Flashes of green flew by my face as I whirled through the street. I felt as if I was flying; I was going as fast as a rocket launching into the bright stars on a dark night. Suddenly, everything became wobbly and blurred. I held my breath as I tried to find my balance and felt my face turn a bright red with concentration. Before I knew it, everything turned sideways and there was a burning pain on my knee. I tried to sit up, and frantically looked around with hot tears streaming down my face. I wiped them away with the back of my dirty hand, which only succeeded in making mud on my face. I sniffed and saw my father running towards me.

“You went so far! It’s okay honey, don’t cry,” my dad wiped the mud off of my face. His hands were so large; they covered the majority of my face. “Look, your knee is fine; it’s just a little scrape. Why don’t we take you inside and get you cleaned up, okay?” Before I could nod my head, he lifted me up into his arms and I wrapped my little hands around his neck and buried my face in his neck and continued to cry.

As we walked away, I saw my brother, Jason, picking up my pink and white bike and pushing it towards our house alongside his big blue one. When we got back to the house, my dad carried me to the bathroom where he set me up on the sink. He smiled warmly as he reached for the first aid kit that lived in the cabinet above the sink. He took the fluffy white towel and ran it under cool water and dabbed it on my knee to clean off all the dirt that got into it. I put on my brave face as he finished cleaning off the surface and attempted to put a bandage on it.

“All done! Do you feel better now, Isabel?” he inquired towards me.

“Yes I do, Papa. Thank you,” I replied in my tiny voice. He smiled one last time and then set me on the ground and walked away. I was left there standing in the bathroom, clueless on what I should do next. After a while, I walked back over into my room and just sat there on my bed; my young thoughts swirling around in my head.

“I knew that I wasn’t ready,” I thought to myself. “Papa is always pushing me, making me do things when he’s ready. It’s not fair. I wasn’t ready for only two wheels.” I sat there pouting, feeling sorry for myself for a couple of hours. When the hunger that was gnawing at my stomach was overwhelming, I shuffled into the kitchen to try to find either of my parents.

“Hello? Mama? Papa? I’m hungry!” My high pitched voice echoed throughout the house. Silence followed as no one answered. Panicked, I started running around the house. My seven year old body was in overdrive. My footsteps echoed off the hardwood floors as I quickly padded around corners and into rooms to try to find my parents.

“Izzy! What are you doing? Stop running. Have you gone insane?” I heard Jason’s voice call from his room. I sprinted as fast as my legs would take me and burst into a huge smile to find that I wasn’t alone and that Jason was there with me.

“Where are Mama and Papa?” I asked him.

“They went out shopping. Are you hungry?” I nod to answer his question. He sighed and shook his black hair as he got up. He was four years older than me and stood six inches taller than me. The only thing we had in common was our bright ice blue eyes.

Jason made me a hot dog with a side of chips, along with chocolate milk because he knew that it was my favorite. He made the same thing for himself and sat in the chair across from me.

“Are you okay? How’s your knee?”

“I’m okay, but it still hurts. Why won’t it stop hurting?” I sniffled.

Jason smiled and his blue eyes danced. “Well, Izzy, healing takes time, and you have to let it run its course until it gets better. It’s not going to go away in an hour.”

I sat and stared at my food. “Wow,” I thought to myself. “Jason is so smart. It’s not fair. I wish I could be as smart as him. He even talks like he’s sixteen.”

“I want my training wheels back,” I pouted.

“No way. Training wheels are for babies. Are you a baby?”

“I’m not a baby!” I yelled with my little fists balled up.

“Then let’s go practice. Come on,” Jason got up and walked to the front door.

He helped me into my helmet and sat me onto my bike. He gave me a small push and off I went. Green streaked my vision as I gained speed. I fell time and time again, but each time Jason helped me back up. After we practiced for hours, I felt like a master riding my bike. When our parents returned, I showed them how much better I had gotten. They were proud and happy that everything had returned to normal and that I could then grow further from that.

Years passed and Jason and I had become inseparable. We took care of each other when our parents were fighting or gone. I had just turned seventeen when Jason and I decided to go shopping while our parents went to Los Angeles for the day.

When we were almost home, amongst our bickering over what to do next, there was a sudden shower of glass that flew through the side of the window. My world and perception were turned upside down. A burst of hot pain seared itself into my right thigh. I was coughing and wheezing as I attempted to catch my breath that wouldn’t return to me.

“Jason….Jason?” I rasped. But I didn’t hear any response. My ears were ringing and it hurt to open my eyes. I didn’t know where I was or what had happened. I could hear the distant sound of high pitched wailing. My vision clouded and when I woke up, I was surrounded by lights.

I heard consistent beeping and the lights were blinding. It hurt to open my eyes, to breathe, to even think about moving. I turn my head slowly to see my mom sitting there. She smiled softly and grabbed my hand and gently held it between both of hers.

“What happened?” I asked weakly.

“You and Jason were in a car accident. You were hit by a drunken truck driver, and the car flipped.”

“Jason…what about Jason?” I started to panic, searching my mother’s face for answers. Her eyes began to water ever so slightly as she tried to hold her composure. She took a shaky breath and closed her eyes. “Mom?”

“Jason died on impact. There was nothing that they could do,” she broke down sobbing on my arm. I sat there frozen in time. I had no idea what to do, or what had happened. I couldn’t process what had happened. Tears streamed down my face knowing that I survived and that he died. If we weren’t fighting, then would he have been able to see it coming. If I had just said yes to going home, would he still be here with me? The tears flowed harder and faster as the realizations hit me. I closed my eyes and laid there forever.

I open them again and I’m staring at a bright bouquet of flowers. The purple and white colors contrast each other; thus bringing one another out. I lower them from my face and I see Jason’s gravestone in front of me. Two years have passed and not a day goes by that I don’t think of him. I learned much from him and he made me who I am today. My eyes haunt me knowing that they’re his too, but at least I see a piece of him every time I look in the mirror.

“Goodbye, brother, I’m sorry and I love you,” I whisper as I set the flowers down. I turn away, tears tracing the outline of my face.