She buried her face in his arm and cried. She cried until she couldn't anymore, and he let her. She cried for her loss, for his loss. She cried for her parents and for all the unfulfilled promises. She cried because she would not be able to watch him become a loving husband and a good father. But most of all, she cried for the future that was being lost.
"I love you so much Eric. I will never stop loving you." She promised painfully.
"I love you too." His voice was hoarse, barely audible. "The sunrise is beautiful, isn't it?" As she turned her face to see it, his hand fell from hers.
She became still.
Beth didn't let go. She couldn't let go of his hand; couldn't let go of him. For as long as she could, she held unto him, unto his warm hand, a hand that was so full of life hours ago, one that had ruffled her already disheveled hair, one he had promised would always trouble her hair even when they become old and frail. "Ah! Ah!!" She yelled in pain. She clenched his limped hand even more, willing life back to him. Her tears came then in torrent, her crushed heart unable to comprehend all that was happening.
How could it be? How could he be taken away from her, right before her very eyes? How was she to live without him? Life would never be the same; her family will never be the same for he was everything and more to her; to them.
When her tears finally ceased, she begrudgingly let go of his hand and looked down on hers, it was smeared with blood; her brother's blood. She couldn't cry anymore.
Beth started down the hill, walking haphazardly like a lost soul; dragging her feet, her eyes unfocused. It was time to tell the family, it was time to tell everyone that cared to listen. It wa time to make it known.
Her brother was dead.