I'm sorry I didn't have any time to write yesterday. My best friend is currently going through some crappy times, and I needed to be there for her. However, this is an extra long chapter! I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 9. –Still always near

Those we love don't go away. They walk beside us every day. Unseen, unheard, but always near. Still very loved, and very missed, and very dear.

~Author Unknown

I was walking down the long path that ran through the graveyard. It sure was easier walking here on my sneakers as it had been on Carly's heels. Last time I came here had been the funeral. I hadn't want to come until I had some good news to tell Melanie –yet I sure as hell didn't have that for her right now.

But something had changed my mind about that. During the little sleep that I'd had last night, (I would wake up every time I moved over to lay on my arm, and left just happened to be the side I always slept on.) I'd had a dream. It was about Melanie.

About the night Jake died. The night that we became close. Before then, we never shared anything, except for DNA. Well, maybe when we were children. Before Melanie went to Washington, before she left me alone with my mom and before we diluted.

But that was a long time ago. And ever since, we had been sisters only by name. Until last year, about two months after Carly had moved to Italy. When death had brought us closer together.

And now, it had driven us apart again. Only this time for good.

I laid back my head and tried to sleep. "Hey, we're supposed to be learning English, remember? I hear there's a big test tomorrow…" Freddie's annoyingly cheery voice brought me back to earth. I groaned. "Benson! You woke me up!"

Just before he had a chance to respond, my phone began ringing. I was surprised at the caller ID. "Mel?" I picked up the phone. "Sam?" the voice on the other side of the line was soft and shaky. "It's Jake, Sam. He's in the hospital, he just had a heart attack."

"O my God!" I went to sit up straight. "Is everything alright?" Melanie sobbed loudly. "No. He's still unconscious. His heart rhythm is now steady again, but there's really no telling in what'll happen next. Our biggest concern is that he won't wake up. He could end up in a coma!" The sobs were getting louder and uncontrollable.

"Mel, calm down. Are you at the hospital now?" I asked. "Yes. But the doctors won't let me see him. Only his parents are allowed in." she said. I thought quickly. It was 9pm now. If I would get on a plane to Washington, I'd be there 5 hours later. "Okay, I'll see how fast I can get there." I said without a doubt.

Melanie sniffled. "Thank you Sam. That'd be amazing." "I know. I am amazing. Hang in there girl, I'll be there as soon as possible." I hung up. "What was that all about? Was that Melanie?" Freddie asked. I nodded. "You go check when the very next flight to Washington leaves. I ought to go packing."

Freddie's eyes widened. "Sam, what are you talking about, it's Thursday, we have a test tomorrow, you can't just get up and leave!" He yelled. But I was halfway the stairs already. "Yes I can!" I shouted back.

Freddie followed me up the stairs. "Sam, what is this all about?" he asked. I gave an annoyed sigh. "Didn't I just give you a task?" I asked. "Sam!" he screamed. "Melanie's boyfriend just had a heart attack." I explained while stuffing some clothes in a bag.

"He's in the hospital and Melanie is terrible upset, so I have to be there now." Freddie only nodded. "Yeah, I, err, I totally understand." He said after a while. "Thanks." I said sarcastically. "Now go check on my flight!"

He quickly went downstairs, while I finished packing my bag. When I entered the room again, Freddie apparently had it all figured out yet. "So, you're flight leaves at ten, I got you a seat. I called Spencer, but he's not going to make it home in time to take you, so we'll take my car." He said.

"Thanks Freddie," I said "but I can drive myself you know." "No, you can't." he said firmly. "One, you do not have a driver's license, two, you do not have a car." I rolled my eyes. "Thanks, Freddie."

A few hours later, I arrived at the Dulles international airfield in Washington DC. I grabbed my bag, and began looking for Melanie. "Sam!" I immediately turned around. "Melanie!" we ran up to each other and she hugged me tight, tears immediately running down her cheeks.

"How is he?" I asked worriedly. Melanie shook her head. "It's not good Sam. He still hasn't come to." She said. "O, god, Sam, it's just so scary! I'm just sitting there, waiting, doing nothing! It's like I know he's going to die, and I can't do anything about it!"

