Breath Of Death

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The next day, when everyone was in the kitchen preparing breakfast, Gabriel shocked everyone by walking down the stairs. He was so sick before that he couldn't even lift a finger. Everyone called it a blessing from God. Georgia prayed to the lord with her hands in the air and Serene almost choked on her milk. Then he smiled and asked for food. Boy can that child eat too.
As I realized I had overcome my welcome and started packing my bag, Serene begged me to stay. I couldn't help but accept her offer.
A couple days turned into 4 years. So much happened within that time. Me and Serene grew closer than ever, Georgia wanted me to call her "GG" and Gabriel turned into a little me. I was a part of their family and they were mine. Nothing could separate me from them. Except death.
   GG passed in her sleep shortly after her 73rd birthday. We had a nurse on the farm that said it was from Lymphoma cancer. GG had confided in the nurse that she was diagnosed before the world crashed down. She kept it as a secret from us for 2 years. Didn't want anyone to know that there was a ticking clock on her life.
    It hit Serene the hardest. She wouldn't eat or sleep. Just ...cry. To make her feel better, I brought her outside with me down the farm a little ways into the pasture. Above us was a tree. A blossom tree. I took out my knife and placed it into her hand. I had carved a big heart into the center of it earlier that day. I told her to carve Georgia's because I had the idea to bury her there.
   We held out a funeral at the tree and people dropped flowers and tied letters onto the tree of their best memories with her. Everyone cried and held each other close as Georgia was the main person holding everyone together. Even I shed a tear.
   Me and Gabriel would catch Serene out by the tree talking to it. Like she was talking to GG. She would cry, fall asleep and laugh with the tree. It healed her little by little and she became the happy beautiful woman I grew to love.
   Serene, Gabriel and I would all take after each other. Me and Serene had a ritual every night with Gabriel that we would tell him made up bedtime stories before he went to sleep. He wouldn't go to sleep if we didn't. Serene took GG's room and I took her room. Sometimes I would go into her room and sleep beside her because I couldn't fall asleep. Gabriel would come and do the same as well.
   We'd wake up and continue our chores the following morning. Serene had inherited GG's responsibilities around the farm as well so she was always working.
   If she wasn't working, she was cooking and if she wasn't doing that, she'd be helping Javier. Javier showed up a year after I did and he was wounded. Serene took him in and stitched him together. Ever since then they'd grown close. Like young high schoolers. Even though Serene was 22 and Javier was 27. They loved reading. And they'd walk the pasture talking about books they had found when going out for resources. Serene would come back to my room and tell me all about how much she admired him.
   Javier and Serene went out look for resources one time and came back engaged. Serene happily informed me on how they went to the top of this hill to watch the sunset together and how he proposed to her with his mother's ring he kept with him. They loved each other deeply and I saw that in them everyday. They never even dated before he proposed. She had only shared one kiss with him too. He admired every inch of her.
   Javier would run to her if she ever fell, he'd help her carry heavy things around the farm, and the way he always looked at her. Like she was the only one in the whole world. I couldn't blame him either as I had admired her just as much. She was like a big sister to me. Like a mother. And my god was she beautiful. Her perfectly brown skin, curly brown hair, a beautiful big smile that comforted me every time I saw it. Serene could've been a model if the world didn't go to hell.
   On her wedding day, everyone chipped in to make it special. It lifted everyone up too. Gave them something to look forward to and celebrate. Our community needed it. The women sowed a beautiful wedding gown to fit Serene perfectly and altered her grandfather's suit to fit Javier. Serene handmade me a blue dress as her something blue for that day so that I could be her flower girl and maid of honor. Gabriel was the ring barrier and walked Serene down the aisle we made. They got married on a sunny day right in front of the blossom tree. Then after we all celebrated and got into one of the old wine barrels in the barn. That night was one to remember. I'll always hold that day close to me.
   A couple months went by and Gabriel got sick again. He had been sick for quite some time but it never lasted as long as this one did. We found him medicine again and thought that he would get better. His health was the worst I've ever seen it. From playing in the mud with the toy trucks to not even being able to breathe properly. Everything was limp and he would soil himself continuously. His breathing was raspy and every now and then he would stop breathing but pick it back up again. Me and Serene would take after him day and night without a second thought . We were constantly scared that it was going to happen any minute. That he was going to draw his last breath and not open his eyes ever again. We prayed over him every night to God that he would see that Gabriel would live another day.
   On one exhausting night, Serene and I switched shifts and I went to sleep for the night. I fell quickly into a deep sleep and had a dream. It was GG coming up to me and waking me up from my sleep with her hands on my arms. She kept telling me "It's time Riley. He's got to go home. It's time." I held my hand out to her. "Wait GG! He's not ready!" But she was already walking away.
   Turns out Serene was trying to wake me up by shaking me in which she succeeded but she was frantic. I shot up from the bed and ran to Gabriel's room. Javier had set the blanket on top of him. My heart sank and I felt the air leave my lungs. I turned my eyes to Serene with tears building up. She was on the ground shaking her head holding it into her hands. Then she started rocking back and forth and wailing. Not only had life taken GG away from her but Gabriel too. She had no blood relative on this earth alongside her. Gabriel was too young to die. Too young to have suffered the way he did for as long as he did. He never even got to live a full life.
    We buried him right alongside GG and held a funeral for him too. I never left Serene's side after that and I would walk with her down to the blissing tree to talk to them. Me and Serene would still make up stories and talk to the tree like we were talking to Gabriel at night sometimes. I realized a little after his passing that  Serene started taking care of me like I was her child. She always had a maternal instinct to her but with Gabriel gone, she didn't have anyone to nurture.
   She would brush my hair at night and make sure I got enough to eat in the day. She'd also come into my room at night just to make sure I was okay. She never forgot to kiss me on my forehead and tell me goodnight either. She'd sow my clothes back together and go out of the farm to bring back new things she'd found so that we could do something together like read a book or a board game. I remember one time she brought me back some paint and we painted a mural of the blossom tree on the barn. We had everyone on the farm put their hand prints onto the limbs we painted to make them look like the leaves.