By Your Side

There was no way anyone would understand; she could sense that as she watch the argument roll in front of her, the disappointment towards her older daughter growing as she kept screaming nasty stuff to her younger sister. Dannie, the youngest of the sisters, didn’t dare scream back, yet, her older sister kept screaming and pushing her around, mocking her and lecturing at her on ‘how coward it was to do such thing’; Sarah couldn’t understand her younger sister, due to the close-minded life she had began to lead, which infuriated the mother of the two of them.

Standing in the middle of the two of them, she had never felt so helpless in her whole life; no matter how hard she tried, she would never be able to do anything, due to her condition. She could feel the heat revolve around Sarah’s body, turning the room into a sauna, almost, as she got angrier and angrier at her unresponsive sister, who was crying.

“Are you listening to anything I say, you stupid bitch?” Sarah screamed, grabbing her sister by her shoulders and violently shaking her out of her frozen state; when she saw her sister look at her with bloodshot eyes and unwashed tears, she got even angrier and slapped her across the face. “You cut yourself to feel physical pain instead of emotional one, isn’t it?” She asked, slapping her again, harder than before. “How about I just fucking beat you till you’re lifeless? What do you say about that?”

Not waiting for an answer, Sarah started beating her sister like never before; pulling Dannie’s hair out, kicking her, slapping her, punching her… She didn’t care for Dannie’s cries or the blood that started dripping from her mouth; she didn’t care that her sister was fighting for air as she beat her continually, mad at her.

Dannie never wanted her sister to find out that she did cut herself; all those times Sarah mocked one of her best friends in front of her made Dannie realize she would never understand such things. She was so close-minded! She never thought it would lead to such thing, though; she never thought her own sister would leave her dying on their bedroom floor just because she cut herself. It was her last resource, after all; she had tried talking to people, listening to music, writing… In the end, the pain always took the best of her; the only way she had found that would suppress the pain that lie unforgotten in her heart was to provoke herself physical pain. She knew she was disappointing a lot of people, and she knew she was going against all the promises she had made, before, but she couldn’t take it anymore; it was all too much for her.

When Sarah felt her sister go limp on her arms, she let her fall to the floor, disgusted by the coward that her sister really was; she was just another nut person in the world, and Sarah couldn’t stand those persons. So, she left her bleeding on the floor, slamming the door to signal her disgust, going to the bathroom downstairs to wash herself, and then leaving the house to go meet her boyfriend, like nothing had happened.

Mariah watched as her older daughter left, the anger rising more and more on her chest with each step Sarah took away from Dannie, walking like she hadn’t just beat her sister up so badly she was curled on the floor, surrounded by dirty blood. She wanted to do something so badly, but she knew she couldn’t; she had been allowed to watch over her children already, she could not ask for more than that.

Looking away from the door, which was still shaking a bit from having been slammed, she moved towards her broken daughter, kneeling beside her to try to comfort her, even though she couldn’t see her; she had been so broken since her mommy had died… Little did she know her mom, Mariah, was still watching over her, kissing her goodnight, talking to her, every day; she had never really left, even though nobody could actually see her. She was just fine with being close to her sons and daughters, even though they couldn’t know she was there.

Dannie stayed on the blood-stained floor for a long time, crying not only because of her sister, but also because of how much she missed her mother and father; they had died when she was too young, and, even now, she didn’t know how to cope with their death. That’s why she cut herself; it was all too much for her tiny frame to hold inside. She had already thought about killing herself, even, but she never did it; she thought her siblings would miss her too much. Pfft, if her sister had acted like this, how would her brothers react?

The beating from her sister had been the last straw that had been broken; now, she was floating in a universe of pain and suicidal thoughts, and nothing could hold her back. Sure, she had her friends, but their love for her, no matter how much it was, wasn’t big enough, compared to the pain she felt; even if she dedicated them her life, she had already given her heart to her dead parents, and it was about time to get it back.

Without further struggling with her emotions, she fought her way out of the floor, directing herself towards the big glassy doors for the balcony of her room; once she was outside, she climbed to the rooftop of the building she lived in, carefully walking closer to the edge of it, the tears still streaming down her face.

Her mother watched alarmed as she did that, and quickly followed her, floating in front of her, trying to get her attention; it was useless, though, since she couldn’t see her. Mariah was getting desperate as her beautiful child moved closer and closer to the edge of the rooftop, facing the sky above her as if she was silently asking God to let her save her baby girl; she couldn’t hear any response from above, so, she resorted to try and get her daughter’s attention again. Mariah screamed, cried, tried to hold her back, but nothing was working; there wasn’t anything powerful enough to save her.

As she thought about this, the last idea she could’ve have popped inside her head, and she prayed to the Heavens that music was still as powerful as it had been to her when she was alive; this was her last hope, after all; if it didn’t work, her sweet daughter would be lost.

