When I came into this big world,
I knew nothing of pain and sorrow.
I grew up, blinded by my blanket,
never watched the news,
because I just couldn't follow it.

Days turned months, months turned to years,
as the days continued to rocket by.
Till one day, I felt a pain inside,
the day my grandfather died.

I remember my mother calling me,
waking me from a deep slumber.
She said, "Boys, quick, come in here,
you're grandfather has died",
as she stumbled back into the in-law apartment.

I ripped off my blanket,
and in what felt like an instant,
I was by his bedside.
My aunts and my mother cried,
but I just stood there.

I felt nothing.

So I left the room,
crawled up the stairs into our house,
and sat on the couch,
alone.

I sat there for a few minutes,
thinking,
"this isn't real",
and I think for a brief moment,
I believed myself.

That was until I saw the hearse.

It slowly backed into my driveway,
eerily rolling ever so slowly,
then it came a complete stop.

A man stepped out and walked to the back or the vehicle,
he opened the two swinging back doors,
which flew open with ease.
He then pulled out what looked like a stretcher,
it was draped with a white sheet.
A few of my uncles pulled up next to the hearse,
jumped out of their trucks,
and rushed inside.

The man followed them.

And soon enough,
they all came back out.
Following them was the man with the stretcher.

Resting in it,
covered in another white sheet,
was my grandfather.

My family gathered around the back of the hearse.
Most of my aunts were crying,
with my uncles comforting them.

That was when it hit me.

I felt my chest caving in,
my lungs deflating,
my heart imploding on itself.

A lone tear fell from my eye as I watched the man ease my grandfather into the back of his hearse,
and drive away.

The man I loved,
was gone.

The man who told me ***** jokes,
was gone.

The man who made me a man,
was gone.

The only man who understood me,
was gone.

I made my way to my bedroom,
where I began to weep uncontrollably.

Never in my life had I felt such pain.

And never again,
will I feel a pain as powerful,
as I did the day,
my grandfather died.