Ghostly Heartbreak | Luke Patterson

Chapter 15

"Nate make sure to watch and protect your sister," my grandma calls out to my brother as we walk to the playground.

My grandma always took my brother and I to the park right after church on Sundays, and we waited for my grandpa would get off of work, then he would meet us back at their house and have a family dinner with my parents.

Our grandma was once a singer on Broadway, but sadly was forced to retire at a young age because of vocal nodules. After her surgery to remove them happened, her voice was never the same and she was let go. Our grandfather first saw her at one of her performances, and instantly fell in love with her.

They tell us that their love came easy, and soon enough they moved here to Los Angeles, where my grandpa opened up his very own restaurant. My grandma passed down her love of music to her only daughter, my mother. Mom always loved to sing to Nate and I growing up, thankfully passing down our family's passion for music.

My brother runs off with a wave of his hand, "Yes grandma!" and jumped onto the monkey bars in a flash.

She fixes on of my ponytails and pastel blue sundress, "Nova make sure your brother doesn't do anything stupid. He's always getting into trouble. Now go have fun, mija."

I giggled at her and gave her small grin, "I will," before running to the playground. I jumped into the sand, quickly was disgusted with the feeling of the sand getting into my vans and socks.

I tried to follow my brother's actions on the monkey bars, but I kept slipping off. Frustration grew inside of me, and with one final huff, I got back on and beyond determined to finish them.

As I was struggling to grab the bars with my short arms, I began swinging my body. Suddenly, I lost my grip and fell on top of another kid. "Oh my god. I-I am so sorry," I stuttered, feelings incredibly guilty.

The boy lifted himself up as he wiped away the sand from his face, "You stupid brat. Can't you see that you were never gonna make it."

Tears formed in my eyes at his words, "I'm sorry," I said weakly, defeat laced my voice, "I didn't mean to."

"Yeah well I guess I didn't mean to do this," he stepped closer to me, grabbed one of my pigtails and pulled me to the ground. I whimpered as I felt my body hit the ground, tears fell down my face.

"Hey!"

I turned my head over my shoulder to see Nate running over to me and stomped in front of the boy that just threw me, "Don't touch my sister." He had his hands balled into a fist as he got the boy's face.

The boy scoffed as he crossed his arms, "What are you gonna do about it?"

Nate brought his fist up and striked the boy right in the jaw, "How's that?" My brother wasn't done, just yet. Nate punched him right in the nose, making the kid fall to the ground, covering his bloody nose. "That's for hurting my sister."

A couple of the other boys on the playground ran over to the now bloody nosed boy and pulled him away. Nate ran back to me and helped me up, "Are you okay?" His eyes ran over my body, making sure that the boy didn't cause me any harm.

"Yeah, I am," I stared at the ground, "You didn't need to do that Nate."

Nate held my hand in his as he lead me back to our grandma, "Of course I did. I'm your big brother. I'm always gonna protect you."

I chuckled, "You're only older by ten minutes."

"Oh my god what happened to your shirt mijo," our grandma noticed the blood that stained Nate's white shirt from a far and ran over to us.

Nate shrugged his shoulder, "I punched a guy that hurt Nova."

Her eyes widened as her attention was brought on to me, "Are you okay mija?"

I nodded, not wanting to talk about what happened. My grandma went over to the flower bush and grabbed a few, before kneeling in front of me. "Mija look at me," I brought my wide eyes at her. She whipped away the few tears that stained my face, "Don't let whatever that boy said get to you. Your brother will always be there for you... to protect you from harm."

I glanced up to see Nate smiling at me and he gave me a side hug, "Always," he said.

"Here you go mija," my grandma handed me the flowers in her hands, "Pink roses. My favorite flower for my favorite and most beautiful granddaughter."

I felt myself smile at the memory of myself and Nate when we were five years old. The day matched how I felt on the inside, gloomy. Today, marked the last time I was gonna see my grandma as we placed her in the cemetery. I was the only one that stood behind after the services, even after many protests with Ray and Julie, but I just needed alone time. With all of my family.

A sigh escaped my lips, as I looked down at the five grave sights before me. Kneeling down, I placed a pink rose on each of the graves. Dad, Mom, Nate, Grandma, and Grandpa. At least she's finally reunited with all of them, but why did she have to leave so soon. Why did all of them have to leave me. I bit my lip as I shed a few more tears.

I have no one of my family to share important moments in the future with. Not graduation. Going to college. College graduation. Getting my first job. Getting married. Having kids. Seeing my kids have kids. I couldn't even tell my grandma that I finally broke up with Danny. That I was finally trying to move on but... now I... I don't know if I'm able to move passed it all. All the grief and the pain.

"I miss you guys," I placed my hands on top of my knee, trying to keep myself up rather than falling on top of them as I cried.

I looked at Nate's headstone, the one I sat on, "I finally performed Nate. I- I, uh, twice actually. Both times someone recorded and uploaded them. They're getting the recognition that you always said I would get."

Tears continued to cloud my sight, "I just wish you here to soak it in with me. All of you. I promise you Nate that I'm gonna accomplish our dream... your dream."

"Nova."

I glanced up and saw Luke standing there behind the stone, with five white roses. "What are you doing here," I looked back down to my hands that were folded in my lap, not bothering to wipe away the tears on my face.

He was the last person I wanted to see right now.

"I know that we haven't talked in the past day and that's completely understandable," he shifted his weight nervously, "but I just wanted to be here for you during this time. I just wanted to let you know that I won't let you go through this alone."

He took my silence as a 'get away from me' and stepped forward to place the flowers on top of Nate's headstone and started walking away.

"Wait," my voice broke. I looked up and saw him standing still, back facing me. "Please stay," I licked my bottom lip, "I want you ....to stay for me."

He turned around, wearing a sadden look as he saw more tears streaking down my face. "Of course Nova. I will always be here for you."

I shook my head, a hand raised at him as I pushed back my hair out of my face with the other, "No. Don't do that."

Luke took a step towards me and tilted his head to the side, "Don't do what?"

"Make promises that you can't keep Luke."