"Now, just a minute! You don't know that! You don't know he's going to die. You don't know that and I won't have you giving up on him!" I said a little loudly. She wiped away her tears. "But I'm not! I'm not giving up!" She said. "I'm just so afraid. I'm so afraid, Sam!"

I laid my arm over her shoulder, and began walking out of the building. We took a cab back to the hospital. We were sitting next to each other, and I held her hand. I didn't say anything, because I knew there wasn't anything I could say to make her feel better. But I could be there. I could just simply be there for her. And, if only, that was exactly what I was going to do.

In hospitals, time always seemed to crawl. I could see the clock ticking, it was now exactly 04:42. Tick… Tock… Tick… Tock… It was as if every second took longer to pass then the last one. "Ms. Puckett?" a far from cheery nurse entered the waiting room.

In a reflex I jumped up. "Yeah?" I said. "Ms. Melanie Puckett?" the nurse questioned. "No, that's my sister, she's at the toilet, she'll just be a sec." I told her. "Alright, I'll wait." She said. At that very moment, Melanie opened the door. "There she is!" I said.

"Ms. Melanie Puckett?" the nurse questioned again. Melanie nodded. "That's me. Is there news about Jake?" her eyes filled themselves with a sparkling hope. But the nurse wouldn't even flinch. "Won't you sit down." She said.

Every last glimmer of hope, immediately disappeared from Melanie's eyes again, as she did what was told. "Won't you sit down." The words kept echoing through my head. "Won't you sit down." That could never be a good sign.

"I am very sorry. Jake just had another heart attack, there was nothing we could do. He just passed away." Melanie buried her face in her hands. Nothing but the most hopeless, desperate, tired sob came out. I carefully laid my hand on her back.

"I'm sorry Mel." I whispered. I had no idea what else to say. She wrapped her arms around me, and cried softly into my shoulder. I didn't know what to say. For the first time in my life, I had no words. And so I just continued to hold her. I wouldn't let go of her, for what felt like hours more.

As if in that way I could protect her from the pain –the evil that the world had to offer.

I remained in Washington for six more days, until the funeral was over. After that, I took my sister back home with me for another week. And for a week, she cried. She remembered him, she looked at pictures of him, told me stories about him. For a week long she mourned.

And after that, she returned to Washington. She went back to school, she did her homework. She went back to work, back to partying with her friends. She went back to her life. At first, it was hard. She'd call me every night, and she'd still cry.

At first she wasn't happy. But slowly, she got over it. And as the phone calls were less and less about Jake and more and more about Melanie, I found that she slowly got back to the person she had been. She was happy again. And I was proud of her.

I stopped by a small gravestone, surrounded by colorful flowers. I suddenly remembered. I hadn't brought her any flowers. I looked around, to notice two things. One, the graveyard was empty, except for me of course. And, two, on the grave next to Melanie's lay a beautiful bouquet of red roses.

Melanie loved red roses. I quickly scooped one away, leaving the whole untouched. So now I was stealing from the dead. –Great.

I carefully placed the flower on Melanie's grave. "Look Mel, I brought… well, I got you your favorite; red roses." I whispered. "Never mind how I got them." I smiled.

"Mel, I wasn't planning on coming here before I got you any good news to tell. And, well, I don't have good news now, but I decided I had to come here anyway. Cause, as I look back, that was always really our problem, wasn't it? Only telling each other the good things. Always remaining silent about what sucked in our lives."

I paused to inhale deeply. "But, then I remembered the night that… that Jake died. And, how that changed everything. Ever since then, there hasn't been one problem you haven't helped me out with –if it was only by listening. So, now maybe you can't hear me anymore, but I still need to talk to you."

I read over the inscription on the stone. It said;

Melanie Grace Puckett.

May she live on forever in our memories and our hearts.

She wasn't on this earth anymore. But part of her was still in my heart. Maybe I could talk to that part.

And so I spent the rest of the afternoon at the graveyard, talking to Melanie. Or maybe just to myself –to my heart. But that wasn't the point. The point was that I talked. The point was that I got everything straight to myself.

The point was that I needed this. And once again, Melanie helped me to do that. Even if she wasn't here to know that anymore.