THE LAST TIME I SAW YOU
PAIGE: You promise to always love and protect me.
ERIC: Yes I did. I will hold on to my promise still my last breath on earth.
PAIGE: You called me little sister and told me you will forever be my big brother.
HERIC: That was the last time I saw you.
My name is Paige, I lived with my biological Grandma still I was 7, she died from diabetes her death made me knew no home till I was adopted by Momma at the age of 13 and half. Before I met Momma I have lived from one dysfunctional family to the other which I got various traumatic experiences and developed PTSD as a result.
Every night I cried and woke up from a terrible nightmare, Momma was always there to comfort me. I met Eric, Momma's biological son a month after staying with Momma. He just finished his B.sc then, the next five months he spends in the country with me and momma was one of the best experiences in my life. I learned what having a sibling meant, though he was eight years older than me we relate well.
He left the county to further his study in France after our short but memorable five months spend together and subsequently, he found love there, got married, and decided to make France his permanent residence.
When I was 20, Momma developed cancer (leukemia), and all the numerous calls and texts I send to Eric for him come home and see Momma, he never obliged to.
Momma went through different dialysis and chemotherapy and eventually gave up when her body couldn't take it anymore, a month to my 22nd birthday. I decide to burial Momma in peace on my own, even though I am not her blood. I was more of a child to her than Eric but a week after Momma died and a week to her funeral Eric showed up.
I couldn't help but cry when I hugged him. I wanted to scold him for not showing up early enough to see Momma before she gave up. But he opened up to me that he was battling with divorce issues for a year plus which made him depressed and an alcoholic. He told me he was in rehab for six months and when he heard Momma was sick he just could not his problem with us.
I felt pity for my brother seeing him this weak and sad. Two weeks after Momma's funeral was my birthday and Eric invited me to a restaurant. He picked up the dress I was to wear. I got to the venue and notice the entire restaurant was booked for just us, the settings look like a romantic date but I did not want to be quick and jump into any conclusion.
We settled, eat and gist listening to the cool sounds coming from the pianist, Heric booked. Heric leans forward to kiss me but I pushed him away.
"What are you doing?" I asked with a serious look.
"I love you Paige and I know you can feel something for me too," Eric spoke holding my hands
There was no lie in Heric words right from the first day I saw him as he arrived in the country I knew I had felt held some feelings for him. Not the kind of feeling you have for a brother but for a man.
"Yes, I do feel something for you. The feeling of happiness to finally with my brother I haven't seen for many years", I lied.
"Paige, I love you and it may just be three weeks since we just met after these years but I know what I feel is real." replied
"Is this why you invited me here? I thought you just wanted us to celebrate my birthday and feel a little bit good apart from the mourning we do all day. I can't believe this." I said as I take away my hands from his
"You promise to love and protect me?" I asked taking his memory back to the words he said to me before he left for France.
"Yes, I did and I will hold to that promise till my last breath on earth." He replied will all confidence
"You called me little sister and told me you will always be my big brother" I replied with my teary eyes, I was shaking as I remembered the short good old times Eric, Momma, and I spent together.
Eric replied "That was the last time I saw you. You are no longer 14 neither am I 22."
I replied as I stood up "Yes, I am now 22 and you are 30. We are both grown and matured but we are still siblings and that we never change."
I walked out of the restaurant and started trekking in the early hours of the night to nowhere in particular despite the pleas from Eric to drive me home.
All I could feel was anger and disgust not at Heric but at myself for developing romantic feelings for my own brother.
Even though I have been seeking for true euros love, I can't find it in my brother for it's forbidden.
I repeat the words to myself "Eric is my brother" a couple of times to myself that night.
It's been 2 years and Eric is back to France and we do communicate but on a siblings level because that's what Momma could have wanted.