You always said that you would become a hero- didn't you know? From the very beginning, you were my hero Claus.
Mom always used to tell us stories before bed. Stories about heroes, about people who were very kind and very strong, about people who never failed to save and protect the people around them.
Sometimes those stories would work their way into our play the next day- Claus would pick up a stick when we'd be walking through the woods, wave it in the air and shout that he was the hero of that story. Depending on what story Mom had been telling and how many characters it had and what type of characters it had, sometimes we'd argue a little.
Claus has always been just a little sstronger than me- he runs a little bit faster, hits a little bit harder, jumps a little bit higher- and that's okay, because he's the oldest, even if it is only by five minutes.
It's okay that Claus is stronger than me… but some of the adults think that just because Claus is the oldest and the strongest, that I can't do anything at all, that I'm just a crybaby who stands around and does nothing but whine, and that's not okay, because it's not true… and sometimes I feel I have to prove it's not.
I'll refuse to be characters who only exist to be rescued. Sometimes I'll insist on being a character from another story if the story Claus picked doesn't have a character that works. Sometimes I'll suggest that, and Claus will argue and bring up me being the character who needs to be rescued again, but then he'll promise to be the character who needs to be rescued next time. And I might need to remind him, but he'll do it.
But Claus always, always claimed that he's going to be a hero- when the truth is, he always was.
Claus was the one who wasn't scared of the dark and helped me face it so we could go comfort Boney when he was just a puppy and he was crying at night because he was lonely. Claus was the one who found the Dragos so that we could become friends with them.
And now Claus is gone, and I have to face the whole village- the whole world- by myself.