“Mother, Yuri, I’ll be back in an hour!” Simon Kowan called, climbing into the red Fiat.
The car pulled out of the Kowan’s driveway in Sacramento, California. Yuri did not need to guess where her brother was going. He was going on a date with his beautiful girlfriend Jenni. She stared wistfully at the fading car and wished she had Simon. People often said that Yuri did not resemble her family members and they were not wrong. After all, she was an adopted child. Yuri had beautiful black hair and a slim body fit for a fifteen year old while Simon’s handsome features and slick blonde hair resembled his father, who passed away years ago. Mrs. Susan Kowan, as most people called her, is a kind widow who was not beautiful for a woman of forty eight. But her kind face had no wrinkles and her blonde hair showed no specks of grey.
Yuri had a crush on Simon for three years now, and she loved him far more than a brother. His blue eyes could catch any girl’s heart, but Yuri knew in her own heart that she loved Simon more than anyone else in the world, even Mrs. Kowan. Yuri spent the hour reading and waiting for Simon as she always did. The clock ticked noisily and one could hear the sounds of Mrs. Kowan’s knitting and her chair rocking throughout the house.
Late into the night, the sound of keys at the door was heard and the door creaked open. A boy by the name of Simon of age eighteen stepped into the house quietly as a mouse and went up to his sister. She had fallen asleep waiting for him on the couch with her book across her lap. He went up and put her head on his shoulder silently. The sleeping girl stirred but fell back into her slumber. Simon stroked Yuri’s head gently for a while then kissed her cheek. The moment of silence was broken by the loud chiming of the grandfather’s clock, indicating that it was midnight.
“Yuri, I know how you feel towards me.”
Simon whispered into the night and to his sleeping sister. His voice was soothing like a lullaby.
“I am sorry I am unable to love you back more but I will always love you, almost as much as I love Jenni. You are a beautiful and gentle girl, like the night breeze that lures me to sleep each night. I have to go for a while now. Sleep well.”
Simon slowly lifted Yuri’s face up to his and gently placed his lips over hers. It was a short kiss but a true one. Seconds later the boy left again. Yuri opened her eyes and gazed at the empty driveway, trying to recall the kiss that she only half remembered, before falling asleep again.
The quiet dawn in the house of the Kowans was once again disturbed by the shrill ringing of the phone. Yuri rose from the couch and picked up the phone that rang at two o’clock. A male voice spoke.
“Miss Kowan, this is Officer Jyo from the Sacramento Police Department. I think you’d better come down to South Street. There has been an accident involving your brother.”
Then he hanged up. Yuri was still for a moment, before she threw down the receiver and screamed.
“Mother!”
Two ladies, one young and one old arrived at South Street minutes later. Police cars were everywhere and there was an ambulance. A small crowd was huddled around two bodies.
Yuri and Susan Kowan rushed and pushed through the crowd to where the three officers were examining the two bodies. One was a stranger whose head was heavily bandaged and stains of blood were visible through the bandage. The other was Simon. The boy’s head was bleeding heavily and blood stained his body which was full of cuts and bruises. Two more officers came with a stretcher and lifted the stranger onto it.
“To the emergency room immediately. There might still be hope.” An officer said.
“What about my brother? He needs to go to the hospital, too!”
Yuri screamed with her voice shake uncontrollably as she stared at the bloody heap that was her brother.
“He needs to go! Somebody, bring a stretcher!” Yuri was shrieking, tears streaming down her face as she wrung her hands desperately.
“Miss Kowan, I’m sorry. There is no need for Simon to go to a hospital.”
The officer said, trying to soothe the frantic girl.
“Why not? That person went too! There’s still hope!” Yuri cried, shaking her head.“Simon Kowan is dead.”Yuri froze. Susan Kowan fainted but Yuri didn't. Before she knew what she was doing, she grabbed the officer’s shirt.
“You’re lying. Simon said he was only going out for a little while. He’s coming back!”
Yuri cried shrilly. At that moment, all she wanted was for her brother to come back. She thought she was going crazy.“I’m sorry, but he is dead.”
The officer replied, looking sombre. He loosened himself from Yuri’s grip and walked away. Yuri knelt in front of Simon. She stroked his soft blonde hair as he did to her earlier, staining her hands with blood from his hair. Her tears spilled and she hugged Simon tightly. The crowd slowly parted leaving behind Yuri and the dead Simon.
An officer came over and patted Yuri’s shoulder gently.
“Miss Kowan, we have to take your brother.”
The officer waved his hand and two other policemen gently pulled Yuri off Simon. Yuri didn’t know why she didn’t object. She didn’t argue as well when Simon was lifted onto a stretcher and covered in a white cloth. The sirens of the ambulance and police cars softened as they slowly drove away. Yuri felt a fresh wave of tears in her eyes and she stood there staring at the disappearing vehicles.
Simon Kowan died on December 14th.
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