Not Gone, Just Invisible

"Greg!  No!" before I could even think about what I was doing, I had already placed myself between my little brother and the gunman.  I heard a bang and my chest hurt.  I felt as if it were burning.  I fell to my knees in pain and just lay down on the linoleum floor.

"Oh, God!  Willow!  Willow, wake up!  Wake up!  Don't leave me!  You can't do this!  You're only eleven!"  I strained my ears but his voice was fading into oblivion.  Like we were underwater, how blurry it sounded.  Like I was falling slowly into the darkness, away from the pain in my chest.  Darkness, it felt good to fall into it, like going to sleep when you've had a long day.

That's when the reality of it all finally sunk in.  The school shooting.  Finding my younger brother.  Taking the bullet for him.  Oh God, I was dying.  The thought of it scared me, but at the same time relaxed me.  I told myself not to let our parents mourn one of their only two kids, and I failed.  I felt a tear roll down my temple.

In what I knew would be my last moments, I opened my eyes, which I didn't even know were closed and saw Greg leaning over me along with a teacher or two.  I think I might have seen paramedics, but I don't know.  I was just focusing on my seven-year old little brother who was bawling his eyes out. 

I struggled to lift my head up, "Don't ever feel guilty about this," and with that I laid my head down.  

A light, a bright white light, blurred everything in my vision and a hand reached out as if for me to grab it, so I did. When I did so, my body felt light.  Like I was free of everything.

I looked behind myself to see my body sitting in a pool of my own blood and several people including Greg over me, but not close enogh to where I couldn't identify myself.  

That's when I realized I was dead.

I went back to Earth and watched my own funeral.  I saw my parents cry and I cried with them.

I continued to stay watching over Greg and my parents.  Greg eventually married a young woman named Mary-Ann and had a daughter they named Delilah.

On her fifth birthday, she had over a few friends from her preschool.  They wanted to play hide-and-seek outside.  Delilah volluteered to be "it" and she wandered around by the tree in the back, which actually is a willow.  

I remembered the day they bought the house.  Greg and Mary-Ann couldn't decide between this house and another, but I think he was swayed just by the name of this tree.

"Hey, who are you?" she said pointing at me.  She could see me?  Well that was a first. 

"Me?  Well, I'm Willow.  Like the name  of this tree right here,"  I said softly and sweetly. 

"I'm Delilah," 

"I know," 

"How?" 

"Your daddy," I paused waiting for her to nod, "was my baby brother,"

"But daddy's old and you're a big kid," she said confused.

"Things happen,"  I said looking down. 

"Why are you sad?" 

I opened my mouth to speak, but, as if on que, Greg yelled, "Who are you talking to, sweetie?" 

"Willow," she called back. 

"Don't talk to the tree," 

"I'm not, Daddy!  She's real and said that you were her baby brother," right then and there, his face drooped as he realized which Willow she meant.

"Why don't you go find everyone else, sweetie,"

"Okay Daddy!" turning around, she waved to me and said, "Bye Willow," 

"Bye," I waved back. 

I went inside the house to find Greg staring at an old photo of him and I standing next to each other. 

I placed a hand on his shoulder. 

"Wh-who's there," he couldn't see me.  And if he can't see me, I know he won't be able to hear me.  I speak from personal experience. He got up and looked in the mirror.  Judging by his facial reaction, he could see me, but only in the mirror as he turned around and looked confused, "Willow?"

"Hey Greg," 

"Oh my God, Willow, I'm so sorry,"

"Don't be, it was of my own choice,"

"H-how long you been here?"

"Since my funeral," I looked at his eyes in the mirror, "I'm not gone, just invisible," and walked away from the mirror. 

A/N: I cried several times while writing this, and if you did too, well I did my job.  I have no idea where this came from, but anyway, pray for those affected by school shootings!!!!!!!

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