• Eliza stared at the dandelions in her hand, her memories rushing to her. They were so young then. That day in the yard, how she was unaware he would leave without really leaving.


    "Robby?! Robby?!" she called, searching for her brother. They were playing hide n' seek, but she always hated not being able to see her brother, not knowing where her was.
    "Robby? Please come out, I can't find you and it's scaring me." she called again. She was on the brink of tears when someone suddenly jumped on her back. She shrieked and fell to the ground. Robby got off of her and laughed. His smiled faded when he saw the tears in her eyes.
    "Hey, it's okay. I promise." he said softly, knealing next to her. She rushed into his arms and he held her tight.


    They had always been together. While most siblings of her friends' were enemies with their other siblings. Not her and Robby. He was the football star and she was the girl in the band, playing the flute. But no matter how much his friends picked on her for being a dork, he always had her back. He helped her through the years their parents were fighting and helped her even more when their mom died and their dad left them. After all those years, she still wonders why he never considered her a burden.
    Her eyes burned with tears again, as she remembered her brother's smiling face. She blew the dandelions, causing puffs to go every where.
    "I wish he was here." she whispered into the wind that carried off the seeds. The wind was warm and moist, meaning it was going to rain. She sighed in dispair, knowing it was impossible to see her brother again. She could only see him in her memories, and often in her dreams. She felt a rain drop hit her face. The drops started coming more rapidly, yet she stood there. Her silver hair stuck to her face because it was wet, curling around her hazel eyes. Her hair wasn't silver because of age, she was only 24, it was just naturally white. So different from Robby, who charmed all the girls with his black hair and blue eyes. He promised she was the only girl that mattered in his life. She sadly looked to the ground and dropped the dandelion stems. They fell in a puddle that was being created at her feet. Despite the rain, she allowed herself to go back to her memories.


    "Eliza!" Robby called to her from the front porch. She was in the front yard, playing with flowers.
    "Yeah?" she asked without turning around.
    "What are you doing?" he asked, coming up beside her.
    "Picking flowers." she replied. He sat down next to her, picking dandelions off the stems.
    "You wanna make a wish?" he asked her, staring at the dandelions. She looked at him, wide eyed.
    "How?!" she asked enthusiastically. He smiled at her.
    "You take a dandelion, hold it to your face and blow. As the puffs are falling, make a wish, but don't tell anyone, or it won't happen." he said, demonstrating for her. She watched anxiously.
    "Give it a try." he smiled, winking at her and handing her one. She stared at her dandelion for a moment and then blew. She shut her eyes tight and made a wish. When she opened them, Robby was smiling at her.
    "So, what did you wish for?" he asked. She pressed her lips tightly together and shook her head.
    "Oh come on, you can tell me." he urged.
    "No! I want it to come true!" she argued.
    "Fine then, I'll force it out of you." he grinned pouncing on her. He began to tickle her. She began to laugh so hard she was crying. She began to kick and roll around trying to get him to cut it off.
    "Stop it!" she begged between laughs.
    "Tell me and I will!" he insisted.
    "No! Stop it!" she laughed.
    "Tell me!" he smiled.
    "Fine!" she promised. He stopped and waited.
    "I wished that we would be together, always. So we'll never forget each other." she confessed, looking to the ground.
    "I wouldn't forget you if my life depended on it." he promised. She smiled at him.
    "I will never forget you either." she vowed. He looked at her for a moment and then stood up.
    "Stay right there." he told her. She watched him run back inside the house. She shrugged and turned her attention to more dandelions. She took a whole bunch of them and held them in front of her.
    "Smile!" he brother shouted, running towards her with a camera. She posed with the dandelions and smiled. The wind blew, blowing dandelion puffs from other dandelions around her. He took the picture and watched as it developed. He took it out and waved it aound in the air, trying to make it show up.
    "You look nice." he smiled, looking at it before handing it to her. She had on her favorite dress. It was burgundy with ribbons on her neck and hands. She also had a shawl type cloth that draped over her arms. It was a beautiful summer day. She still has that picture.

    It was the one picture that she had that had something to do with him. He was always the one to be behind a camera, not in front. She sighed in dispair again as she walked down the dirt path that her and her brother used to walk together. She veered right and opened the gate to the cemetary. She passed almost all the graves before she stopped in front of one. It was her mother's. And right next to it was Robby's. On his headstone, "Don't ever be afraid to make a wish" was carved.
    "I'll never forget you." she promised again, placing dandelions that she picked on his grave. He had died over seas. He had a dream of saving the world, so he became a marine. Before he left he told her that he wasn't really gone, that he was always in her heart. She took his word for it and let him go without anymore protests. His years there never affected how he acted when he came back home and that's one of the many things she loved about him. She whispered a goodbye and headed back home, leaving the one person who never left her.