Broken Heart

“I’m sorry, sunshine. I really am,” a quiet voice said, “you’re too precious to me. I could not let you go. I guess that’s selfish of me, considering that meant you had to let me go instead.”

The young man stood beside the small figure curled up on the beach, a white ship clutched in a protective embrace. He knelt down and studied his younger brother.

“I’ve messed things up, haven’t I?”

His ghostly fingers went right through the teenager when he tried to brush a few stray curls away from his forehead. The sleeping boy shivered slightly at the strange feeling.

“I never wanted to leave you, sunshine. I would have loved to explore the universe with you and I will, even if you won’t know it. Yet, I still left you all alone.”

The man sighed and dropped beside the teenager, pulling his knees to his chest.

“You’re my world, little one, and I won’t leave your side again, even if you can’t see me. We’ll fly to the stars together. You will get to live the life you deserve and I will watch over you! I promise. And I’m sorry I broke my first promise to you. I’ll do whatever I can to keep this one and…,” the ghost choked slightly, tears glistening in his eyes,” and we will see each other again, properly.” He took in his little brothers curled up form again, “but I hope it won’t be for a very long time. Stars above, I hope it will be decades before I can hug you again. You deserve to see everything!” The young man shifted closer, not disturbing the sand he was sitting on.

“I pray that I get to watch you grow up into an amazing man, sunshine. I know you’ll be the best anyone has ever seen and I’ll never regret what I did five years ago.” He reached out again, to caress his brother’s pale cheek, but froze mid movement, remembering that it would be useless. The man pulled his hand back, crossing his arms over his knees.

“I just regret that I had to break my promise. That I left you all alone, you didn’t deserve that! I’ll forever regret that.” Tears flowed freely down his translucent cheeks, dissolving as soon as they dropped down. The young man hunched over, burying his face in his arms. Unlike his brother’s earlier, his sobs went unheard by anyone.

The inhabitants of this small planet believed that while you could not bring someone back from the dead, their soul could still watch over their remaining family if there was a place where you stored happy memories about the deceased. The graveyard was a giant lake at the planet’s centre, filled with small white boats, every boat representing a different person, each packed to the brim with precious memories. The inhabitants were unaware that the souls truly did return to watch over their families.

But they would never know about the older brother, who gave everything for his sunshine, and continued to watch over him until the day he could open his arms again and catch him. Holding him close after he had woken up from his deathbed. They would never know about the two brothers that never let go of each other again after they were reunited at the gentle hand of death.