C5 Chapter 4

He was young and responsible…the epitome of sunshine. If one said angels do not walk on earth, I would disagree. Because Tom was one of them. He was always positive, always considerate of the people around him.

One night, he didn’t come home. We were waiting for him at dinner. His phone was off. And then we received a call from the hospital, informing us that he was rushed to the emergency room.

Tom had been racing when we didn’t even know he could race.

It had been hazy, as if everything moved in fast forward. We rushed to the hospital and waited frantically as they operated on him.

I found myself praying so hard. I loved Tom. He couldn’t die! He was only seventeen. He had so many things going for him. He was an angel. There were a lot more people in the world he could help, a lot more lives he could touch.

Like Travis’s. Travis was a troubled kid when he met my brother. But then he was able to find a new family with us. Because Tom took him in.

When the doctor came out of the room, he told us that they did everything they could. He was alive, but we were told not to keep our hopes up. There were complications and we could not be guaranteed he would walk out of the hospital healthy again.

The first time that Tom opened his eyes, he asked for Travis.

Tom was driving Travis’s Porsche. It had been totaled. The car’s safety features were the only things that gave my brother a little chance at survival.

From the window, I saw Tom make an effort to raise his hand. Travis hooked his pinky with his and pulled it away to bump it with my brother’s fist. That was their sign of brotherhood.

I’d never seen Travis cry before. But as I watched them from the window, I could tell that he was on the brink of breaking down. He was always so proud, always so cold and distant. He never really showed much emotion. But now I realized that Tom really was a brother to him. He really did care for us.

The next time Tom opened his eyes again, I was with him.

“I…love…you,” he said with each precious breath he took.

Tears rolled down my cheeks. “I love you, too,” I said in a broken voice.

“Promise me…you will always…be happy,” he said.

I nodded. “And you will be there with me, Tom. You will see me live each day happily!” I said. “You’re the best brother anybody could ever ask for.”

“You will never be alone…baby sister,” he struggled to say. “I promise you that. I love you…you won’t be alone.” He gave me one sad smile, and then closed his eyes.

Just then, I heard a sharp sound that froze me on my feet.

“Tom!” I shouted. The nurses and doctors rushed into the room. They pushed me away. I struggled to come closer to my brother. Just then, somebody wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me away as they tried to perform CPR on Tom.

And then finally, I heard somebody say, “Time of death…”

I didn’t hear the rest. “No!” I screamed. I didn’t know who was holding me. But I was thankful for him because I was breaking down. I almost fell to the floor. I felt arms wrap around me to support my weight.

“It’s going to be okay, Brianne,” I heard Travis’s familiar voice as he cuddled me against his chest. But I could hear the tears in his voice as he struggled to be strong.

“He can’t die, Travis!” I cried against his chest.

“He will always be with us,” he whispered against my ear and I wrapped my arms around Travis’s waist. Right then, it didn’t matter that I hated him or we never got along. Right then, I knew that if there was one person who understood exactly what I felt at this moment, it was him…because every pain I felt in my heart, he felt exactly the same. Tom was a brother to both of us.

I don’t know how I survived the following days, trying to keep a brave face in front of our relatives and our friends. I tried to be strong. But whenever I was alone in my room, I hugged one of Tom’s shirts and I cried my heart out.

My parents stopped talking to each other. It seemed that they were both blaming each other for what happened. Even Travis had been confined in his own world. I felt that he kept blaming himself for what happened to Tom because it was his car that Tom drove that night, and he had not been there to stop it.

I stared at Tom’s grave, after his funeral when everybody had gone, including my parents. I didn’t want to go yet. I was left all alone. I read the words written on his tombstone.

Thomas Antoine Montgomery

Forever Young

It began to rain, as if the heavens were crying with me. My parents seemed to have forgotten that they’d left their little girl behind. I stood there in the rain for at least an hour, and neither of my parents came to find me.

You will never be alone, baby sister, Tom promised me. But he was gone. And even my parents caved in to their own worlds to mourn on their own. Whom did I have now?

Suddenly, I felt an arm around my shoulder. I looked up and found Travis staring down at me. His eyes were teary, too.

He hugged me to him, and this surprised me again. Travis and I hated each other’s guts. But the embrace he gave me was warm and sincere. More than that, it was needing, too. It was as if we suddenly felt so alone and now all we had was each other to hold on to.

“Ssshhh…” he hushed me. “Everything’s going to be okay. I promise I will take care of you for as long as I live,” he said. Then he turned toward Tom’s grave. “I will protect her with my life, bro. You don’t have to worry. She will never be alone for as long as I am alive.”

And suddenly, I realized this was what Tom had asked Travis for in the hospital. He asked Travis to take care of me…because he would no longer be able to.

And even though I hated Travis in the past, I knew he meant what he promised Tom. And I knew Tom would not leave me in Travis’s care if he didn’t trust him with his life.

I buried my face in Travis’s shoulder. I felt him kiss the top of my head and then he leaned his cheek against it. He was taking deep breaths once in a while and I knew he was crying, too. But as he held me in his arms, I knew he was trying to be strong for both of us.