I hold back the tears that are threatening to break the dam of my head. I sit on my hands on the wooden park bench; people walk and jog by, as if everything is completely normal. I guess it is for everyone else, we all have secrets of our own that no one else shares or knows. I take a shaky breath and push myself off the bench, I walk down the path. Yelling at myself that I could've done something, I could've helped her, no one gives me a look filled with pity or one of pain. No one even looks at me, I mean why would they? I'm just a sixteen-year-old boy wandering through life, running into the walls of life.
I walk out of the park and to the apartment building that I live in. I lean against the wall of a building across the street, my back against the cold stone and my hands in the pocket of my cargo shorts. I watch as the coroner takes the stretcher out of the building and load it into his van. A woman is shaking with her cries, comforted by the neighbors of her, but where is her husband at such a tragic time? Gone, he left fourteen years ago, with no explanation and no contact. He left her with her two children, a two-year-old boy and a brand new baby girl, she was so precious and loved by all. Especially her older brother, he vowed to protect her from the cruel world they live in today, he made a promise to that baby girl, even though she didn't know it, he would protect her for the rest of her days. Little did he know that she wouldn't tell him all her problems, and he wouldn't be able to save her, not this time.
I push myself off the building and cross the street. I walk over to the sobbing woman and she looks up at me. "Oh, my baby." She says pulling me into her warm and comforting arms. "My baby's gone, she's gone!" I hold her small frame against me, her five foot two frame an odd couple to my five foot eleven figure. I rub her back and whisper into her ear, "I know mom, I know." She rips away from me and rushes to the back of the coroner's truck. "MY BABY GIRL! COME BACK! COME BACK!" I walk over to her and grab her shoulders. I turn her around and she buries her face in my chest, Mr. Manny comes and takes her from me, I thank him with a nod and he nods back. I walk over to the truck and climb into the back next to the full body bag, I unzip it and lay my hand on the fourteen-year-old girls forehead. "I'm sorry," I whisper. "I'm so sorry May. I'm so sorry I couldn't help you." I bend over and lay a kiss on her cold forehead. "I'm so sorry I couldn't save you this time, I'm so sorry." Tears leak out of my eyes and run down my face. "I'm so sorry little sister. I'm so sorry."
