Familiar Women

Hi this is Blank, I hope you like the chapter, please give all the feedback you can, thanks. Enjoy

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

The woman had long bright red hair and large brilliant blue eyes, slight freckles on her face, and pointed ears very slightly poking out the sides of her hair. The melancholy on her face almost made me cry, as it seemed like it was my own. Yet her gaze was piercing, it seemed like she knew every thought that I've ever thought, everything I've ever felt, and especially my deep sadness of soon leaving my family.

To me, it seemed like she saw everything and was somehow sharing my current feelings. She felt extremely familiar to me. Uncannily so. While I was wrapped up in my thoughts she regained my attention with a slight tap of her foot that I managed to notice

She then started to speak with a smoothness and softness that I can only assume was crafted just for me.

"Dan, listen to me. You are gonna have struggles, challenges, and seemingly impossible trials, but you will love, you will have fun, and you will enjoy life I promise you that. It may not be immediate but they all will arrive eventually. I believe in you and if you endure, you will learn who I am, and we will meet again. Live with pride and don't ever quit." She ended her speech in an almost desperate tone filled with emotion.

Her voice never once reached a volume high enough to wake up my brother or Sarah but her words were booming in my ears. I believe I am pretty stoic as a man, I haven't cried, simply cause I haven't needed to cry, since I got a little too invested in a girlfriend in high school. Though this woman's words almost got to me even though she said I'm basically gonna go through hell. Even so, I am compelled to believe her.

I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little scared but that is not why I'm almost crying, it is because her words felt so intimate, so from the heart, from the soul, and with no dishonesty, malice, or ulterior motives that I can tell. She said it in the same way the truest of friends would.

Honestly though, it doesn't really seem like I have a choice.

The next moment I blinked and she's gone, no sound or disturbance in the air. As the hours passed, for some reason I was unable to fall back asleep, I also had this very uneasy feeling and a few questions . One, why would she come now, what is important about tonight, I can make an educated guess. Who she is, obviously I have no idea about this.

There it is, the answer to my first question. I can feel my chest tightening and my throat closing, I can tell I can no longer speak. Ironically the feeling of impending doom is suffocating as well, but it would also seem that it is true that you get a certain calmness in death. I would not like to traumatize my baby brother, my cute little brother, or my little niece but I can no longer speak, there is a pen on the table next to my bed, I don't have any paper but I do have a hand. I quickly grab the pen and scribble a message on my hand

My brother is within distance of my arm so I reach out and give my brother's sleeve a little tug. He has always been woken up by being touched or moved so he soon woke up, as soon as he laid his eyes on me he knew something was wrong but when he saw my hand that I put right in front of his face, he knew exactly what was happening. He immediately tried calling for a doctor but he didn't finish his sentence when he felt another tug on his sleeve and saw me shaking my head.

A defeated expression was plastered onto my baby brother's face. I didn't want that so I made a forced smile to give him an example of what to do. He took it in stride as a smile crept onto his lips as tears rolled down his face.

I then pointed to Sarah and he quickly yet gently woke her up. She soon became aware of the situation without a word and began to ball her eyes out but she couldn't follow her father's example to have a smile on her face.

As I felt my chest getting tighter, I reached out my hand to my brother for one last firm handshake, from one of us at least. With my other hand, I set it on top of Sarah's head as I slightly ruffled her hair.

I tried my best to let out one last boisterous laugh but I bet it just sounded like a whispered chuckle. I gently sent them out of the room so they wouldn't see me in my last moments.I closed my eyes and let out a sigh that held my last breath. Soon I started falling.

After he sent us out of the room I got a nearby nurse's attention and explained the situation, he immediately called a doctor, but I knew it was already too late and just hugged Sarah tight.

After the doctors arrived and entered the room everyone saw that Dan had passed, they did all the procedures then they officially pronounced my brother dead at 5:39 A.M. They let us have a moment with him after they left. I let Sarah go first and she said a couple words before she broke down again and went into the hall. There's not much I could do there but comfort her later. After a couple seconds I leaned down, took off the bandanna from his bald head, and put him to bed forever.

In his will, Dan left pretty much everything he had to us including all of his restaurants and his entire share of his business. I have been able to keep it afloat in his absence but Sarah went to collage 4 years ago and this spring she will graduate from culinary school and she intends to take over the business.