Impact

Aimee took up new hobbies to clear her mind of Riley, but also keep him near her heart. She took up basketball, Riley’s favorite sport, although she was a bit short. She began to take art, since Riley had once asked her if someday she could draw a portrait of him.

Yet, nothing could make Aimee happy again. She tried her best to be herself and stay healthy. If Riley was in a better place, she shouldn’t be selfish and wish him to stay more than his time permitted. Right?

Maybe it was right, but Aimee had never done the right thing. She had, for God’s sake, thrown heavy dictionaries at Riley the last time she had seen him.

A piercing cut of remorse entered her stomach. Riley. He was gone. This wasn’t just a field trip. Her little brother was never going to come back. Aimee held back the tears and tried to laugh it off.

Aimee was five-years-old and Riley was four. Their mother had suddenly gone through a sentimental phase and decided to take them all to get a family portrait – what better way to decorate a home?

Aimee and Riley showed their strong hatred towards the idea many times before their appointment, but nothing could have stopped their mother. Their father had just left them and their mother was basically a psychopath.

When the time came, the photographer made Aimee wear the itchiest dress of her life and dressed Riley in a suit at least three sizes too big for him. They had taken at least thirty poses in every single pose imaginable, but Aimee remembered how bearable Riley had made it.

“I really don’t want to do this at all,” Aimee almost incomprehensibly said through her teeth, while bearing a big smile.

“Me either, but when I’m about to throw a fit, I think about how mom’s going to burn all the pictures when she finds out there’s a piece of spinach in her teeth,” Riley said, with a wink and a smile.

It had made her day and definitely made for an amazing memory. Aimee wasn’t the only one to have memories with Riley, though. Riley had an impact on almost every single person he met. He was lovable and made no enemies. Sometimes, she was jealous of Riley’s amazing personality and envied his amount of friends. But he was her brother and she of all people knew he deserved the love.

It was then that she remembered Lindy. She had heard through the grapevine that Lindy hadn’t been going to school and had taken up being home schooled, due to depression. But Aimee never believed rumors easily and decided to drive to Lindy’s to check up on her.

“Oh my God, oh my God, Riley!” Aimee had shrieked.

“I know Mimi, you just got your freaking license! Time to drive me around constantly,” Riley had said, with a huge grin on his face.

He had called her Mimi when he had learned to speak because, for some odd reason, he couldn’t pronounce “Aimee.” Riley had taken it upon himself to call her Mimi whenever he could – not only because he liked the nickname, but because it always bothered her.

“First, stop calling me that, second, no way! My car, my rules now!” Aimee smiled.

“Will you at least take me to Lindy’s sometimes?”

“Fine. But that’s it!”

After that, she had only gotten to drive him a few times, before the accident. For the first time ever, she was going to see Lindy without Riley. She got out of the car and took a deep breath, ringing the doorbell.