"What's wrong, Sarah?" Ed asked as he approached his little sister. Ever since he had started high school two years ago, she always waited for him to walk her home. Currently, she was sitting on a bench outside of Peach Creek Middle School, her mouth downturned in a frown that was starting to unbecome her age. She had just turned twelve and had been so excited to start the sixth grade that morning.

"Oh Ed," she sighed, gazing down to her hands as a tear slipped down her cheek. "The eighth grade girls made fun of me today."

"Why?" he asked softly as he sat down next to her.

"They said I was a ginger and that gingers didn't have a soul." Her lower lip quivered as she fought hard not to succumb to the waves of hurt those harsh, and most likely careless words had caused.

"You got a soul, Sarah. You got a bigger soul than more people than I know." When she didn't answer, he continued on. "Your soul has fire, too. And it's smart and can be really nice sometimes. And it's funny and caring… more now than you used to be," he finished quietly as his eyes went hazy with the distant memories.

"You're just saying that because you're my big brother," she sniffled.

"So? That's what big brother's do!" he exclaimed as he scooted over closer until their hips bumped. Slowly, like the minutes ticking down to three o'clock on a Friday, he began to lean into her as he fought hard not to grin.

"Ed," she warned softly, though her frown was beginning to ebb away.

"Uh oh… gravity's got me, Sarah! OH NO! HELP ME!" He continued to lean to his right at the painfully slow pace until their shoulders touched and she let out a soft giggle as his cheek pressed into the side of her head.

"Ed you're such a dork!" she laughed despite herself.

"I know," he said with joyful complacency.

"Does anybody ever bother you about your hair?" Once, it had been shaved into a buzz cut, but on his thirteenth birthday, he had asked to grow it out. Still buzzed on the sides at the temples, he had let it grow out to his mid back. Sarah had even layered his bangs so he could pull them back into a ponytail and keep them out of his eyes. The older he got, she realized as she pushed his upper body off of her, the more beautiful he was growing. An ugly duckling transforming into a swan. Even his unibrow was beginning to fade. She hated that, because she always found it so endearing.

"Nope," he said. "Not that I know of." Throwing his arm along the back of the bench, he crossed one leg over the other as they sat in silence for a long while.

"Well… I think it stinks the way they acted towards me. That wasn't fair."

Ed turned his head to gaze at her for a moment, and then spoke words of wisdom to his baby sister. His voice was so earnest and sincere that it caused her to truly take the words to heed.

"Life isn't fair," he said softly. "And it's got lots of sharp points. They're going to poke you Sarah, and that won't feel good, but you gotta keep doing what you've got to do. If you bleed, put on a band aid, if you trip and fall down, you'll have to get up. Even if I'm not there to help you. You'll find yourself in the darkness, and when you do… always carry a flashlight, but above all…" he leaned closer to her again, his face pinched with an earnestness that made her pull in a sharp breath. "Don't give up. Never give in. Fight," he whispered as his eyes searched her face.

She nodded once, slowly, and then closed her eyes. "That's all I know how to do," she whispered. She opened her eyes and gazed into her brother's beaming face, and then tilted her head, confused. "What?"

"See? You do have a soul, Sarah. People who don't are jealous of the ones who do, and they try to say bad hurtful things until that person's soul is broken. Don't let them break you."

"I won't, Ed," she said and then smiled once more. "How come you know so much about this stuff?"

Ed turned and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her warmly. "Because I pay attention," he said as he rested his chin on the top of her head. Her arms wound around his body and he began to rock her for a little while, until the rest of the emotional storm was nothing more than lightning flashes in the distance. He didn't mind that she had cried into his shoulder until his t-shirt was damp, that's what big brothers were for, after all.

"Thank you, Ed," she said as she pulled away and gathered her purse. She dug around for a few tissues and her compact so she could dab away the eyeliner now running down her cheeks.

"No problem, Sarah," he said as he rose. "C'mon, let's go home, missy! If we don't, the zombies will get us and then what will I do?"

"What do you mean what will you do? You'd let them eat me?" she asked as she cheeked her reflection once more in the mirror before snapping it shut and stuffing it, along with the tissues, back into her purse.

"Sarah! Zombies!"

"Oh no, mister! You're not going to let them eat me!"

"Well, you need to learn to run faster than me, because I am not going to be devoured by the rotting corpses of the undead!" Ed announced as he darted to the sidewalk. He made a show of looking both ways, pointing at the only car that passed and crying out in fear as his sister joined him.

"I do run faster than you do!" she said once he let go of her wrist, indicating that she could cross the road. She did so at a full run, with Ed crying out behind her that they were on his heels.

"Run Sarah! They're coming around the corner! RUN!"

"I'm running, Ed!" she exclaimed in her excitement as her brother, only sixteen and already six foot four, lumbered behind her in an exaggerated manner.

"They're coming to get you, Sarah!" he laughed as he mimicked the famous line in Night of the Living Dead.

Sarah cried out through her laughter and managed to find another burst of speed.