Jim and me

"Jim.. Jim..?" I said bringing the boy out of the trance. "Hey, you alright bud?"

"Umm.. Yeah, I am"

"No you are not. You have barely eaten anything since you came here." I sighed. "Look at me Jim," I asked in a pleading tone. He lifted his sleep laden brown eyes and looked at me.

"Son, I know it is rough on you, but we will not be able to move on if you don't forget about it. It wasn't your fault that it happened"

Jim looked miserable, ever since his mom died in an accident he had been like this. Being Sarah's brother, I took him with me. His father had long gone with another woman when he was only five. Bastards like him, why do they fuck when they can't take responsibility?. Obviously he kept sending cheques for them, but they needed support more than money. Sarah tried to raise Jim to the best of her ability, and I too helped her whenever I could. She was a good woman, a woman of character, one of integrity, I always admired her. She was strong in almost every situation, but it was tough for her when her husband moved away. I moved in with her for 6 months, aided them to move on. Jim was only five then as I said, and we gradually came over the initial impediment. He turned six and we hosted a birthday party for him as a surprise. It was lots of fun and I was just happy to make them all happy. When I thought that I was no longer needed, I decided to move back to my place. Everything had moved back to normal, though Sarah insisted that I stayed for some more time, I knew it would only make moving away more difficult. Jim was sad when he heard the news, he needed some male support in his life and I promised to visit them at least once a month.

I lived in a different town, it was a two-hour drive from where I lived to there place. By the time I reached the hospital Sarah was already on her heavenly adobe. I was devastated to see her and her condition. It was a bad case of a car accident. There were our parents, some of her friends all consoling one another. She was such a bright woman, if I ever decided to marry one, she was definitely the type I would go for and I never even remotely thought that she would be gone too soon. Then I remembered Jim. I saw my mom sitting near the boy holding him firmly. The unusual thing was that he looked shocked, he wasn't crying, and I knew it was even worse. After the funeral, I decided to take him with me and my parents agreed to it.

"What the boy need, is support Kevin, you understand that?"

"Of course mom, I know that"

"I know you will take good care of him, but I feel so bad for the boy.. he is still too young to go through all this.." She said and started crying.

"I know mom.. it is testing times and times like these we need each other the most. I will do anything I can to help him" I said comforting her and putting my arm across her shoulders. She seemed to be thinner than when I saw her two months ago. Old age was clearly taking a toll on both my parents. It was a rough time for our family but we pulled through. I knew that it would be hardest for Jim. As soon as we reached my house, I decided to enroll Jim for private tutors. I didn't know how well he could cope with a new school so sudden, besides the next term was just two months away which would give us plenty of time to start afresh. But things didn't work out as I expected, Jim was barely talking and not eating anything. And worse, for the most part of the day he just sat in the corner of his room and would only get up for lunch or when I called him, sort of like a chore or duty. With much less experience with kids, I was quickly reaching my wit's end. It had been a week by now.

"Hey, let us go out to park okay?" I said trying to be cheerful.

"I don't wanna," he said weakly.

"Why?"

"Can I just go to my room?" he asked getting up, but this time I was having none of it.

"Jim, you gotta tell me what it is you are thinking alright?" I held his damp hands in mine and removed his shaggy hair from his forehead caressing him.

"You know, Sarah would be so mad if she saw you like this. She would never want to make you suffer like this"

That was a blow as I saw tears streaming down Jim's face, I hugged him tight and wiped his tears which didn't stop coming out. "It is alright Jim... You are here with me.. Everything will be alright okay" I tried to calm him despite how emotional I really felt. It was better to let it all out.

"It was my fault that mom died"

"Why do you say that?"

"Because... she was talking to me... on the phone when it... happened," he said between sobs. "That is why," I thought now.

"It really means nothing Jim, she might as well have been calling to her co-employees, our parents, or even me. It wasn't anyone's fault, and certainly not yours."

"But.."

"No, it is not that. She called you to make sure you were alright. Because she really loved you, and you meant the world to her" I kissed him through his tears and awhile later he had calmed a bit down.

"Feeling better?"

Jim nodded. His stomach rumbled to which I chuckled. We were definitely making some progress here.

"Looks like someone is hungry. Let us order a pizza okay?"

"Okay," he said. His eyes were still watery and his voice still thick.

He was clearly hungry as he devoured nearly the entire pizza by himself. Watching him eating so heartily made me content somewhere deep down. For sure I knew things were gonna get better and we were already on our way, which was the right one.