Nothing Left

Chapter Thirteen

January 8, 1972 11:58 p.m.
I lay quietly on my bed as a nurse dims the lights. They have been watching me closely, hovering over me like helicopters. I was the famous Esther Kennedy, who still cried over her dead brother and had landed herself in the hospital by shock. started thinking how rude I had been to order Raymond out of my room that way the last time I had seen him. It had been nice to get a hug from a boy. My dad was often away on business trips, and didn't come home for long periods of time. I still thought about my brother that had died.

Daniel Kennedy had been the best brother anyone could ever wish for. He had played with me, helped me with my homework, and had written to me when he was away in Vietnam. But then, one day we got a note or a call, saying that a gun had gone off on accident in the camp, and had wounded my brother. He had died three days later. The owner of the gun was a private, new to weapons and warfare. He had been trying to load it for practice, and had accidentally squeezed the trigger, resulting in my brother's death.

A tear rolled down my cheek as the nurse left, but I willed myself not to cry, because if I let my emotions overtake me, I would fall to nothing again. But I sobbed silently into my pillow anyway, wishing for someone who could listen to me whenever I needed them.