I'll Be With You

"You can't go..."
"I have to. I don't have a choice." Her face was full of sympathy at the sadness in the young girl's eyes and she gritted her teeth as she struggled to keep a brave face. "I wish I could stay. Really, I do."
"I don't want you to go. Please don't leave me."
"I don't want to either, but I'll be going somewhere where I won't be in as much pain as I am now, and I'll still be with you." She said gently, resting a gentle hand on the girl's knee as she reached forward to wipe the tears from her face.
"How?" The girl asked. "No you won't be. You'll be gone."

"Shh." Somehow the woman managed to maintain calm. Maybe it was the fact that her little sister stood there, right in front of her, upset enough as it was.
Blinking back her own tears, she pulled her little sister closer, wrapping her arms tight around her and her chin resting atop the young girl's head. After a while, she pulled away, looking directly into the little girl's eyes.
"Hey, I want you to promise me something ok?"
"What?" The little girl asked, slowly, timidly meeting her sister's gaze.
"You'll still write."
"Maybe." The girl said quietly. "But, why do you want me to write still?"
"Because then I'll be with you." Finally, the woman smiled. For the first time in a long time that she could remember.. "I'll still be with you when you write."
"You will? How?"


"How do you write?"
"I don't know. You get a pen and paper, or you go to the computer."
"No, I mean, how do you write? Where do you start?"
The little girl tapped the side of her heard lightly. "Up here."
Her sister nodded. "That's it. It starts with your imagination, and that's where I'll be. You could write about me. Then I'll still be with you." "Sort of." She added under her breath so her little sister wouldn't hear. "But it's the closest we'll get."