![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() You loved him so much that you couldn’t bear to see him in pain. ![]() I closed my eyes and sunk my head into the heat of his chest as I cried. He wrapped his arm around me, pulling me into him. I wasn’t even there when he died.” The tears started to pour out again as I recalled the most painful time of my life, no longer able to speak coherently. The last month or so, he had gotten so sick, so emaciated I couldn’t bear to watch it…couldn’t handle seeing him like that.” I paused to catch my breath. That was during the period about six months before he died. “When he was in the hospital, we would play that game, Yahtzee. Silently willing me to continue, he squeezed my knee again. He was sick for about two full years before we lost him.” Then, it was destroyed and there was just nothing left. “He had a stem cell transplant, but it wasn’t successful. Jake shut his eyes as if it pained him to hear me say that. They took my bone marrow because I was a match.” I moved my gaze from the dragon back up to Jake’s eyes and could see my own reflection in them. When I started to tear up again, he squeezed my leg harder and said, “It’s okay. He was only a year and a half older than me. “Toward the very end of my brother’s life, I couldn’t bear to watch him waste away. He kept his hand on my knee, and I used the dragon tattoo on his forearm as a focal point to gather my thoughts. ![]()
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