Casper fiddled with the miniature charm around his neck as he sat up in his bed, on a blue cushioned

Casper fiddled with the miniature charm around his neck as he sat up in his bed, on a blue cushioned chair beside his dull bedside his mother sat, leaned against the misty room window, wet with morning dew...he desperately wanted to go outside, he hadn’t seen outside in so long- Not since last summer, not since he had fallen ill...the memories rushed in like the painful throbbing in his chest, it had started with the dizzy spells, he would be assisting his mother in the garden, a cloudless sky above, and he would be stricken with a sudden sick feeling in his chest, as if his heart had been shattered into pieces...

Since it was summer, Maye was home from college until the start of the spring semester, still Maye spent most of her time sprawled out, reading novels beside the property lake, occasionally father would visit during his lunch break, time enough to stop in for some sweet tea and a lover's kiss from his wife...Now father rarely came home, the same with Maye- she had written in a letter sometime after the doctors had declared Casper bedridden for his own wellbeing, that she had rather to remember her baby brother in the lively way he used to be, rather than weak and drained, stuck in a bed, as if he had given up on life itself...

Casper closed his eyes, if he could he would go see her, ignore the pain in his chest and take the next steam engine train to St. Nathel's college, find his sister and tell her that everything would be alright, he would let her know how much mother would need her when he was gone, he'd tell her not to cry, to study hard to become a great doctor one day...to still visit home every summer, long after his depart...but that's if he could, he would probably collapse before he even reached the train station, he was quite malnourished as it was, Mother rarely left his bedside, even to prepare dinner, in fear that she would miss his final moments and come back to find him gone...lifeless...it was always a great fear of hers to lose a child, he being the youngest of 5, it would hurt her the most.

Casper studied his mother, lately he had been feeling a bit stronger, the pain in his chest visited less often, he wanted to go outside with mother again, and Maye would come back and father would love them all again, things would be the way they used to...Casper bit his tongue anticipating a jolt of discomfort that didn’t come as he slipped quietly off of his bed, he had made up his mind, he would live, for them...he had to...it seemed as if they needed him, for them to be happy again. Casper opened the room door soundlessly, and descended the stairs to the main entrance, at the edge of the stairs, he glanced back up, toward his dimly lit bedroom "lavender" he whispered, that's what he would do, on the estate, beneath the willow tree that had hosted Maye once upon a better time, there was a solitary patch of purple, lavender flowers, he would bring them back and place them on the dinner table, to greet mother when she finally woke up for a morning coffee. Casper turned the door knob and the cool morning air caressed his face- he held his breath and stepped outside...the sun was warm and inviting against his pale, sheltered skin, morning birds sang iridescent melodies as if to welcome him to the world he had missed for so long...Casper smiled at the sight of lavender blossoms under the nearby willow tree, his feet exploring the wet grass below him as he made his way toward the lakeside. "One, two, three..."he counted to himself as the lavender flowers uprooted from the soil. Upstairs his mother awoken to a fear building in her heart, the bed was empty-her heart raced as she ran throughout the halls, the name of her beloved son stuck in her throat, downstairs the house door was cracked open, still swinging on its hinges, his mother raced outside...her teary eyes surveyed the estate frantically, how? how could she let him out of her sight? how could she be so careless? Suddenly the breath lodged in her throat, she could see the limp figure of her son beneath the willow tree. Mother ran toward Casper in agony and threw herself at the ground beside him, "Casper, get up, please! don't do this! don't leave me!" her face streamed with tears as she lifted her son in her arms, Casper held in his frail hands a bouquet of beautifully put together purple lavenders, his eyes opened slowly..."mother? What's wrong?" he whispered, handing her the bouquet his mother sighed in relief looking to the heavens, "I made it all the way here, I feel better now...there is no pain" his mother nodded, tears running down her face "I know, love..." she said embracing him, Casper stood looking up at the house, "I don't want to go back to bed..." he whispered looking up at his bedroom window, in protest. Mother forced back a tearful laugh, "then you won't" she said running a tender hand through his hair, as the two got up and made their way back into the house, "how about we make a fabulous dinner to celebrate, just the two of us!" Mother said closing the house door behind them. Little did she know, the table would need two more servings that day, because at his job, father suddenly realized he missed his wife terribly, and Maye was making her way up the driveway, home from college, because of course, summer was starting tomorrow...and there was no way she could possibly be late.

The End

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