Obstacles

The living always fear dying, but do the dying fear living? What happens after tou hit your death bed and your life becomes a dream?

'Where are we going?' I asked.

'To meet Max. Now, shush!' Katelyn said.

I didn't- no, rather couldn't- ask any further questions as I was pulled into the gates of a cemetery. My first thoughts: "Well, shit. Katelyn is going to bury me alive, or kill me here!" But luckily, that wasn't the case.

'Max Ross is my older brother,' Katelyn explained.

I looked to where we had stopped (since I just had realized we did) and saw a tombstone:

"In Loving Memory of Maxwell Ross.
2001-2002"

'Max died a year after I was born. No, not on my birthday, but two days after. He was born two months before me, which is possible because my dad isn't Max's dad. We are half-siblings,' Katelyn tensed up and said.

'What was he like?' I questioned.

'His favorite color is red, like a fire truck. He has blue eyes and strawberry blonde hair, courtesy of his biological father. '

By the way she said 'is' and 'has', it made him seem real. Alive.

'Is?'

'Todd, the dead is never gone. We never loose them. We now exactly where they are. Max's bones are here; his soul is wherever you believe it to be. Even though they die, they live on in our memories, our souls, because they define who we are.'

'That is beautiful, Ross.'

'Words are the windows to beauty, my dear friend.'

'Would you like to leave?'

'If it's alright with you, I'd like to keep Maxwell company.'

'I'll head off, Ross. Be careful.'

'I will.'

And with those words said and emotions playing with our minds, she kissed my cheek, and I left. And those words flashed in my head to this very day.

"The dead define who we are." -Katelyn Ross