When I hear people talking about one thing that they couldn’t live without, it’s usually something like the internet, phones, video games, social media, and other stuff like that. If I were being serious, I’d be like, “Oh, yeah, I can’t live without water and food.” Which is true, but not what I’m going for this time around.

Honestly, I’d say that I can’t live without my little sister. She’s 12 and severely autistic, but that just makes her even better to be with. I love my little sister so much, and even though writing I can’t honestly explain how much I love her. When I go off to college, it’s likely going to hurt more for her than it is for me, but tears will certainly be shed on both sides.

Several days while wasting away at school I find myself wanting to be home just so I can play with her. She begs me to sometimes turn on my Xbox just so I can play Roblox. She doesn’t even play, she just watches. Other times, she’ll lean on my shoulder and we’ll watch claw machine videos or Pokémon animations. We’re an odd pairing, to say the least.

She loves to draw, mainly video games that she wishes were real. Turns out, all of my DVD boxes disappearing was actually her taking them and using them to put her fake games in. Absolutely adorable. 

Whenever my family goes on car rides, not even long ones, just like 20 minutes to get to the grocery store, we’ll split my earbuds so we can both listen to music. It’s even cuter when she finds a song she really likes and she starts to stem. (Stemming is different for every autistic person, but my sister rocks back and forth while waving her arms.) Then she looks at me with the biggest smile and asks for me to add the song(s) to her playlist.

Every time she watches me do something, she wants to try it too, such as when I work with clay to make mini-figures, draw in different art styles, paint, and even sew. I didn’t let her do that though because I can barely trust the kid with a fork, I’m pretty afraid of what she can do with a sewing needle.

I honestly don’t know what I’d do without the kid. Even though she doesn’t know it, she’s helped me get through several difficult times, and even though I still have depression, she can get me out of that cloudy space every time she barges into my room begging me to play Roblox Doors or something like that. So I guess, if there would be one thing that I most certainly, without a doubt, couldn't live without, it would be my little sister, my best friend.