Annie was walking home from school on an ordinary Tuesday when she saw him. She stopped dead in her tracks. Wearing a gray hoodie, some old blue jeans, and familiar looking nike's, stood her tall brother. His curly blonde hair looked tired and the ringlets swayed in the warm spring breeze. It had been three years since she had last seen him…

It was a weird tuesday for Sam. He woke up late and missed the train so decided he would just walk to class. Being already late, he wanted to spend a few more minutes in the warm sun looking at the blossoming spring foliage.  He saw a black squirrel, which is rare, and spilled coffee on his shirt, which wasted even more time as he scrambled to clean it up. As he was about to finally get to his class, 30 minutes late, he saw her. Wearing white overalls, a black backpack strung across her pointy shoulders, and her long blonde hair pulled back in a braid, She was standing completely still and her deep blue eyes were glaring right at him…

Annie could not move. She was glued to the pavement remembering the day three years ago when Sam left. They were sitting together in the hospital room and the doctor had just told them that mom hadn’t made it through surgery from the car accident. She remembered how her little brothers hands were clinging to hers, tears streaming down their faces. The thought of living with their father was frightening and the loss of their mother felt like a knife jabbed through their hearts. No more pancakes on Sunday morning or singing to Carly Simon over the whistling of the tea kettle. No more sporadic home makeovers where they would repaint every room in the house or switch bedrooms just for fun and something to do on a rainy weekend. But at least they had each other…

Sam remembered when he left. He had packed up a bag that night while his sister slept. He grabbed the things that he could carry and vanished into the night going far away from the home that they had grown up in. It was all he felt he could do as a helpless seventeen year old boy. He didn’t want to live with their father and he knew that she wouldn’t go back to school until he went. It was his only option. Sam thought of her everyday.

The cars keep passing by and pedestrians moved past the statues of two siblings who had an unbreakable bond, that was broken three years ago.

Annie began to make her way towards Sam, their eyes still locked on eachother’s. Questions raced through her mind as she reluctantly inched towards the brother who broke her heart. She remembered waking up that morning, her eyes dry from crying, only to find her brother not in his bed and all of his stuff was gone. She reluctantly called her absent and flakey father. He told her that Sam had called asking for money so that he could travel and he willingly gave it, thinking it would be the best thing after losing mom. Annie, who didn’t think that there were tears left in her, cried for another few days mourning the loss of both of them.

Sam had been so alone for three years. His dad gifted him with a few thousand which he quickly blew bouncing around Europe for a year. He left no trace and contacted no one from his old life. He started college the next year after begging his father to not tell Annie where he was. He felt the damage and pain he had caused to her could never be repaired and came to terms with the fact that she was no longer a part of his life. Little did he know Annie had started a graduate program in the same city. Neither of them would talk to their father often or travel home for holidays, so this fact was unknown.

Annie had felt alone for three years, college finished and she walked across the stage with no one there to congratulate her. She had a boyfriend for a year and when they broke up she had no one to make her tea and rub her back while she cried. Sam and their mom had been those people for her, and them leaving changed her life. It was something that she couldn’t forgive.

Annie stared straight into Sam’s eyes, blinked away a few tears, turned around and began walking away.