Through the days gone and the days that passed by, she decided that she will be the only one. Through the days that were stolen from her, through the days that were never given to her, she decided that she will stand. Through the end that never came, through that one day when everyone she knew left her, she decided that she will fight one last time.
She lost their mother before he did. She lost their father before he did. Time passed by with their mother. Faith consumed their father. And emotions left her brother hollow. But no one ever knew that she lost herself way before. She knew in the beginning that she will not live a life of innocence, she will live a life full of the darkest and purest things of life and she will struggle and she will feel pain in the highest of degrees. Love will not be given to her, she had to gain it, because she had to keep a broken house together.
Her brother had always been depressed. While she had always been stoic and cheerful. She had always been that one singular light that lights up the darkness inside him. Or at least tried to. In his darkest nights she was there, in her brightest days he wasn’t there. But she learned to accept the gratitude never appreciated, the good works that were never seen, and the smiles that have never been kept.
She was the reason why he was there, in the hospital bed. Because for a second in her life she too had given up, she wanted to run away and let go of the clutches that brought her down. She wanted to live for a few of seconds, but then she realized that she was not living without the things that weigh her down, she was not living when she’s not suffering. So that’s why she went back to that old crooked house of their childhood memories, where sounds of happiness still resonate the walls and corridors. That’s why she had seen them, her father, and her brother, leading themselves to their final demise. Their mother was a circumstance she cannot control, but her brother and her father, she could’ve been saved them if she hadn’t walked away from her responsibilities.
“You gave up, but I didn’t, and I couldn’t. I’ll never give up and I’ll never let go.” Her smile had faded away. The innocent face was gone, it was replaced by a matured face that weathered many years of struggle. “Now that there’s only the two of us left and I have to ask something from you,” she held her tears looming from the edge of her eyes. “I’ve never asked anything from you before because you used to be so little and innocent and even now you are.” She smiled despite her tears. “But now I ask the only thing I will ever ask from you; I ask you to be strong because I can no longer carry on by myself,” her tears had flowed freely. It was her river of sorrows. It was her hopeful prayer to God. “Dad would always tell us the story of creation, that God created the universe within seven days. But we’re not him. We will have to create our universe during our entire lifetime, just like mother did. We will have to make sacrifices, we will have to be with each other no matter what.” She took his hand, “Unlike God who can rest, we can never rest. There will be no seventh day for us, but there will be the eighth, and the ninth, and the tenth, and the eleventh and all the days we could possibly ever have,” she held his hand tighter, never wanting to let go. He too was brought into tears for she reminded him of his life fully. Her sister was the one behind the scenes, behind all of it.
She leaned towards him and hugged him.
“We will have all the days we could ever have. We will fight for them if we have to, and together we will have eternity.”
