The day her brother almost died still haunted her. Clarity had never been able to shake it, but he was still here and still with her. She couldn’t ask for more than that. The days continued to get better and she relied less and less upon her brother showing up. She was almost starting to feel like herself again. She always thought she was strong and didn’t need anyone. She watched her mother be strong, but it took Clarity a while to realize that you could be even stronger with the help of people called friends, even sometimes they were called family.

Her brother enjoyed reminding her of that, seeing as he was the only family she had left. Yet, she could tell he was starting to believe she didn’t need him as much either. This made her chest swell with pride as she finally felt like he was acknowledging that she was competent on her own. She had a meeting with the boss today and Clarity knew it was regarding her “questionable” actions, at least that was all she could think of that could even remotely be questionable. She still knew in her heart her boss knew where her loyalties lie, but maybe someone was poisoning him against her? No, it couldn’t be that and it would be frowned upon to even think so. She cleared those thoughts from her mind and began to prepare for the meeting.

She ate her breakfast and chose a suit that fit her best. Dresses and heels weren’t cut out for this line of work, even if many dawned such clothes. Those clothes were better fit as distractions than for quality use. This being said Clarity wasn’t against using such tactics if they deemed fit for the occasion. The beauty of a woman is like no other, but today wasn’t a day for that. She put her hair up in a bun with a beautiful hairpin to provide a nice accent to her suit. While, she may be wearing a man’s outfit, she still made it look quite feminine.

She hadn’t run into her brother yet on her way in, but she assumed he would be present in the meeting. He had, after all, been watching over her this entire time, probably under orders directly from the boss. Hopefully she had finally proved herself. She wasn’t someone to have questionable actions or even motives. Her heart was always true and she cared little for ego or fame. She could admit that the anxiety she had been feeling wasn’t healthy and was limiting her abilities. Yet, she felt like she had been overcoming that, especially knowing her brother was seeing it with his own eyes.

“Come in,” her boss said and waved her into his office. He then shooed the others out of the room. Clarity looked around and none of their faces were that of her brother’s. Her heart sank a little, but that was fine. She was sure he had already given his report and probably left to give them the time they needed to discuss things at hand. Clarity nodded to them as they left and sat in the chair before her boss as he motioned for her to do so.

“Have you come to realize why I said what I did?” Clarity thought over her answers before responding to his question. She could only think of the one reason.

“I know my actions as of late have been questionable, I apologize, sir. My brother has helped me see this and I have improved since our last meeting.” His eyes met hers at the mention of her brother. She was worried she had gotten him in trouble and immediately apologized.

“Interesting…that would explain it.” She bit her lip scared that she had done something wrong. She wasn’t aware that what her brother was doing wasn’t open knowledge to her boss, perhaps he was supposed to just watch over her and not help? She regretted everything she had said.

After a very long pause, the silence like knives stabbing her, he spoke once more,” Clarity, your brother is dead. He died that day in the hospital room.”

The words stung, the knives from the silence felt like they had cut her everywhere at once. She knew he must be joking, but this was a very cruel joke. She didn’t like it one bit. Her boss shook his head and waved his hand.

” My dear, I know you don’t want to believe it. It seems you’ve been keeping him alive all this time, but he didn’t make it that day. Even with how heroic you were and even with how much you tried. Your brother’s time was up and it had nothing to do with you.”

Her boss stood up and came over the to chair she was in. He handed her the gun that once belong to her brother. It was a gift from their father when he had turned sixteen. Her brother had trained with it for years. The only way her boss could have it was if…

“I think you have started to realize that on your own. You’ve slowly been becoming more of yourself and with that you have seen your brother less, yes?”

Was this her way of finally coming to terms with the loss? Had she created him in her mind to cope? He couldn’t be gone; he was so real! Clarity was struggling to accept these words; she was struggling to believe them as true. He had helped her so much and looked out for her. There was no way he could have died that day; she would remember it!

“Don’t start going backwards on me now. Do not start that spiral down to a place you won’t come back from. The last thing your brother saw was you and not just that. It was you doing everything you could to save him. In his last moments he knew a love like no other, yours.”

Clarity was bawling her eyes out and the tears never seemed to stop pouring down. Her boss placed his hand on her shoulder and the gun in her lap. He knew she hadn’t dealt with her brother’s death; he knew that it was holding her back from living, and he knew she needed a wake-up call. Her actions weren’t questionable, her loyalty wasn’t either, it was her own mind that had become questionable.

“Your healing starts here and now, Clarity. Please come to me whenever you need something.”

He sat back down at his desk and she could see in his eyes how proud and protective he was. She was going to need some time, but he had given her the power she needed to close the wound that she had been ignoring. She didn’t need to even thank him, but she would by doing her best every day for him. She still had family, even with the loss of her brother. She was just too blind to see it until now.