to collect Grandma's ashes.
That was when Sybilla finally called.
"Nicholas, where did you go?"
"The suit fitting was set for today. Everyone's waiting on you."
I looked at the urn in the staff member's arms and said quietly:
"Grandma passed away."
The line went silent for a few seconds.
I thought she would at least ask how Grandma had died.
But when Sybilla spoke again, all that was left in her voice was impatience.
"Nicholas, I know you're still angry about the Malcolm thing."
"But no matter how angry you are, you can't lie about whether Grandma's alive or dead."
"She was perfectly fine two days ago. How could she just suddenly die?"
"When did you get so petty?"
I opened my mouth, but I didn't know what there was to explain.
From the other end came Malcolm's voice, laughter in it.
"Teacher, is Nick still mad at me?"
"Maybe I shouldn't try on the suit for him after all."
Sybilla's tone softened at once.
"Don't mind him."
"He's just small-minded, dragging Grandma into it to scare me."
"You two are about the same build. Go ahead and try it for him."
"Anything that doesn't fit, there's still time to alter it now."
Malcolm let out a soft laugh.
"After I've worn it, Nick won't turn his nose up at it, will he?"
Sybilla answered offhandedly:
"He's not that precious about things."
"At the wedding tomorrow, he can just put it on."
The call ended.
The staff member walked up to me at that exact moment.
"Mr. Delgado, please sign to collect the ashes."
"My condolences."
I took the urn.
It was very light.
The grandmother who had once carried me on her back for miles of mountain road, who sold vegetables to put me through school, who stayed by me for more than twenty years, was now only this light handful of ash.
I lowered my head and pressed my forehead against the cold lid.
I didn't move for a long time.
Back home, I started packing.
Grandma had few belongings.
A few old clothes, a wooden comb, and the candy she'd hidden under her pillow, saving it because she couldn't bear to eat it.
I packed them away one by one.
Passing the study, I saw Sybilla's computer was still on.
On the screen was Malcolm's graduation thesis.
【A Study on Reward-Based Command Training for Alzheimer's Patients.】
The folder held more than a dozen patient videos.
Some of the elderly were made to kneel over and over, some were baited with food into doing ridiculous things.
The consent forms beside the videos all bore the hospital's stamp.
But those crooked family signatures were plainly all in the same hand.
In the messages, there was a chat log between Sybilla and Malcolm too.
Malcolm asked: 【Teacher, what do I do if no patient's family is willing to sign?】
Sybilla replied:
【You shoot first. I'll fill in the authorizations and the ethics approval for you.】
【The defense is what matters. Don't let all that paperwork hold you up.】
So Grandma hadn't been some toy Malcolm picked on a whim.
He had used the same method for a long time, humiliating one helpless old person after another.
And Sybilla had known all along.
She had even covered up everything for him with her own hands.
I copied out all of it: the videos, the forged authorizations, the chat log.
Along with Grandma's medical records, the death certificate, and the video circulating online, I put it all into a document envelope.
The recipients were the hospital's ethics-review board and the university ethics committee.
After mailing out the report, I set the engagement ring and the house key on the table.
Then I picked up Grandma's ashes, dragged my suitcase, and headed for the airport.
I had once bought two plane tickets.
One was mine.
The other was Grandma's.
She was still flying abroad with me now.
She just couldn't sit in the seat I had chosen for her.
As the plane took off, the city's lights vanished bit by bit beneath the clouds.
Tomorrow was supposed to have been my wedding.
Sybilla probably still thought that as long as she stood in the hall and waited, I would surely show up.
After twelve hours of connections and flying, I finally arrived.
The moment my phone powered on, missed calls flooded in one after another.
The suit shop, the wedding planner, the hospital's ethics-review board.
And Sybilla.
Ninety-nine calls in all.
The last message was one she'd sent ten minutes ago.
【Nick, the wedding is about to start.】
【Where on earth are you?】
