It was a cold, early spring day. The rain falling softly onto your jacket, The sound of cars speeding by, and faint echoes of birds chirping. The smell of flowers and wet grass somewhat fills you with a little bit of joy. You see the man with the German Shepherd dog, that you see every once and a while grinning gleefully as you pass by. The next place you find yourself is your empty driveway. No cars or bikes, just a lonely looking house.
The stairs to the door seemed a bit longer that day, and you don't understand why. The door opens and you see your mother standing there, ready to leave for work. You were okay with that, since it didn't make a difference whether she was there or not. The same feeling of emptiness never left. You throw your large gym bag onto the floor, along with your backpack. You kick your shoes off and they hit the wall with a small banging noise.
The kitchen was messy as always, with an ugly hoarder like look to it. You ignore it and walk to the fridge. Nothing in there seemed to catch your attention, seeing as there never really was food anymore. You mumble with a sigh, "Damn". The living room looked smaller then usual, making you feel unnecessarily uncomfortable. You leave to your bedroom at the end of the hall up the small staircase, while looking through every door as you pass by. You plop yourself onto your bed as soon as you get there and take a quick look around your room for any signs of movement. Usually, you would find something out of place or something would be lost. It never scared you, but you did find it odd.
The room feels different. You feel this strange feeling like you're watched. Its not anything that's frightening you, its more like a feeling of comfort. Almost like when a loved one is beside you. Caring for you, thinking about you, and wondering how they ever deserved to know you. To make yourself feel more comfortable, you take your clothes off and walk into the shower. The warm water falls over your body, giving you a intense burning in your feet and legs. You ignore it, going on with your shower.
Exiting the shower you notice that your towel is gone. You quickly remind yourself that it was most likely your brother, who is always a troublemaker. Stealing your stuff now and then just to annoy you. Luckily, you have one of his sweaters laying in the bathroom floor. It was very large, so it covered up quite well. You smell the mix of Cologne and cigarettes, giving you an amazing feeling of comfort and happiness. You lay back down it bed.
Usually at this time, your brother would come into your room to see how your doing, ask if you need anything, and just spend quality time with you before he leaves for work. But that day, it didn't happen. You're confused, but you just try to take a nap. You still have that feeling of being watched. You sit up and say annoyed, "Give it up already, you're not scaring me, dude!". The feeling goes away after a minute, and you finally rest peacefully.
When you wake up from your nap, you walk over to the door a little tipsy, and walk down the stairs holding on to the rail. You sit down at the kitchen table and smell fried chicken in the oven. Your mom wasn't the best cook, so she just made the same thing quite often. It was a familiar smell, but you loved it. I mean, who doesn't love fried chicken right?
Your brother didn't make it to dinner that night. You just assumed that he was late from work and was having a long shift. You go in to your bed again, feeling that its painfully hard to sleep. There was no negative feeling at all, but you couldn't help but keep thinking about things. Of course this was often, but you felt tired at the same time which didn't make sense to you.
As you lay quietly in bed, you remember your brother. How you used to play outside on your trampoline, how he would walk with you to the store, ignore you at school, and sometimes wrestle. The good days. You miss them more than anything in the world. You miss your brother. He used to care for you, make you food when you couldn't eat and couldn't effort to eat, take you on trips and help you with every problem. The occasional fight would break out, but you quickly got over it. You loved your brother. You would never intensionally hurt him or his feelings, and he wouldn't hurt you either.
That's when you realized it. This day last year, was when he died. All your memories had become a blur since then, and they all suddenly came back. You realized that earlier, he just came back to let you know that even when he wasn't physically there, he would always be by your side. Protecting you and loving you always. You never meant to push him away. As you lay there, you eventually tear up, and keep thinking why you told him to go away. And for that very last time, you felt him again. You felt his hand on your head, rubbing you and holding you tightly. You couldn't hear him, but you knew what he was trying to say.
Siblings are so important. No matter who you are and what you've done, they will always love you. During and after life. Always by your side. No matter how lost you may seem without them, they will always be guiding you without you even knowing. I tell people to always love your brothers and sisters, and keep them in your heart for as long as you live. I know I did, and still do.
