My Brothers Daughter

I pulled into my mothers driveway and shut of the engine. The Arizona sun beat down upon me through the windshield. I t was always stifling hot here. I wiped a bead of sweat from my forehead as I looked around me. I had fully expected to see a black Mercedes sitting in her driveway and was shocked to find only my mothers station wagon setting there instead. I was running late and was very surprised that I hadn't received a phonecall from Katie yet.

The front door opened and I watched as my mother ran down the steps. She had a frantic look about her and I felt my heart drop to my feet.

" Bella!,Oh Bella!." tears were streaming down her face. Oh God, No! My stomach lurched at her next words.

" There's been an accident. You've got to get to the hospital right away. It doesn't look good Bella."

Oh Beth, I thought, but my mother was already unstrapping her from the carseat. I snapped out of my daze when my mother spoke again.

"Go Bella. I'll take care of her!"

I backed out of the driveway and the next thing I remember is walking through the hospital doors. I have no clue how I made it here without getting into an accident myself. I took out my ID and approached the nurses station. Joshua had made me his next of kin when his parents died. I would have no trouble getting the information I needed.

I sat quietly in the armchair in the corner of Joshuas room. I watched as the machine he was hooked up to pumped air in and out of his lungs. It killed me to set here and watch my best friend laying in a hospital bed lke this and the steady beep, beep, beep of the heart monitor was slowly driving me insane. I didn't wish for it to stop though, because if it stopped that would mean that Joshua was dead! I prayed to every known God I could think of that Joshua would make it through this alive. The Police had in formed me that Katie had died instantly, we couldn't lose Joshua too.

Joshua was at home sick that week so I was busy showing Katie around school. It was saturday night and I had invited Katie to sleep at my house. My mom was out with her friends and we had just finished making popcorn. I was just about to pop the movie into the DVD player when I heard his signature knock at the door. I didn't bother getting up, I knew it would been only a matter of seconds and he would be walking in the room anyway.

" God Bella. You'd better have a good movie ready. I'm so tired of sitting around the house by myself this week. I can't wait for school next ....." his voice trailed of as he rounded the corner and saw Katie sitting on my couch in her PJs.

Joshua was never at a loss for words but as he stood there with is mouth hanging open like a fish out of water, I had no choice but to snicker at him. ( I had never believed in love at first sight.) Finding true love in the heart, body and soul of a person you had just met seemed a little far fetched to me but watching Joshua standing there with a smitten look on his face, and seeing the same look mirrored on Katies face, I began to have doubts. One week later they were boyfriend and girlfriend, after that they were inseperable. Just after the new year Katie came to me, she suspected she was pregnant. Two days later, a Drs appointment and a blood test confirmed it. Joshua and his parents were estatic. He had been adopted because they couldn't have kids. Katies grandmother had recently died so she moved in with the Newmans. And me? I was thrilled beyond belief... I was going to be an aunt!

Joshua and Katie were married right out of high school. They were both 19 at the time. Joshua was going through collage to be a Doctor and Katie would stay at home until he was finished. They were both very happy.

September 12, 2006, one day before my 19th birthday, Elizabeth Maryann Masen was born. She was technically my neice and legally my God daughter. She was the light of my life. She was called Elizabeth after Joshuas biological mother and Maryann after Katies mother. Masen is Joshuas last name. His adopted parents agreed that he would keep his own name, they never hide anything about his adoption from him.

I was brought back to the present by the continuous beep of the heart monitor. I clamoured from my chair and fell back against the wall as the room filled with Doctors and nurses trying frantically to revive him. I heard screaming and realized it was me when one of the doctors yelled at a nures to get me out of the room. 20 minutes later a Doctor slowly walked out of the room. He recognized me and smiled sadly. They had done everything they could. Time of death was called at 6:52 pm, July 2nd, 2009 - Joshua was 22 years old today. It was the worst day of my life.

My mother helped arrange the funerals for Joshua and Katie. Neither had any living relatives that we knew of. It was a horrible gut wrenching affair. They had both made many friends in Phoenix in spite keeping to themselves most of the time. The little church was packed. They were buried down the road from my mothers home so they would always be close to their daughter, Beth.

One of my mothers best friends was a social worker for the state. She was advising me on how to get legal guardianship of Beth when the call came from Joshuas lawyer. We had talked about this after the Newmans had tragically died and even though I hadn't wanted to think about it, I knew the same thing could happen to my friends. I didn't want Beth to be left alon, for this reason I had agreed to be her legal Guardian if anything happened to them. I hadn't expected to use it so soon.

Having these legally drawn up papers from the lawyer, and a lack of family present, sped up the process with the courts. Three months after her parents death I was given temporary guardianship of Elizabeth Masen. Now all I have to do is follow a last request from her father. I had to find his brother, her uncle.... Edward Masen.