Not Insane

Jayden walked in the house at nearly three o'clock in the morning to find her fiance sound asleep on the couch with Pinkly asleep in his lap and the TV droning softly. She figured he was trying to wait up for her to ask how work went. He had finally convinced her to go back, saying that getting back into her old routine would help the healing process. She had felt a bit better after working, but as soon as she got home, the sadness returned. Instead of disturbing her sleeping fiance, she went right upstairs to shower and lay down. The tears for her deceased brother had began to flow again. “Jimmy...” she silently sobbed into her pillow, falling asleep soon after laying down.

“You need to stop shedding all of these tears for me.”

Jayden whipped around, swearing she heard her brother's voice, but the cemetery was deserted. “Jimmy?” she called with a broken voice.

“You miss me, I get it...” the voice said again from behind her.

Jayden whipped around again, gasping at the sight in front of her. It was something that she'd never seen before except in movies. Jimmy stood behind his headstone, a bright light shining on him from nowhere. Jayden's jaw dropped as her eyes fell upon a beautiful pair of wings coming from her twin brother's back. “Jimmy?” she called again, covering her mouth with her hand, trying to believe the sight that stood before her.

“I know you miss me, but I don't deserve all of these tears.”

“Jimmy, you're an...an a-a-ang-g-” Jayden was stuttering, unable to say the word out of pure disbelief.

“An angel? Yes, I am.” He stepped to his twin, caressing her cheek with his fingers. “I'm here to keep my promise. My promise that I was never going to leave you.”

“But you did leave.” Her head hung.

“I'm always going to be with you. Watching over you.”

Jayden looked up with her brother's touch disappeared. She saw him taking a few steps back as the light grew brighter. So bright that she almost couldn't see her brother anymore until he was in the air above her. “No! Jimmy please don't go!”

“I'm not going. I'll always be with you.”

Jayden fell to her knees in a sobbing heap when the light engulfed her twin then everything disappeared.

Brian woke with a groan when Pinkly shifted to get comfortable and stepped on his crotch. “Ugh, damnit, Pinkly.” He gently moved the dog from his lap and stood up to stretch. The clock above the TV was closing in on five in the morning. He ran a hand over his face and through his hair as he sleepily walked for the stairs. On the small table in the foyer, he noticed Jayden's wallet, keys, and cell phone and briefly wondered why she didn't wake him up.

As he headed up the stairs, he heard a voice coming from the bedroom. “Jimmy, no!” Jayden's loud yell caused Brian to hurry to their bedroom. He found his fiance tossing and turning, small sobs came out choked and broken. “Why, Jimmy!?” she shouted again, her shrill voice causing Brian to jump.

He rushed to her side of the bed and began to shake her gently. “Jade. Baby, wake up!” he called out.

“No,” she murmured in her sleep, trying to roll away.

“Jade, please wake up!” he called again, shaking her a bit harder. Jayden opened her eyes as Brian's arms wrapped around her. “Baby, you were having a dream,” he murmured as his thumb brushed away the tears that were still falling.

“He was an angel,” Jayden mumbled, resting her head against her fiance's chest.

“He is, and he's watching over you, and us.” Brian thought he sounded ridiculous, but in some way, it really had to be true.

“Brian I miss him so much,” she choked out as fresh tears began to fall.

“I know. I know. I miss him too. We're all going to miss him forever.”

Brian was waiting for a remark in the form of 'he wasn't your brother, so you don't know how I feel!' but he was surprised when it never came. “I know we are,” she murmured.

“And he's always going to be with us in our hearts.”

“Yeah.”

Brian continued to comfort his fiance, never disrupting her way of grieving. After a while, her breathing began to deepen as she was falling asleep. Brian adjusted both of them and laid down with his fiance wrapped up in his arms. “I love you, Jayden, and I just want you to be okay,” he whispered against her neck.

“I love you too,” she said sleepily as she began dozing off again.

Brian woke up a few hours later, deciding to stay up for the day. Jayden was still sleeping soundly against his chest, so as he got out of bed, he did so carefully to not disturb her. Successful, he closed the bedroom door behind him and headed downstairs. He sighed, remembering the times he would come downstairs and see that Jimmy had let himself into the house and was busy playing a video game. It wasn't a rare occurrence that either one of them would go downstairs in the morning to find Jimmy lounging around the living room.

A shaky sigh slipped through Brian's lips as he sat on the couch, staring at the ceiling for a few moments before he turned the TV on. Weeks were passing quickly and the occasional brief local news report would come on about the “tragedy in Huntington Beach's metal music scene.” Brian groaned as he hurried to switch the channel. While the continued support helped push them forward, he was getting tired of hearing the news report about the death of his best friend.

Brian's thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock at the front door. He wondered who it could be, seeing as none of their friends ever knocked, instead just letting themselves in. Through the stained glass, he could see a small silhouette. He opened the door, surprised to see Leana standing there, her already small frame looking even smaller. Brian instantly knew that she hadn't been eating since her fiance had passed away.

Leana hadn't been around much since Jimmy died. After the funeral she had left town to stay with family up north. Brian, or anybody else for that matter, couldn't blame her, and frankly, he was surprised to see her standing there. With a weak smile, he opened the door to let her in. “Good to see you, Lea. When did you get back?” He asked as she followed him to the kitchen where he began to make a pot of coffee.

“The other day. I take it Jade is still asleep?”

“She is. She went back to work last night. I told her that getting back into her old routine would help the healing process.”

“My mom said the same thing to me. I'm starting back tonight.”

“How've you been?”

“I'm sure not as bad as Jade, but you know-it still hurts.”

“It's going to hurt us all probably for the rest of our lives. Jade, she's been taking it surprisingly a lot better than I thought. Well...after Val convinced her to start eating again,” Brian sighed as images of his rail-thin fiance flashed through his head. “I don't think she ate for two straight weeks. She still doesn't eat much, and it scares the crap out of me.”

“I don't blame her. I haven't eaten much either.”

Brian brought two mugs of coffee to the table, handing one to Leana who began to make it to her liking. He didn't want to comment on her response because it would just upset her. While scrambling to find something to say, he almost audibly let out a relieved sigh when he saw Jayden entering the kitchen. “Lea!?” she called excitedly to her friend.

Leana jumped up and grabbed Jayden in a tight hug. “I wasn't expecting you back so soon. When did you get back?”

They parted from their hug and sat at the table. “Other day. I'm coming back to work tonight.”

Brian stood and began gathering a few food items to make an early lunch while the girls chatted. With his back towards them, he smiled widely, so glad that these two broken women could find comfort in each other and basically cancel out each others' heartbreak. He just hoped that it was a step in the right direction of their healing process.