Forcing herself to think, she tried to remember the song her child had been listening to, lately, that had caught Mariah’s attention; she thought, and thought, and, finally, the song started to build up inside her head, the lyrics running through her mind uncertainly, since she’d always heard them through her daughter’s voice. Taking a deep breath, she filled her lungs with air and her heart with hope, and, then, her voice started to sound throughout the roof, as her daughter froze in her spot, hearing the soft humming come from behind her.

No one knows how you feel;
No one there you’d like to see…
The day was dark and full of pain.

You write help with your own blood,
‘Cause hope is all you’ve got…
You open up your eyes, but nothing’s changed.

I don’t want to cause you trouble;
Don’t wanna stay too long…
I just came here to say to you

Turn around!
I am here!
If you want it’s me you’ll see!

Doesn’t count!
Far or near!
I can hold you when you reach for me!

Your life is meaningless…
You’re tired and full of trash…
It’s so hard to get along with empty hands.

You looking for the rainbow,
But it died not long ago.
I’ll try to shine just for you, until the end.

I don’t want to cause you trouble;
Don’t wanna stay too long…
I just came here to say to you:
I am by your side, just for a little while…

Turn around!
I am here!
If you want it’s me you’ll see!

Doesn’t count!
Far or near!
I can hold you when you reach for me!

If the world makes you confused,
And your senses you seem to lose…
If the storm doesn’t wanna refuse,
And you don’t know just what to do,
Look around, I’ll be here…
Doesn’t count, far or near!

I am by your side, just for a little while…

Turn around!
Turn around, I am here!
Turn around!
Doesn’t count far or near!
Turn around!
If you want, it’s me you’ll see!
Turn around!
I can hold you when you reach for me!
Turn around, I am here!
Doesn’t count, far or near!

I am by your side, just for a little while…
We’ll make it if we try…
By the time the song is over, Dannie is looking at her mother, her eyes drowned in tears that she lets fall, yet always come back; she takes a step closer to Mariah, who’s crying as well, and then takes the hand her mother reaches out to her, squeezing it when she feels her mother’s skin brush against her. After that, they hug tightly for a long time, not daring to let go, as Dannie cries onto her mother’s chest; afterwards, Mariah carefully leads her back to her room, not wanting her to take her own life away, anyway.

When they’re inside, she grabs a pen and a paper, and quickly scribbles a big note to one of the few people that she knows will take good care of her lovely daughter; she then takes her dumbfounded child, and quickly takes her away from that house, watching as a car is already waiting for them by the building they just left. She quickly drags her daughter inside, and hops into it as well, not needing to tell the driver where to go, since he already knows; she quickly thanks God for letting her save her daughter, right before hugging her and letting her sleep on her arms through the whole ride to the airport.

When they arrive there, Mariah thanks the driver, who smiles sweetly in return, and takes her to the private plane that’s landed in the back of the airport, not bothering to get a ticket or anything; she just knows that it’s God’s wish for her to save her daughter, and she knows exactly who’s gonna be there for Dannie whenever she needs.

The travel takes way less than what’s expected, but, in all honesty, it was quite normal; all in all, it’s God’s private plane!

When they land on the beautiful country that is Britain, they already have the same car from before waiting for them; the driver instantly takes them to the right address, leaving them on their own as they walk the highway to the doorframe in front of them. Dannie has a confused expression on her face, since she has no idea who lives in that house that’ll help her through her life, but her confusion quickly washes out of her face as one of the persons she most admires and loves in this world opens the door, mouth-opened at the sight in front of her.

“Dannie?” She asks, her beautiful British accent not too noticeable on her one-worded question, yet still very present.

Dannie doesn’t have time to answer her friend, as she feels her mom shift by her side, giving Megan the paper where she had written her wishes and the needed information about how to provide Dannie the money she’d need; as if on cue, Megan’s mom appears by the front door, as surprised as her daughter was by what she sees. She doesn’t ask for explanations, though, as she reads the paper her daughter hands her.

I know this seems weird; it isn’t.
Yes, I am dead, unfortunately, but I’ve always been by Dannie’s side since I died; I never truly left her alone. She just couldn’t see me.
Today, though, she was seriously injured… But that’s not my place to tell you about that; she’ll tell when she can. I just wanna ask you to look after her and take good care of her, since that can’t happen back where she used to live. Don’t contact her siblings; they already know.
I know your financial condition isn’t the best, so, you can always take money out of the account that’s written below; you’re the only hope for her.

Mariah sees in the other woman’s face that she won’t refuse to take care of her daughter, so, she turns to Dannie again, the tears already falling down her eyes.

“I love you, sweetheart. I love you with all my heart, and I’ll be watching over you right from above” she whispers, embracing her daughter for the last time.

“I love you too, mom” Dannie says back, hugging her mom tightly for a while; then, they leave each other’s arms, and Mariah turns to Megan and her mom.

“Thank you” she simply says, before dissipating on the air, smiling towards the three of them.